how to kill nitrate?

i have algae problem in my tank i use tap water with alot of nitrates(im a novice i dont know these things)which is my problem anyone knows how to get rid of nitrates?i hear of filter pads and stuff but i dont know how that works, im this is my first fish tank and im still learning facts and replys would help me thank you

 

ok it would help with the quality of advise you get if this post had come before the "what corals can I add post".
people advising you on corals would be advantaged if they knew more about your current situation , hope you get my meaning?

Anyway, You can do a few water changes with ro/di water rather than tap water.

 

ok sorry and ok i heard of a thing 2 called a cheato?

 

o and i have severl threads right know trying to figure out problems, including one in algae called cyno

 

powderblu

as stated by Daniel above
tap water may not be helping - it does vary from region to region and some people use it without issue , but in general RODI water is the safest way to go

what are your nitrate readings?
also do you test for Phosphates ?

nutrients already in the system need to be dealt with and there are several methods you can employ to achieve this, varying in degree of complication and also effectiveness

tell us a bit more about you system and the parameters and advice given will be more specific

Steve

 

first off today i did actually check my water
nitrite-0.8
alkalinity-0
ph-8.0
salinity-1.023-1.024
and as for phosate and nitrate i have no test kits for tomorrow i plan on getting some, but i know my water is my problem because here in florida our tap water is not as good as many other places

 

How long has the tank been up. YOu should have NO nitrite at all. This is very toxic to any aquatic critter

 

Sounds like you may still be in a cycle. Do you have any live stock in the tank? If so I highly recommend getting them out until your nitrites clear out. Can we get some tank specs as far as size filtration and pretty much anything else you can tell us about your tank.

 

its been up 4 months and my reading is probably off because it shows a very difficult to read color bar its probably around .2-8 but for the other reading their pretty accurate its just the nitrite color chart is dumb

 

as for critters 4 damsels, tank is four months and for filtration a remora skimmer, and aqua tech c 20 pounds live rock and as i said in my previous post my nitrite read is most likely off by 5 or 4