I knew the tap water was bad from just how disgusting it tastes but had no clue it was this bad. Should I stick with my original idea of getting piranha again? I know they're pretty tough fish but I don't wanna get one if it's gonna die a few months or years down the road.
How do you guys from Omaha deal with the high nitrates? Just learn to live with it? Like I said before in the past I've always done water changes when my nitrates got that high
How do you guys from Omaha deal with the high nitrates? Just learn to live with it? Like I said before in the past I've always done water changes when my nitrates got that high
The PH drop is co2 gassing off.duanes Agreed that home testing equipment isn't up to the standards of water plants.
I'll add that the high ph isn't stable, it'll drop a full point after a day. So keeping species that don't deal with ph change well is extra difficult. Aging water is an option. I didn't realize this until I lost a group of roselines. I previously had a few groups of pictus catfish die suddenly just after a water change and finally when my roselines died the same way I researched it and found the reason.
duanes
i head that nitrates resulting from agriculture are more synthetic and don't affect fish the same way organic nitrate does. Is this right?
Nitrate is nitrate.
But look at the test chemists results in the water quality report, an average nitrate level of 3.70ppm, hardly what I'd consider high. Especially in an agricultural area.
The trace ammonia is normal because the plant uses chloramine.
This is why some people use Prime, or one of the other ammonia reducing water stabilizers with water changes.
Where I lived, the water supplier also used chloramine, and I never had a problem.
I just made sure i didn't overstock, and kept a large supply of bio-media in my sumps.
With chloramiine, the supplier does not have to use as much to maintain a disinfectant residual, in order to keep water safe for human health.
If I lived in Omaha, I would not keep Amazonian soft water species.
There are so many hard water, high pH fish available.
I always believe that fitting your fish to the water you have, is the most realistic approach.
But look at the test chemists results in the water quality report, an average nitrate level of 3.70ppm, hardly what I'd consider high. Especially in an agricultural area.
The trace ammonia is normal because the plant uses chloramine.
This is why some people use Prime, or one of the other ammonia reducing water stabilizers with water changes.
Where I lived, the water supplier also used chloramine, and I never had a problem.
I just made sure i didn't overstock, and kept a large supply of bio-media in my sumps.
With chloramiine, the supplier does not have to use as much to maintain a disinfectant residual, in order to keep water safe for human health.
If I lived in Omaha, I would not keep Amazonian soft water species.
There are so many hard water, high pH fish available.
I always believe that fitting your fish to the water you have, is the most realistic approach.
Same way those in England deal with it, use what the tap is as a baseline and do the best you can with that. I'm trying to clear some debt and then get a whole house water filter. I know of a guy in town that has kept a black rhom for 20+ years so it's not impossible.
Then I tested ph of both tap water and the water in my tank which I filled a few days ago. Tube on the left is from my tank and tube on the right is tap water. How the hell is there such a big difference? Ph just happened to be that low when I filled my tank up?
The water in the water lines has co2 dissolved in it. The co2 causes the ph to rise. When the water is removed from the enclosed space of the water lines it begins to gas off the co2. Further more, as water is heated, like say from 50-60* out of the tap to 80* for the tank, it can't hold as much co2 and gasses off even more. All this gassing off of co2 causes the ph to lower. If your water has a lot of dissolved co2 this swing can be quite large and cause serious harm or death.Then I tested ph of both tap water and the water in my tank which I filled a few days ago. Tube on the left is from my tank and tube on the right is tap water. How the hell is there such a big difference? Ph just happened to be that low when I filled my tank up?
My water has large ph swings so I age it in 55 gallon barrels for at least 24 hours before using it. I also heat it while it's in the barrels.
Odd looking color for pH in the right tube from the tap. I would test again just to compare.
The nitrate test appears to be 5ppm to me. Did you follow the test kit instructions exactly? The reason I ask is that you really need to shake the reagent bottles prior to use and wait the correct amount of time.
The nitrate test appears to be 5ppm to me. Did you follow the test kit instructions exactly? The reason I ask is that you really need to shake the reagent bottles prior to use and wait the correct amount of time.
Lol, you see what I mean about the color? I think it looks like 10ppm because it is a darker orange but doesn't appear to have any tinge of red in it.
I think it's fine to use. You'll never have less than 5-10ppm nitrates, but it is far from a high range. If you were seeing 40+ ppm out of the tap, then I'd say you should probably rethink keeping fish, or keep only extremely hardy fish.
I think it's fine to use. You'll never have less than 5-10ppm nitrates, but it is far from a high range. If you were seeing 40+ ppm out of the tap, then I'd say you should probably rethink keeping fish, or keep only extremely hardy fish.
