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  1. #1
    Member Rank = Nisai shumboom's Avatar
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    Tap water dilemma

    Hi

    I just tested my water and both my nitrates and nitrites were high. But then I tested my tap water and the nitrites are higher than the pond's. But the nitrates are zero.

    Is it safe to add?

    TIA
    SHumit



  2. #2
    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion Feline's Avatar
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    Hi.
    What are the readings, which test kit did you use to get them, and what does your water company say should be in your water (their website will give you an analysis)?

  3. #3
    Member Rank = Nisai shumboom's Avatar
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    readings

    Quote Originally Posted by Feline View Post
    Hi.
    What are the readings, which test kit did you use to get them, and what does your water company say should be in your water (their website will give you an analysis)?
    Thank you for your reply

    I used tetra 6 in 1 pond strips

    pond showed 100/mg/l Nitrites, 10 mg/l Nitrates

    tap showed 200 mg/l Nitrites , 0 mg/l Nitrates

  4. #4
    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion Feline's Avatar
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    Ah ok. The strips are really pretty crap for anything like an accurate reading. I would invest in a proper liquid drop pond kit and you may well find your readings are totally different.

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  6. #5
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Kyusai TinyTony's Avatar
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    as said above get a new test kit

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  8. #6
    Member Rank = Nisai shumboom's Avatar
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    test kit

    Quote Originally Posted by TinyTony View Post
    as said above get a new test kit
    any suggestions? I only bought the Tetra because it had the highest rating on Amazon...

  9. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    the API pond master kits are good,ive always used them,andi https://www.amazon.co.uk/API-Pond-Ma...oding=UTF8&me=

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  11. #8
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Kyusai TinyTony's Avatar
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    i use both api and columbo

  12. #9
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shumboom View Post
    Thank you for your reply

    I used tetra 6 in 1 pond strips

    pond showed 100/mg/l Nitrites, 10 mg/l Nitrates

    tap showed 200 mg/l Nitrites , 0 mg/l Nitrates

    With 100 mg/l pond nitrites your fish would be dead. They would be noticeably sick beyond 2 mg/l.
    With 200 mg/l tap water nitrites you would be dead. You would be noticeably sick beyond 10 mg/l

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  14. #10
    Member Rank = Nisai shumboom's Avatar
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    I got the Blagdon pond test kit - it was on sale!

    it showed completely different results but a similar dilemma

    Pond Nitrates 50 mg/l - Nitrites 0.1 mg/l
    Tap Nitrates 50 mg/l - Nitrites 0 mg/l

    Have tested twice. So should I be using tap water to make water changes?

  15. #11
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    you should be putting it through a dechlorinator,and use sodium thiosulphate to get rid of chlorine,andi

  16. #12
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Kyusai TinyTony's Avatar
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    zero out ve the tap ? is blagdon a strip test kit ? buy some dpd4 tablets to check chlorine and as said use a purifier

  17. #13
    Member Rank = Nisai shumboom's Avatar
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    nitrates

    Quote Originally Posted by andikoi View Post
    you should be putting it through a dechlorinator,and use sodium thiosulphate to get rid of chlorine,andi
    Hi, I do all that. The Ph is good - I have been doing a lot of water changes but now I suspect this does nothing to the nitrates.

    All my research suggests I put lots of plants into the pond or add a bog filter. These are not ideal now as I was going for a full pond build in the Spring. Anything I can do now?

    thanks

  18. #14
    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion Feline's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shumboom View Post
    I got the Blagdon pond test kit - it was on sale!

    it showed completely different results but a similar dilemma

    Pond Nitrates 50 mg/l - Nitrites 0.1 mg/l
    Tap Nitrates 50 mg/l - Nitrites 0 mg/l

    Have tested twice. So should I be using tap water to make water changes?
    Yes use tap water for your water changes, it's the safest way as rain water is not suitable.
    Your max water change in one go would be 25% of pond volume. If you're having to do it daily because of a nitrite issue though I would do something like 10% per day. Too much water changing can delay the filters and water fully maturing.

    Don't worry too much about the nitrates- they won't actually harm your fish. It's the ammonia and nitrites that are harmful and need to be as close to zero as possible. A nitrite of 0.1 is not disastrous though. Keep doing your dechlorinated water changes to keep it diluted out until the filters mature enough to deal with all of it.

    The easiest way of reducing nitrates is to have plants or a veggie. filter area, but you could also consider an anoxic filter setup. There are other types of. filters that claim to be able to reduce nitrate, such as trickle towers, but won't work in every individual situation. Filters that keep nitrates down by helping 'gas off' ammonia before it's converted won't help you much if your tap water is adding nitrates to the system.

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