Removing Nitrate from tap water + testing

[Zikofski]

Simple question does anyone have any idea's tips for removing nitrate from my tap water. i am tempted to go into RO water but worried that will be way to expensive for me are there any other alternatives?

Also whats the best way to test if my water is hard or soft water? i know my area is hard but my house has a filter on it so i don't know how this is changing the water

 

[NickAu]

Simple question does anyone have any idea's tips for removing nitrate from my tap water

How high are they?

 

[Zikofski]

in my tap water its 10-30ppm, after a week my tank is like 60-80+ppm hard to tell on api's test kit

 

[Colin_T]

Floating plants.

The following links are about nitrates in tap water and removing them with various filters.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/t...s-using-a-pozzani-filter.448001/#post-3787278

http://www.fishforums.net/threads/pozzani-filter-update-and-more-qs.448815/#post-3794258

 

[Essjay]

but my house has a filter on it so i don't know how this is changing the water

Depending what the water filter does, it may not be a good idea to use this filtered water for fish tanks.
Some filters swap the hardness minerals (calcium & magnesium) for sodium. No natural fresh water source has much sodium so fish have not evolved to cope with high levels of sodium. And sodium adds to TDS (total dissolved solids).
Other filters swap the hardness ions for hydrogen ions, and the more hydrogen ions, the lower the pH since pH is an upside down measure of the amount of hydrogen ions.

For places with hard tap water it is usually recommended to use a bypass tap - one that dispenses unfiltered water - and keep hard water fish. Or mix tap water with a source of pure water (RO, rainwater) for soft water fish.

 

[Zikofski]

Colin.. omg you are like an angel I think those two products mentioned would be perfect and also given me an idea to pre-filter water and store in the 25L tubs THANK YOU! I do have a very large water butt which collects rain water from my shed i would love to use this.. i should test this water really shouldn't I it could be better and safer solution than my tap water. I am however a little skeptical to use this for two reasons, diseases or other bacteria could potential make it into the water source or other nastier stuff also what happens if this water dry's out rare in the UK but after last summer it could happen then switching to tap water could cause in-balances.

essjay that is a very good question I actually don't know all i know is the filter is due replacement every 10 years its a very small looks like a gas bottle type device, its a new house i have moved into so I'm not 100% sure on specifics of it i just know it was a recommendation for the houses in the area to be built with it, I only have one fish a Pleco at the moment and hes been with me in this house since May no issues yet so far with the tap water that I can see anyway.

My water flow/pressure is very very low and may work in my favor using the Pozzani Nitrate Removing filter, this is a planted tank i don't want nitrates to be 0, plants do need some level of nitrates but not excessive amounts but i do want to avoid if i can dosing nitrate fertilizer into the tank, sadly the scape and plants i am using are not really quick growing i don't think will help fight nitrate, DHG and some crypts

EDIT - forgot to mention I do have a TDS meter that I can use to test.. but how accurate this is I dont know i will post my results when I am home to do this.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I think Essjay was thinking of a water softener, when it seems like you are referring to a sediment filter.
Since it appears you are in the UK, the Pozzani filter may be your best bet (I don't believe it's available in the US). Also, I don't know about cartridge use life or if it can be recharged.
I have high nitrates in my well water most likely due to the 95 acre farmers field across the road that gets ample fertilizers! I originally opted for the (now discontinued) API Tap Water filter that produced deionized (DI) water. However, with my water, the cartridge was spent after only about 50 gallons and considering the cartridge cost it just wasn't worth it (as I could buy spring water cheaper!).
I had used API Nitra-Zorb pouches here in there in my filter and I wondered....what if I emptied a Tap Water Filter cartridge and filled with Nitra-Zorb? I ran the idea by API Tech support and they informed me that they just didn't know as the product hadn't been tested that way. They went on to tell me that the use life was reduced due to detritus coating the resin. (but that wouldn't be the case with clean well water!)
(Nitra-Zorb is a polymeric resin that adsorbs, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate and can be recharged many times with ordinary non-iodized salt water.)
I went ahead and did it and it works perfectly. I produce about 250g before I need to recharge and I've put over 3500g through the filter and it's still going strong!

Along with pre-filtering tap water, you'll also want to take other measures to minimize/reduce tank generated nitrates! ....I posted recently under a thread about sponge filters.

 

[seangee]

I have not yet successfully managed to recharge a Pozzani. If your filter is from a reputable supplier and certified for drinking water it won't use sodium as that's not legal in the U.K., although you do need to be wary of cartridges bought online.

 

[Zikofski]

so.. I tested the water in my water but.. not what i was expecting..

Going back a bit thought here are my Tank Parameters in terms of GH/KH/TDS
GH = 10
KH = 5
TDS = 290 tested again this morning and it was 240 so i think this changes a lot.

PH is between 7 and 7.5 for some reason my digital test meter was reading 5.2 but the next day was 7 and yes it was calibrated

so Water tank in the garden that collects rain water from my shed roof
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5

Tap water today
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - seems around 40-80 but could be 10-20 as its hard to tell.

Tank is 40-80

I have ordered the Pozzani Filter and the API Nitra-Zorb which should arrive at the end of this week

 

[AbbeysDad]

Just a word of caution....you'd think that rain water is fairly pure as it's merely condensed moisture from the air. However, there are airborne pollutants and 'stuff' collected on the roof that can make the rain water pretty bad. This may not be an issue if you live in the wilderness. I live on a fairly busy road in the Northeast US and I once tried collecting rain water from my roof but found it had a suspicious yellow tinge. I realized I shouldn't use it.

 

[Colin_T]

If you are collecting rain water, let it rain for 10 minutes before you start collecting it. That gives it time to wash the dirt and dust off the roof and out of the air and when you start collecting it will be cleaner. You can then hold the water in a container and put a carbon filter in the water for 24 hours to remove any harmful chemicals that might be in it.

 

[Zikofski]

Luckily the air is pretty clean where i live only papermill's that chuck out a lot of steam "water" near by (within 10miles) but I'm not really keen on using the rain water really i don't think it will rain enough for the size of my tank and switching between rain water and tap water will probably be a worse idea.

However the Nitra Zorb has come today so i will fit that into the tank later tonight and see how that does.. I am surprised how small the pouches are tho luckily I bought two but may need a 3rd to fully fill a basket of my filter so most water passes through