How clean is your tap water?

MoltenLava · Post by **MoltenLava** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 6:11 pm

Each time I tested the water of my shrimp tank, I get consistent results, trace amount of Nitrite, and between 10-20ppm of Nitrate. Today I got curious about the results that is the same all the time, and decided to test the tap water. Surprise, surprise, surprise. The water off the tap show the exact the same result. Trace amount of Nitrite, and 10-20ppm of Nitrite. At that point I was wondering if the test strip is defective, and show the same color regardless of the water content. Then I decided to pour the bottled water onto the test strip and see what happens. Well, the bottled water tests clean. No Nitrite or Nitrate according to the test strip.

There are two immediate consequences. If I continue to use the tap water for my shrimp tank, the Nitrate level will never go below 10ppm. Not at the dangerous level, but not as low as I like it to be. Also it makes me wonder how safe is it for us, people, to drink the tap water. Is it common to have this high level of Nitrate in the tap water?

YuccaPatrol · Post by **YuccaPatrol** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:19 pm

Each year, I get a copy of the water quality report from my local water company. I suggest that everyone who keeps aquariums get a copy of their local report.

The EPA has set a MCl (maximum contaminant level) for nitrate at 10.00 ppm. My local water had a maximum of 0.3mg/ml in the past year.

For instance, I am looking at the report right now and know that there has not been any copper detected in the water supply in the past year. Good news for my shrimp.

Even though your water contains the maximum allowed amount of nitrate, there are quite a few options for you.

First, you should toss out those test strips and purchase a liquid reagent test kit. The strips are notoriously inaccurate and may be giving you exaggerated results. Your water may be just fine as it is.

I like the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals master test kit. I have compared its results with the water testing methods we use in my lab and it is very good between 0 and 20ppm. Above that it can be difficult to read the results accurately, but a nitrate reading above 20ppm is an emergency water change situation so it doesn't matter if I can't tell the difference between 40 and 80ppm.

The easiest way to bring nitrate down would be to keep your shrimp tank heavily planted with fast growing nitrate loving plants. These days, I never detect any nitrate in my shrimp tanks because my plants absorb it all.

Lastly, you could seek out a cleaner source of water. RO or DI water would be an option, although this requires purchasing a water treatment system or purchasing treated water.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 1:35 am

If you have those levels your shrimp may have trouble breeding. The solution is getting an R/O filter or switch to growing plants & algae.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 1:59 pm

Hi YuccaPatrol,

Can we get the water quality report online or do we have to request it by mail. I think it is important to know the quality of my local water. Thanks again.

YuccaPatrol · Post by **YuccaPatrol** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 2:09 pm

I can access my local water quality report online, and considering that I live in Alabama where we are often behind the times, I would guess that you should be able to do the same in California.

Check your water bill for a website and look around. I bet it is in there somewhere.

If not, you should be able to call your local water company and request a copy of it. It is supposed to be public information available upon request. While you are at it, ask them if they are using chlorine or chloramine in your water. If they are using chlorine, you can likely decrease the amount of water conditioner you are using. The stuff I use says to use twice as much for chloramine treated water.

MoltenLava · Post by **MoltenLava** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 5:02 pm

I've checked the City of Mountain View web site, and confirmed that Nitrate measurements is 17.8... Looks pretty bad. 260ppm Alkalinity, 269ppm hardness, 75ppm Calcium, 20ppm Magnesium, 48ppm Sodium, etc. I'm going to move to another city now.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 6:35 pm

Ha Ha Ha, no need to move to another city

but you now know that you need to treat you water more carefully.

MoltenLava · Post by **MoltenLava** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:42 pm

Yeah.. I'm just glad that despite this not so optimal condition, my Cherry shrimps are thriving in my first ever fishtank. I have three berried females, and several other showing saddles on the back. Expecting lots of babies real soon.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:13 am

Do get those nitrates down though. Lots of fast growing plants will help. Cherries are tolerant to nitrates at first, then the eggs drop, then the saddles stop, then the shrimp start going away 1 by one.

Lotus · Post by **Lotus** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 1:46 pm

To be honest, I've had cherry shrimp breed at much higher nitrate levels than 10ppm.

Your water company should mail an annual report, and it should also be available at the offices. They don't always make them available online.

Here in California, the "Public Health Goal" (PHG) for nitrates is 45ppm, which basically means that the State of California considers this level to be safe for human consumption.

MoltenLava · Post by **MoltenLava** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 5:30 pm

Lotus wrote:Here in California, the "Public Health Goal" (PHG) for nitrates is 45ppm, which basically means that the State of California considers this level to be safe for human consumption.

I did a quite bit of research since then. The federal EPA guidance for Nitrade contamination is 10ppm for both MCL (maximum contamination level) and MCLG (maximum contamination level goal).

It appears that many of the fertilizer-heavy states in west and midwest, including California, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, etc have high Nitrate contamination in the water supply. And they are really bending the rules by saying 10ppm of Nitrate-Nitrogen (NO3-N) is really equivalent to 45ppm of Nitrate (NO3). Nitrate level really should be lower than how it is now, for you, for your children, and for our shrimps.

Check out the following articles at your leasure.

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminan ... rates.html
http://www.nitrate.com/nitrate3.htm
http://www.oehha.ca.gov/water/phg/refer ... it2_c.html

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:11 pm

To be honest, I've had cherry shrimp breed at much higher nitrate levels than 10ppm

I have too, but not for the long run. Like I said before, the effect is cumulative and they start going down hill after a while. If you have garbage in your tap water you need to get an R/O filter. This will give you pure water for pennies a gallon. You can them add in the hardness you want.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:36 pm

I buy my R/O water from a local drinking water machine. The purification process involves R/O, 2 x UV filtration, and carbon filtration. I just do not want to risk high nitrite/nitrates with my shrimp especially when there are pregnant females!

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:39 am

The UV part is pretty much hype with store water. The supply doesn't have living stuff in it if it is city water. The only prupose is to improve the life of their filter, not to improve the water quality. Nothing wrong with the water, but at 30 cents a gallon at my local store, it paid for me to get my own unit for $225. $40 a year gets me new flters and I can draw 30 gallons a day for a year without replacing the filters.