Nitrate Reduction

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railer20

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I am in a spot with some remodeling that I can’t do water changes with my python and don’t want to go buy a bunch of equipment i will use once or twice. Has anyone used something like Algone to lower the nitrates? My ammonia and nitrites are zero but my nitrates are probably 60ish. It will be 3-4 weeks before I’m able to use my python again. And I do not have access to any other faucets/sinks/etc. as it is in the basement.
 

dougall

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Mar 29, 2005
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Can you add plants to grow emersed from the water?

Choose something pet or kid safe, if needed.

And rather than using a resin, I would personally prefer to use some sort of filter mefia to adsorb the stuff
 
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Apr 2, 2002
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I am pretty sure Algone will not help in this case.

Most nitrate solutions cannot be established rapidly. Even adding plants is not instant. Plants take some time to settle in and often gome with some stored nutrients. They also often arrive with nitrifying bacteria. Emersed plants will go to work the fastest if you can get them in place. Most plants prefer ammonium to nitrate and will use the ammonium first. So using plants in this case may result in a reduction in the existing bacterial colonies. So if you go this route I would suggest when the time comes to remove the plants in a number of weeks that you do this in several stages, not all at once.

There is another issue you should monitor re excess nitrate. Nitrate creates some level of acid in the water. This in turn burns up KH and that can result in a drop in pH. Nitrate is what is at the heart of old tank syndrome in terms of the pH dropping.

I forgot what size tank you have. There are some not overly expensive ways to solve the problem if you can get some water out of the basement. For example. if you have a basement window and an outdoor hose faucet, you may be able to use your python hose to get water you can add to the tank. Is there any form of drain in the basement now at all? It is easier to bring in new water than to remove waste water. Gravity can be one's best friend or worst enemy.

It took me some time to understand the benefits of having assorted pumps and the relevant hoses. But I have 20 tanks spread over two buildings and 4 rooms. What I started with was a small utility pump. I only own Python hoses and specialty connectors as I use pumps.
 
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Rbishop

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Do you have a nearby window you can use an outside tap to get water to the tank? Buying a small pump and necessary adapters is your best solution to pump the water up and out.
 
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FJB

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Best solution is ... go back to the old buckets until issues are solved.
Thinking of replacement of water changes by chemicals is the wrong approach. Also, removal of nitrogen is only one of the reasons for water changes.
 
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FreshyFresh

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There's zero sources of hot / cold water in the house?

Not sure what size the tank is, but some garden hoses and a submersible utility pump should be all that's needed. You can pump water anywhere you want it.
 

railer20

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T TwoTankAmin FreshyFresh FreshyFresh F FJB Rbishop Rbishop
Would a pump like this work? I can get some tubing and pump out a window about 40’ away. I guess I would have to fill buckets at the right temp water and pump it out of there into the tank?
37C701DA-A367-40C5-AB5F-8C826868EDE2.png
 

fishorama

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I've used a similar pump to mostly drain a tear down tank & for a small waterfall. You need to check the "head" to see if it can pump water high & far enough. Mine can do up to 10 feet vertically, more laterally...sorry that's the best I recall. I've never used it to refill but you likely can...or a hose on a spigot if temp is not an issue. Otherwise you can fill a garbage can, dechlor, heat & pump back into the tank.
 
Apr 2, 2002
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There are a few facts about pumps you should know before you buy.

A pump has to move water in two directions- horizontally and vertically. The higher the discharge point of the hose, the slower the water flows. All pumps have what they call head specs. That is a chart or table which shows the flow rate at different heights.

I can tell you that a 158 gph pumps will not lift water very high. Most of my serious pumps are 500 to about 850 gph and I wish I has gone a bit bigger. But I pump into some 75 to 150 gal tanks tanks where I have to raise the water at least 6 ft up.

Next, as we all know if one suphons water from a full bucket into an empty one, you end up with two half filled buckets. What yo may not notice in that process is that the water tends to flow faster at the start and very slowly near the end. This is because the weight of the water in the full bucket helps to push the water out. As the water level in the full bucket drops, so does the water weight helping to power the siphon. This will also will apply when pumping water. This is another reason to get a bit larger pump.

I checked on the 158 gal. pump above and this is the info: Flow rate158 GPH Head Lift at 0 Flow3.5 ft. That means at 3.5 feet above the pump you get 0 flow out. I cannot imagine a basement where one only needs to raise water that little to get it out a window. Even this larger model Creekstone may not be powerful enough: Flow rate 264 GPH Head Lift at 0 Flow5.5 ft. But it is a higher lift. Looking at all the Creekstone pumps I am thinking you will need this one which is about $45: Flow rate 620 GPH Head Lift at 0 Flow11 ft.

I cannot say anything about the quality of DCreekstone, but my pumps cost me more (think in the $55 - $85 range with tax) but I have been using them for many years. I do have so called fountain pumps. i could never figure out why a fountain pump is mechanically different from a "normal" pump,
 

FreshyFresh

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This is the pump I use. I bought it from Harbor Freight when I set up my first 75gal tank in 2013. It's been used weekly since 2013.

 
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