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Filtering tap water

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I am more than willing to go with treated tap water as long as it's safe.

But is there anything else that could be in tap water that would not be safe?

For example -

Haloacetic acids​

Tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene)​

Total trihalomethanes​

Barium​


Idk if these are in my water or not, but if they are, would conditioner help? And also, what about the lime in the water?
 
Lime increases the GH, which is good for guppies and mollies but bad for Corydoras, tetras and loaches.

There can be all sorts of stuff in tap water. You need to contact your water company via phone or website and get a list of what is in the water. Then make a decision from there. If you have lots of chemicals in the water supply, then running it through a carbon filter or reverse osmosis unit would help remove some of these things.

Most water conditioners do not remove chemicals or heavy metals. You need carbon for this.
 
Colin_T said:
Lime increases the GH, which is good for guppies and mollies but bad for Corydoras, tetras and loaches.

There can be all sorts of stuff in tap water. You need to contact your water company via phone or website and get a list of what is in the water. Then make a decision from there. If you have lots of chemicals in the water supply, then running it through a carbon filter or reverse osmosis unit would help remove some of these things.

Most water conditioners do not remove chemicals or heavy metals. You need carbon for this.
Click to expand...
Thanks
 
Okay, so I looked at the link again, & those things are on that list of what's supposed to be in the tap water. This list looks like it would be the right one. But the thing is, the list also shows Nitrites & Nitrates. But when I test my tap water, those are 0.
 
I would run your tap water through a carbon filter at the very least. You can fill a plastic storage container with tap water and add dechlorinator. Then put a carbon filter in the container of water and let it run for a few days to a week. The carbon should remove most of the stuff from the water.

You can buy big bags of carbon online and use that to make up the carbon filter.

There are different grades of carbon including "carbon", "activated carbon", & highly activated carbon". The highly activated carbon is better than activated carbon, which is better than plain carbon, but they all do the job.

You can make a carbon filter out of some pvc pipe and a couple of end caps. You get a length of pvc pipe (about 2 feet long) and put a mesh screen or filter floss in the bottom. Put an end cap on each end with a hole in it and put a hose fitting in it. Dill the pvc pipe with carbon and put the end caps on. Connect one of the hoses to a tap and turn it on slowly. The slower the water flows through the carbon, the better it works. Let water run through until it is clear. This washes the black dust out of the carbon. Then start collecting the filtered water.

You can also buy filters that fit under the sink and these have a decent sized plastic tube with a carbon cartridge in. You can connect several of these together and have a material filter in one and carbon in another. The tap water flows through the filters and things get removed from the water. Check out the local hardware store for water filters.
 
Colin_T said:
I would run your tap water through a carbon filter at the very least. You can fill a plastic storage container with tap water and add dechlorinator. Then put a carbon filter in the container of water and let it run for a few days to a week. The carbon should remove most of the stuff from the water.

You can buy big bags of carbon online and use that to make up the carbon filter.

There are different grades of carbon including "carbon", "activated carbon", & highly activated carbon". The highly activated carbon is better than activated carbon, which is better than plain carbon, but they all do the job.

You can make a carbon filter out of some pvc pipe and a couple of end caps. You get a length of pvc pipe (about 2 feet long) and put a mesh screen or filter floss in the bottom. Put an end cap on each end with a hole in it and put a hose fitting in it. Dill the pvc pipe with carbon and put the end caps on. Connect one of the hoses to a tap and turn it on slowly. The slower the water flows through the carbon, the better it works. Let water run through until it is clear. This washes the black dust out of the carbon. Then start collecting the filtered water.

You can also buy filters that fit under the sink and these have a decent sized plastic tube with a carbon cartridge in. You can connect several of these together and have a material filter in one and carbon in another. The tap water flows through the filters and things get removed from the water. Check out the local hardware store for water filters.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I'll consider this
 
First of go to goggle and type in your utility. city or town and they type water quality report. You should find more details about your water. Then post a link to that page so everyone here can look at it. Otherwise we are all guessing about your water and what is the best thing to do.

However that said sometimes the water quality reports are very basica and of minimal help. Let use help you by posting the information you can find. Overall tap water will typically have a couple of dozen or more of different elements in and Can have just as many chemicals in it that may or may not be harmful, and they may be coming from natural sources or man made sources. Barium is a natural element that is common in water but it typically pressent in water.

Stormyrose786 said:
I read that if you use hot water, then you have copper in the water
Click to expand...
If the utility is using copper pipes or your home has copper pipes you are going to have copper in your water. And if your water heater has zinc in it (they typically do) you will have zinc in your water. If you have lead pipe then you could have lead in your water. It doesn't mater if you use hot or cold water. My tap water was has 50part per billion of copper in it and plants and animals only need about 10parts per billion and can shrimp can tolerate 30ppb. IT is a myth ash any amount of copper in water is harmful. It is simply not true.

And unfortunately utility water quality reports are not really helpful on copper. . now at some aquarium shops will have copper tests but these basically will only tell you if your water has excessive levels of copper. The API copper test has a minimum detection limit of 400parts per billion. The only way to know exactly how much you have is through an ICP OES lab water test. I wouldn't worry about copper unless your water has a metallic test to it.

Stormyrose786 said:
KH, Gh, & pH are a little high, but I can adjust those.
Click to expand...
You can increase GH and KH but you can only reduce them by removing minerals from the water. So to reduce them you must filter the water.

Heating water in a pot can result is desolved case leaving the water. And the heat may trigger chemical reactions in the water or cause the water to react with the metal of the pot. So heat can change your readings. But for most people it is not relevant.
Stormyrose786 said:
It was strange to me that it was lower when filtered, & that the hardness was also lower, because the faucet filter did not change those numbers. With the faucet filter, those 3 were the same as the plain tap water.
Click to expand...
The water pitcher you were using has a filter that will remove minerals from the water Such as calcium and magneisum which amounts for most of your GH reading and can be a substantial portion KH. KH will also affect PH. So the filter was doing exactly what the manufacture said it would.
 
Last edited:
StevenF said:
First of go to goggle and type in your utility. city or town and they type water quality report. You should find more details about your water. Then post a link to that page so everyone here can look at it. Otherwise we are all guessing about your water and what is the best thing to do.

However that said sometimes the water quality reports are very basica and of minimal help. Let use help you by posting the information you can find. Overall tap water will typically have a couple of dozen or more of different elements in and Can have just as many chemicals in it that may or may not be harmful, and they may be coming from natural sources or man made sources. Barium is a natural element that is common in water but it typically pressent in water.


If the utility is using copper pipes or your home has copper pipes you are going to have copper in your water. And if your water heater has zinc in it (they typically do) you will have zinc in your water. If you have lead pipe then you could have lead in your water. It doesn't mater if you use hot or cold water. My tap water was has 50part per billion of copper in it and plants and animals only need about 10parts per billion and can shrimp can tolerate 30ppb. IT is a myth ash any amount of copper in water is harmful. It is simply not true.

And unfortunately utility water quality reports are not really helpful on copper. . now at some aquarium shops will have copper tests but these basically will only tell you if your water has excessive levels of copper. The API copper test has a minimum detection limit of 400parts per billion. The only way to know exactly how much you have is through an ICP OES lab water test. I wouldn't worry about copper unless your water has a metallic test to it.


You can increase GH and KH but you can only reduce them by removing minerals from the water. So to reduce them you must filter the water.

Heating water in a pot can result is desolved case leaving the water. And the heat may trigger chemical reactions in the water or cause the water to react with the metal of the pot. So heat can change your readings. But for most people it is not relevant.

The water pitcher you were using has a filter that will remove minerals from the water Such as calcium and magneisum which amounts for most of your GH reading and can be a substantial portion KH. KH will also affect PH. So the filter was doing exactly what the manufacture said it would.
Click to expand...

That is supposed to be right, but it says there are Nitrites & Nitrates, & my liquid tests show 0 on those.
 
And thanks for the info ☺

So what about the Pur water filter that says it does not filter out microbes?
 
The LFS tonight told just use Distilled water, which I read needs to have minerals added, or to just use my tap water - treated.

I need something for tomorrow, & I can consider some of these other options after that. I am still nervous about using tap water.
 
I read that Brita doesn't filter microbes, either...& since I am at the store now...I am going to go ahead & get the Pur pitcher.

But I still would greatly appreciate any further advice!
 
You can't keep mollies and guppies in distilled water. They will struggle for a few months and die. They need minerals.

You could mix distilled or reverse osmosis water with your tap water (50/50 mix). But you really need to find out what the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply is. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Knowing the actual numbers for GH, KH and pH would help.

---------------------
To screen out microbes from water, you need very fine filters that contain micron screens or some sort of material that can trap bacteria, viruses, fungus, etc. These can be expensive to buy and difficult to find. Normally water companies add chlorine or chloramine to the water to kill these organisms.

---------------------
Some companies do big water filters and this might be easier because they hold more filtered water.
 
Stormyrose786 said:

That is supposed to be right, but it says there are Nitrites & Nitrates, & my liquid tests show 0 on those.
Click to expand...
I’ve just had a look at that link, that’s not your water companies water quality report, that’s some environmental group lobbying for something. As someone that works with data all day, I’d be cautious making lots of work “treating” your tap water unless you know how and where they’ve gathered their data and how they have cut it to give those figures.

Do most people drink/use the tap water with no ill-effects..? I filter my tap water for making tea and coffee because it’s so hard the calcium build up ruin the kettle (and the tea tastes better) but it’s still safe to drink.
 
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