Nitrates too high!

I thinned out my native 46b to; 1 - 8 in golden shiner, 2 - 4 to 6 in black crappie, 3 - 4 in emerald shiners. Took out all the agression of sunfish. I did add 2 large pieces of bottom river driftwood. Amonia and nitrites are 0. My nitrates are near 80 ppm. I have been doing 30% water changes with my Well water and no prime 3 to 4 times a week. When I tested my well water a few weeks ago it was below 20 ppm nitrates. When I tested well water tonight it was near 80. We haven't had much rain and my well is fairly shallow which might cause a buildup? I live 200 yards from the river and it is mostly sand with some gravel. I am thinking a duck weed colony when it shows up in the river at some reliable spots in a few weeks? Pothos....not really familiar with it? I forsee a fluctuation in my well and need some ideas to balance it without much maintenance. I had planned siphon system to send tank water to the garden and a new water line directly to tank. Maybe a planted tank above tank with a feed valve. Then siphon to lower 46b. Then siphon to garden. Any ideas?

I am thinking a duck weed colony when it shows up in the river at some reliable spots in a few weeks?

Duckweed and I don't get along. I have tried to remove it (sort of on a dare at first, after hearing that it was difficult to remove) multiple times now with no success. It's still in both my tanks. And I didn't intentionally put it in either tank. So no, I do not recommend you use duckweed.

Ceratophyllum demersum and Myriophyllum pinnatum are native species that have fast, healthy growth as floating plants. Ceratophyllum grows quicker than Myriophyllum pinnatum, but I don't have any at the moment. If you want a starter sample of M. pinnatum, just send me the cost of shipping and I'll mail you a handful.

I had planned siphon system to send tank water to the garden and a new water line directly to tank. Maybe a planted tank above tank with a feed valve. Then siphon to lower 46b. Then siphon to garden. Any ideas?

A refugium is a viable solution. Marine aquarists have some great example refugium setups and how-to guides.
Here are two example setups showing water flowing from the main tank into a planted side tank: http://www.reeflove....71225060318.JPG and http://jjgeisler.com...p-refugium2.htm
The growing plants are the only really important part. More information on why: http://theaquariumwi...ical_Filtration Diana Walstad wrote the book on planted tanks, literally.

Edited by EricaWieser, 21 March 2012 - 09:15 PM.

Thanks Erica. I will look into those plants....not my stong point. Ideally vegetation would come from the river. If I do decide to try yours, I will tie you some micro flies as a favor. I am just bummed that my well water that pretty much comes from the river through 200 yards of sand isn't ideal.

I made a decision and pulled some of this out of the river. It is abundant and the only thing I could find besides grass. Rinsed the roots ...onion bag and in it went. Not identified. Kick me to the curb. Tank is clear and will check no3 later.

I can second Erica's advice on the hornwort. It's good at using nitrate.

It's unfortunately common for even municipal water sources to have some level of nitrates. I know of some municipal water systems here in southern Ohio that have wells that they cannot even use due to high nitrates from farm runoff. I have a friend that works for a municipal water system who told me that the test kits we use normally read higher than the more expensive ones that they use, so it might not be quite as bad as it appears. I think we have a few people here on the forum that do that too and could tell you more than I can about that though.

If I'm not mistaken, I think 10ppm nitrate might be what is considered the safe limit for people.

Might be interesting to check the nitrate level of the river water as well.

I ...will check no3 later.

Remember plants use the majority of their nitrate when they're growing. This plant might take a week to get out of the shock of being transplanted and start growing again. I don't know what species it is, so I can't say whether or not it's one of the fast growing ones. If after a month it hasn't doubled in size, a faster growing plant might help you more.

Edited by EricaWieser, 22 March 2012 - 06:35 AM.

I saw in your other topic that you said that you found that plant on the river bank. Transitioning an air plant to water is kind of a risky bet to put all your hopes for nitrate reduction in. If it starts decaying, remove the rotting pieces before they can cause an ammonia spike. The offer for sending you some of my own native plants is still open.

Edited by EricaWieser, 22 March 2012 - 09:48 PM.