The Planted Tank Forum banner

My Tab water analysis .. Any advise is welcomed

2K views 19 replies 8 participants last post by  abdul 
#1 ·
Hi,

I tested my tab water direct from the faucet and here is the results:
pH : 6.6-6.8
KH : 1.5 d
GH : <3 mg/l
nitrite NO2 : 0.25 mg/l
nitrate NO3 : 10-18 mg/l
CO2 : <14.9
chlorine Cl : 0

I have 300 Litre aquarium with ADA Aquasoil Amazonia. My aquarium has some plants with no fishes. I have a plant to stock it later.
The aquarium has no filtration or airstone

based on the above analysis, Do I need to add prime or have RO/DI system? or Do I need to have a buffer?

Is it safe to pour my tab water directly to the aquarium with a active carbon filtration? Should I circulate the water first?
 
#7 ·
Its hard to believe there is no chlorine added in a tap water and chlorine is not good for your plants.
For plant only tanks you don't need a filter, but you need mild water circulation which can be achieved by air stone or power heads.

Also to be safe you can store the tap water in some bucket for 24 hours which would gas out the chlorine. Probably you tested a water which was stored somewhere in your household to get that zero chlorine reading. In that case you don't need Prime or any kind of water conditioner.
 
#8 ·
Chlorine is a very mild disinfectant at the levels used in drinking water. It is normally carefully controlled to a level which will keep the bacteria and disease in the drinking water down to a level that is safe for most people but not strong enough to kill too much of the good bacteria in our digestive track. So how it may work with your plants is an open question. We don't normally find drinking water that is not treated in many of the crowded countries so it would be good to determine what is done in your case. There are places where treatment is not needed but it is not uniform around the world. Knowledge is power so do ask some questions of the local supply.
Fish do need to have the chlorine removed in most cases so some product like Prime is needed if there is chlorine or chloramine present. If it is only chlorine, storing the water for a day or so before use will let the chlorine gas off but testing is needed to figure out what and how long.

Your tests show your water is very soft( not many minerals?) and somewhat acidic. The lack of minerals may be due to the treatment, distilled water? This may tend to make the PH very easy to change and do abrupt changes which fish may not find good. Plants are less prone to harm.
Best of luck with the project!
 
#9 ·
Being that you're located in the UAE I'm not at all familiar with your tapwater. Do you know what kind of process is used to make or keep your tap water potable? I know there is some desalination done there but not familiar at all with disinfection processes.
 
#17 ·
I did a quick research and I found that the country has "Water Quality Regulations" to achieve "Drinking water safety plan". You can find it here The Water Quality Regulations (Fourth Edition)

I found this table http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=674929&thumb=1

Also, there is "The Guide for Chemicals and Products that come in contact with Drinking Water 2014", I found types of water treatment chemicals http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=674937&thumb=1

in page 21-22 a list water treatments. This is a quote from the page

10.3 Chemicals and products used in treatment of distillate (remineralisation and
conditioning):
(a) limestone/hydrated lime/ calcium carbonate
(b) pH correction- sodium hydroxide (NaOH) + CO2
(c) primary and secondary disinfection by NaOCl (salt based) or Cl2 gas
(d) acidified water
(e) sodium silicate
(f) sodium hypochlorite
Hope this answered your question
 

Attachments

#10 ·
Clearly the water suppliers there don't artificially raise the pH of their water to protect the copper and lead in water piping from erosion. Your pH would be considered too low for water in the USA, so it would come out of the tap at something closer to 8pH, then after a day or two the pH would drop down to the lower reading. Given how soft your water is I suspect it is either distilled/ desalinated, or river water. The more you can learn about the source of the water the easier it will be to decide what you should treat it with, if anything.
 
#18 ·
There is a chance the way water distribute in the city play big role in the parameters.

We have hot weather. We reach 45c which is around 100F. You can boil eggs in the street by Sun.

Water come from city main tank around 10:00AM to 12:00PM to fill a big Glass-fiber tanks in each home. This water stay 2-3 days in kinda sealed tank under this temperature. The water flow to bathrooms in a high pressure. so, the CO2 in the water can be different if I use soft flow faucet or hard flow.
 
#12 ·
I also recommend ditching the test strips. Also, consider letting your tap water rest in a shallow Tupperware container and then testing for pH after 24hr and again 48hr.

My tap water comes out at 6.8, with a 3° GH and KH. After 48 hr though it shoots up to 7.8
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top