Water Quality Question

lbannie

lbannie

Member
Hi Everyone.... New question: When I started my 30 gal tank (1 year ago! YAY!) I used water from the tap. We have a private well. I have to be honest, I didn't do PWC's as I should have and developed a lot of algae. So I started buying RO water from walmart. I've been religiously doing water changes every week 3-5 gallons. I've learned how important water changes are! So my question is that I bought a home water testing kit and tested my water......and the results are:
Bacteria = negative
Lead = negative
Pesticides= negative
Chlorine = 0
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0
Copper = 0
Alkalinity = 180 ppm
Hardness = 3 grains (50ppm)
Ph = 8
Iron = 0
so.... do you think my water is safe to use?

Thanks guys
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

To be honest no, it won't poison the fish and the corals if you have them will be unharmed. The algae however will enjoy it allot. Stay with the filtered water because there is NOTHING in it useful for anything. Thats right not even for your body.
It makes perfect fish tank water because the only thing in that water is what YOU put in it. Therefore you have control. Also just so you know. There is no such thing as 0 bacteria unless it is filtered water.
You can buy your own little RO unit and make your own water, that is what most of us do.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
I would still use filtered water, because I'm scared of tap. But I'm interested to see what your phosphate readings are coming out of your well...
 
lbannie

lbannie

Member
Ok, just tested the water with my API phosphate test kit and it came out 0ppm......I've tested it a few times before this and always get a 0 reading.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Do you have a way of having your figures double checked? I would have the LFS or a buddy using a different test kit run the same battery of tests and see what you come up with....
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by lbannie http:///forum/thread/382791/water-quality-question#post_3343254
O great
that's the brand of all my testing supplies!
I think that their ammonia, nitrite, pH and KH is decent. I don't like it for much more than that. It is the industry standard and many people use it, but more advances hobbyists complain that it's not that accurate. it's sort of like using a hydrometer, it's accurate, sometimes, but better to use a refractometer, know what I mean?
For Nitrate I use SeaChem.
For everything else I use Salifert and I have a pH probe.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
I have a Sieferts API and red sea phos kit and they all ready the same. FWIW
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///forum/thread/382791/water-quality-question#post_3343255
I think that their ammonia, nitrite, pH and KH is decent. I don't like it for much more than that. It is the industry standard and many people use it, but more advances hobbyists complain that it's not that accurate. it's sort of like using a hydrometer, it's accurate, sometimes, but better to use a refractometer, know what I mean?
For Nitrate I use SeaChem.
For everything else I use Salifert and I have a pH probe.
Agree.....do like the SeaChem as well....been using that for years.....The Salifert I use for everything else. Interested in trying the Elos test kits which I heard were comparable or a tad better than Salifert, but haven't tried them yet.....
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///forum/thread/382791/water-quality-question#post_3343314
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///forum/thread/382791/water-quality-question#post_3343255
I think that their ammonia, nitrite, pH and KH is decent. I don't like it for much more than that. It is the industry standard and many people use it, but more advances hobbyists complain that it's not that accurate. it's sort of like using a hydrometer, it's accurate, sometimes, but better to use a refractometer, know what I mean?
For Nitrate I use SeaChem.
For everything else I use Salifert and I have a pH probe.
Agree.....do like the SeaChem as well....been using that for years.....The Salifert I use for everything else. Interested in trying the Elos test kits which I heard were comparable or a tad better than Salifert, but haven't tried them yet.....
Elos is hard for me to find, but when I have used it, I've gotten the same readings as the Salifert kit. I'm actually going to try Elos again once the 180 is setup. My only complaint with Salifert is the nitrate kit is horrible inaccurate, which is why I use the SeaChem.
 
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