BobandBecca
Aquarium Advice Regular
We have just tested our tap water for the third time in a row and we keep getting a reading of 40-80 ppm each time. That can't be good...
tamtam said:Are you shaking up the bottles really good before doing the tests? I know that sometimes things can settle or crystallize in the base of the bottles and it will throw off test results. Give them a few solid whacks on a counter or table and shake the snot out of them and try again.
Has it always tested like this or is it the first time you've tested?
jlk said:Do you have well or city water? Were these tests done in the last few days?
jlk said:Normally, city water shouldn't vary much and the EPA has strict guidelines for public drinking supplies. The max allowable nitrate levels are 10ppm. But, because we just had a major hurricane with heavy rainfall, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a disruption in water quality.
I would contact your local water authority and discuss your nitrate concerns with them and see what they have to say. They can send out someone to take water samples and run precision tests to determine exact numbers (this costs you nothing). If there is still an unresolved issue, you can call the EPAs safe drinking water hotline and ask for further help. I don't have the #
In front of me but google should pull it right up.
For anyone that is following this thread still. My water quality has changed alot lot in the last 4 days. It has now been steady at 5ppm nitrate and my ph has gone down to 7.0 the ph was 7.6 before. I now know that i will just have to keep my eye on my city water quality too.
The city water department and the epa were almost impossible for me to talk to. I refused to sit on hold any longer then 10 minutes. Anyway thanks everyone for the help.