Tap Water Is Toxic

[Ed1957]

I put some water from my condo in Florida in a plastic water bottle. I am moving my tanks there in August. Tested the water today after the water was in a plastic water bottle. The numbers are crazy. PH 7.4/7.6. Ammonia 0. Now this is where it gets crazy. Nitrites 5 ppm. Not 1/2 ppm. 5 ppm. Deep purple. Nitrates ,5. What is going on. Anyway ever experience this.

 

[Floundering_Around]

Was there a storm recently? Are you on good water?
If that's not a fluke, those are some crazy readings. You'll probably have to buy RO water from an LFS or buy yourself an RO system.

 

[david1978]

There are other ways around it depending how much water you will need. A plant only padio pond or tank or an aquaponics system would use up the nitrites rather quickly leaving you with usable water.

 

[Ed1957]

75 gallon. 36 bow front. 20 gallon QT that I keep 2 fish in at all times.

 

[Ed1957]

On the 7th floor so no patio stuff. Balcony but I am direct waterfront Daytona Beach so I would think anything I put outside would get some salt.

 

[david1978]

yea that would be alot of water.

 

[Ed1957]

The nitrates were 5ppm. Not .5. Nitrates not terrible.

 

[Lorekeeper]

That's crazy! I always knew that Florida tap tasted bad...

A cheap RO filter, or an indoor aquaponics system might be your best option. You can get some cheap RO filters that'd probably take care of the issue for pretty cheap. For aquaponics, you could get a few Rubbermaid tubs, a decent LED striplight, and some fast growing plants. That should take care of the nitrites pretty well.

 

[Ed1957]

I think RO is my best bet. What is involved in that. How does it work.

 

[david1978]

they have both inline and under sink units. Inline would just go on your fill hose. An undersink unit gets plumbed using screw on hoses before your cold water side of your faucet.

 

[Thunder_o_b]

With the water you need I counsel going all in on a 5 or 6 stage RO/DI unit.

This is the one I have.
5 Stage 75GPD Plus RO/DI System - Bulk Reef Supply

I have it plumed to 3 Brutt 30 gallon trashcans. It has a float shut off. I was going to post a thread on the complete setup and how I did it but there was no interest in it to I did not. In time I will be upgrading it to 150
GPD. We are on rather bad well water. But when the water comes out of the RO/DI it is Ph 7. with 1PPM TDS. I remineralize with SeaChem Equilibrium. You MUST remineralize RO/DI water.

 

[Floundering_Around]

You could always stick a pothos plant or cutting into your tank. The plant can't be fully submerged, so you'd have to stick it in your filter or hang it over the edge of your tank. They grow fast and suck up nitrites/nitrates like crazy. Even though your tank is heavily planted, the pothos has access to more CO2 and will grow faster

 

[Ed1957]

More important than the fish is the how the water will affect humans. I understand the EPA recommends that nitrites should be 1 ppm or less and nitrates should be 10ppm or less in drinking water. I will retest the water again when I go there this weekend and if the levels are high I will call the water company. Plants are not going to help much. The fish will be dead before they can soak up 5ppm of nitrites.

 

[wodesorel]

What about checking to see if there is a good LFS nearby? If the water really is that bad and it wasn't a fluke test, they would know and maybe have some work-arounds for it.

 

[Ed1957]

The LFS is the next place I was planning to go once notifying the water company. I am believing they will point me to a RO unit. Maybe I need to put a 50 gallon garbage container on my balcony and see how much water I can accumulate in a week. 20 gallons would be the minimum I would need each week. The balcony is covered so I would have to put it in the outer corner.