Water quality

[Nickoz1]

So was wondering if its a must with distilled / rO water. I found out my lfs is using tap dechorinated, and kinda put me off road when i thought i was paying for distilled/ ro. Anyways i have a jug of distilled here, is it possible for distilled water to have nitrates? I tested it with my api saltwater test kit and it showed 20ppm. ( im almost positive this is distilled and i dumped the tap out that lfs gave me.

Hoping for someone to give me good advice. I cant afford ro unit atm.
But its being done when i gather some money.

 

[little_fish]

Well, its not a must, but it helps a lot. I would also check your test kit because distilled water should be nothing but water. I would find a new LFS that actually uses RO/DI water to make up their salt and for top off water.

 

[Nickoz1]

I used my. Saltwater test kit for nitrates.... Is that alright or will it have to be freshwater one?
It could be because im using saltwater test kit for checking fresh n mabe thats why its reading the way it is?

 

[little_fish]

It could be, but these kits can also go bad and give false readings

 

[Nickoz1]

Welll somereason i think the reason why nitrates r high is due to lfs giving me tap water. Every water change im going to use ddistilled n hopefully nitrates go down after little.

 

[Amba]

Just get gallons from the grocery store they're like 40 cents.

 

[Nickoz1]

I tested water from water place and no nitrates. So alll good. I payed 4 $ for 5 gallons. Anyways im doing water changes till water drops each day! Small ones that is. Nitrates are at 40 right now. Diid one last night and tested this morning and didnt see a difference yet. In time mabe?

 

[bjohanson1234]

It could take a while. How much are you changing at a time? The larger the water change, the faster it will go down. As long as your tank isn't making more than you are removing.

 

[ErinCahir]

Beej I love your new signature!!

 

[bjohanson1234]

Watched it the other day with Ryland. Loves movies with lots of songs in them.

 

[ErinCahir]

Cute!! I just watched Hook and the Iron Giant with my older two. We all cried at the end of Iron Giant. Aww.

 

[Nickoz1]

Out of 3O gallon im doing half of 5 gallon pail. Mabe 10%? should i do fulll 5 galllon?

 

[bjohanson1234]

I have a 30 gallon tank, I do 4 gallons at a time. 5 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket just splashes around too much.

Doing a 10% water change will only reduce the nitrates by 10%

If they start at 40ppm, doing a 10% change will only reduce them by 4ppm down to 36ppm. If you have a high bioload, it could very well increase it back the 4ppm by your next water change. Also, the amount of nitrates absorbed in your rock is also at a 40ppm concentration. It will then start to leach out this excess nitrates. Bringing the concentration back up. You just need to be diligent on the water changes and over time they will lower.

 

[robbrouse]

Just get gallons from the grocery store they're like 40 cents.

Not sure about where you live but everything my way, does not test well and I think it's just RO no DI added. My understanding is we should not drink RO/DI water. I would be wrong, but I do remember reading it somewhere.

 

[Nickoz1]

Illl try bigger change then? N make sure i dont mix anything up

 

[bjohanson1234]

Also, the colors on the test kits are hard to distinguish. The color between 35 and 40 might be so close you cant tell.

 

[Nickoz1]

I know its like dark orange. Either way its to high. Whats a good level for corals.? I was thinking 5-10 ppm.? Ill do water change today n test it agian. And its not that i over feed, i have 2 fish n i feed them every other day. Couple pellets since there demsels

 

[Amba]

Not sure about where you live but everything my way, does not test well and I think it's just RO no DI added. My understanding is we should not drink RO/DI water. I would be wrong, but I do remember reading it somewhere.

I have it locally but maybe that's just me. You can also get water from a lot of LFS, they will usually charge somewhere in $0.50-$1.00 pr gallon though. Another option is a chemical supply store. I got a bunch of it there for a project before I got into reefing.

 

[Amba]

I know its like dark orange. Either way its to high. Whats a good level for corals.? I was thinking 5-10 ppm.? Ill do water change today n test it agian. And its not that i over feed, i have 2 fish n i feed them every other day. Couple pellets since there demsels

Ideal levels are zero for nitrites, nitrates and ammonia. 10ppm is acceptable though, it is quite difficult to get zero nitrates. I run HC GFO and a lot of other filtration and coupled with water changes sometimes I still detect nitrates.

 

[Nickoz1]

Ok. Yah i never had 0 nitrates lowest i had was 5ppm when i was doing my freshwater. Whats the most i can do in a day for water change?