How should i test Nitrates

[The Dog]

Hiya Guys, I've been using API fresh water test kit, Nitrates have been measuring 160ppm (max) straight out of tap. I called South Staffs water who quickly dismissed the API test kit as it is apparently inaccurate.

South Staffs took a sample and on waiting for there finfings i purchased a second test kit which measures up to 100ppm and it says tap water is off the scale

South Staffs today claimed my water has come back at 41ppm (which is still high but not as high as my two kits suggest.

This has left me working on chance and im unsure where to go from here. Any suggestions greatly appreciated

Cheers Dog

 

[connorlindeman]

Thats some insanely high nitrate....

 

[connorlindeman]

Are you making sure to shake the chemicals like crazy?

 

[The Dog]

Are you making sure to shake the chemicals like crazy?

Hiya Connarlindeman, yes been doing everything to the book, even banging it off the door liners

 

[connorlindeman]

Hiya Connarlindeman, yes been doing everything to the book, even banging it off the door liners

hmm. It must be accurate than. Even 40ppm is too high for fish. Im not sure of how to lower it...

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Yikes! That's definitely scary high. As @connorlindeman said, are you making sure to really shake the heck out of the bottle for the nitrate test? The chemicals in there tend to settle and really need shaking, banging the bottle hard on a table, and shaking for even longer than suggested if possible.

But even 40ppm straight from the tap is too high, long term. Tagging @Essjay since she knows a lot more about this, and the maximum levels of this sort of thing that water companies are meant to have. In the meantime, definitely try doing the test again but making sure to really shake up and bang the heck out of the chemical for the test first, and shaking the tube for another minute.

 

[connorlindeman]

Water with anything over 10ppm is unsafe to drink.

 

[The Dog]

Yikes! That's definitely scary high. As @connorlindeman said, are you making sure to really shake the heck out of the bottle for the nitrate test? The chemicals in there tend to settle and really need shaking, banging the bottle hard on a table, and shaking for even longer than suggested if possible.

But even 40ppm straight from the tap is too high, long term. Tagging @Essjay since she knows a lot more about this, and the maximum levels of this sort of thing that water companies are meant to have. In the meantime, definitely try doing the test again but making sure to really shake up and bang the heck out of the chemical for the test first, and shaking the tube for another minute.

Ive been doing everything to the book, really ive been banging the bottle against the door frames etc always the same results. Im just at a loss with it right now

 

[connorlindeman]

In the US tap water can have levels as high as 40ppm and still be considered "safe".

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Ive been doing everything to the book, really ive been banging the bottle against the door frames etc always the same results. Im just at a loss with it right now

Is this only recent? Wonder if the water company flushed the pipes with something recently, and haven't told you everything. The person you spoke with might not even know. But Essjay is educated in chemistry and knows her stuff, so I always tag her for anything like this!

 

[The Dog]

Is this only recent? Wonder if the water company flushed the pipes with something recently, and haven't told you everything. The person you spoke with might not even know. But Essjay is educated in chemistry and knows her stuff, so I always tag her for anything like this!

Yes its been the last couple of weeks, it wasnt so high before as it was in the safe zone. It has blown my mind. Im looking into RO at the moment, maybe thats my only option

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Yes its been the last couple of weeks, it wasnt so high before as it was in the safe zone. It has blown my mind. Im looking into RO at the moment, maybe thats my only option

Hopefully it's just temporary. But definitely worth looking into RO and remineralising it as a temporary measure at least! Many fish stores sell RO water.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I hope you aren't drinking or cooking with that water

A bit on nitrates in tap water: https://www.pickcomfort.com/water-quality/nitrates-in-water/

 

[The Dog]

I hope you aren't drinking or cooking with that water

A bit on nitrates in tap water: https://www.pickcomfort.com/water-quality/nitrates-in-water/

Sadly yes, i have been (unaware until now)

Thanks for the link, interesting

 

[Essjay]

Most countries have maximum allowed levels of nitrate but they don't all use the same unit of measurement.

The UK and our test kits use the nitrate-NO3 scale and the UK allows up to 50 ppm nitrate in drinking water.
The US allows 10 ppm on the nitrate-N scale.

The conversion factor is 1 ppm nitrate-N = 4.427 ppm nitrate-NO3.
So the US limit of 10 ppm nitrate-N is the same as 44.27 nitrate-NO3, slightly less than the maximum allowed by the UK. I suspect both countries went for round numbers.