TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
11 ppm on which scale?
Questions About My Results.
- Thread starter Vethian
- Start date
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TwoTankAmin said:
10 mg/L or 10 ppm
http
/water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/nitrate.cfm
TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
1 mg/l = 1 ppm. That is not what i meant by which scale. As I posted earlier in this thread, There are two scales used to measure things like ammonia, nitrite or nitrate. One is called the nitrogen scale and when this is used you will see one of two things- either -Nitrogen or -N. here is an example: 1.5 ppm NH3-N or 1 .5 ppm NH3-Nitrogen.
That -N or -Nitrogen means it is using the nitrogen scale. One the other hand if the test measure Total Ions, there will be no -N or -nitrogen at the end. The one exception is sometime it is outright stated "measured as nitrogen" and then the -N or -Nitrogen is omitted.
The EPA drinking water standards for nitrate are stated using the nitrogen scale not the total ion scale. However, hobby test kits almost always measure using the total ion scale.
So what I was asking you is what scale your nitrate report used. The 10 mg/l-N the government sets is the Nitrogen scale. When we test using our hobby kit that result is shown using the total ion scale. This means that 10 mg/l-N would test out in a tank as 44.3 ppm.
The EPA site does not make this clear on the link you posted above. If you go here and then scroll down to Nitrate you will see :"Nitrate (measured as Nitrogen)" http/water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/index.cfm
The standards for nitrite also use the nitrogen scale. However, the standards for ammonia levels which were revised in 2013 do not appear on the master list. If you are curious about these, the information is here: http/water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/standards/criteria/aqlife/ammonia/upload/Aquatic-Life-Ambient-Water-Quality-Criteria-for-Ammonia-Freshwater-2013-Fact-Sheet-April.pdf And this too uses the nitrogen scale:
So, your 11 ppm of nitrate is on which scale- nitrogen or total ion?
That -N or -Nitrogen means it is using the nitrogen scale. One the other hand if the test measure Total Ions, there will be no -N or -nitrogen at the end. The one exception is sometime it is outright stated "measured as nitrogen" and then the -N or -Nitrogen is omitted.
The EPA drinking water standards for nitrate are stated using the nitrogen scale not the total ion scale. However, hobby test kits almost always measure using the total ion scale.
So what I was asking you is what scale your nitrate report used. The 10 mg/l-N the government sets is the Nitrogen scale. When we test using our hobby kit that result is shown using the total ion scale. This means that 10 mg/l-N would test out in a tank as 44.3 ppm.
The EPA site does not make this clear on the link you posted above. If you go here and then scroll down to Nitrate you will see :"Nitrate (measured as Nitrogen)" http
/water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/index.cfmThe standards for nitrite also use the nitrogen scale. However, the standards for ammonia levels which were revised in 2013 do not appear on the master list. If you are curious about these, the information is here: http
/water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/standards/criteria/aqlife/ammonia/upload/Aquatic-Life-Ambient-Water-Quality-Criteria-for-Ammonia-Freshwater-2013-Fact-Sheet-April.pdf And this too uses the nitrogen scale:So, your 11 ppm of nitrate is on which scale- nitrogen or total ion?
TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
Your tap would be slightly out of compliance if it were a municipal system. It also means your tap nitrate levels should test at about 49 ppm or so on a hobby kit. This also gives you a unique opportunity to see just how accurate your test kit might be, You should be able to test your tap which should show a color on an API kit at over 40 but clearly not close to the 80 ppm level.
The fact that this kit makes it hard to tell the difference between 40 and 80 ppm is an example of how difficult it can be to get a handle on nitrate levels using a hobby kit. 50 ppm is way less than say 70 ppm, but how well can we see such a difference? Even the difference between 20 and 40 is hard ti discern.
If you decide you really want to do something to lower nitrate you will have a few choices. Using 25% ro water would cut your tap from 50 ppm to under 38 ppm. using 1/3 ro would put you at under 33. I doubt you need to do anything to reconstitute your water. If you then have sufficient live plants in your tank and do not add nitrate ferts, this might solve the problem. There are other solutions but these are two of the simpler ones which require minimal effort.
Bear in mind when one uses ro as above that it will affect the other parameters as well. Your TDS should drop which also means your pH may come down a few tenths as well.
The fact that this kit makes it hard to tell the difference between 40 and 80 ppm is an example of how difficult it can be to get a handle on nitrate levels using a hobby kit. 50 ppm is way less than say 70 ppm, but how well can we see such a difference? Even the difference between 20 and 40 is hard ti discern.
If you decide you really want to do something to lower nitrate you will have a few choices. Using 25% ro water would cut your tap from 50 ppm to under 38 ppm. using 1/3 ro would put you at under 33. I doubt you need to do anything to reconstitute your water. If you then have sufficient live plants in your tank and do not add nitrate ferts, this might solve the problem. There are other solutions but these are two of the simpler ones which require minimal effort.
Bear in mind when one uses ro as above that it will affect the other parameters as well. Your TDS should drop which also means your pH may come down a few tenths as well.
Vethian said:
This is important information for the future... copper can kill invertebrates.
Yes, would mean snail outbreak is unlikely if copper present in the tank.
But also would mean you cannot keep shrimps should you want to, copper kills them too.
And copper is difficult to get rid of from tank btw.
But also would mean you cannot keep shrimps should you want to, copper kills them too.
And copper is difficult to get rid of from tank btw.
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