Tap water contains at least 20 ppm of nitrates! Help!

[Lexi B]

I had to move back in with my parents, so I've never had aquariums here before now. I was really perplexed that my nitrates were so high for how often i do water changes and my small bio load, so i tested the water against all my taps and some bottled water. All of my tap has nitrate in it, the bottled water control has none. What do I do? I can't keep the nitrate levels down in my tanks because every time I do a water change, I just replace what was lost. The live plants can't keep up with it either. 

[DaveO]

Add another high nitrate consuming plant like pennywort to the tank. Also you could add pothos to the hang on back filter. Don't use fertilizer that contains a lot of nitrate. If your plants show signs of nutrient deficiencies try Flourish, it is very low in nitrates.

[Patrick_G]

Yup, I agree. I’d go for lots of plants and a nitrogen free fertilizer. You might have to get several different ones to piece together something that has all the micros plus potassium and phosphate. Another option is a reverse osmosis system or just doing water changes to keep levels under 40ppm.