Tap Water Test

[Gelt]

Tested my Tap water today here are the results

Location : Surrey
Water Comapany : East Surrey Water


pH
low > 7.6
high> 7.8

Ammonia > 0.25 ppm

NitrIte (No2) > zero
NitrAte (No3) > 10 ppm

Then all set for 1st April fishless cycle start.


another thing when do water companies dose the water supplies, weekly,monthly or ongoing?

Cheers

 

[Randi]

I'm pretty sure it's ongoing.

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

If you go on their website and put your postcode in it should give you details of your local water quality.

My water authority does not publish the details as to when they dose. You could assume they would do it after testing but they dont tell you that either.

Depending on where you are, dosing of different chemicals can take place at different treatment plants.
With some of the chemicals i guess it could effect its concentration depending on how near or far you are to the plant.

Generally, if you double the stated dose of decholrinator to the water for your fish you should be fine.

The only thing to remember is that if you add dechlorinator to the tank, then you need to dose according to the volume of the tank not the ammount of water you are adding.

So, for one of my tanks which is 350L, i add dechlorinator to the tank when i do a water change. I calculate how much i need and double it and add it straight to the tank and then add my water.

If i am adding the decholrinator to the water before putting it into the tank then i have to use the volume of that water. So if its a a tub with 25L of water then the dechlorinator will be calculated for that amount and doubled.

The doubling of dechlorinator is recommended as you dont know when a large amount of chemicals may be added due to a change in water parameters or somebody miscalculating!

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, excellent write-up by BBB there! The thing of dosing conditioner at 1.5x to 2x is simply a case of "erring on the side of caution" because there cases of water authorities "shocking" their pipe systems with larger than usual chlorine/chloramine doses in order to combat some bacterial reading they've taken somewhere out in their pipe system. The long-term experienced aquarists here on TFF have reported that this happens from time to time. The thing of not going above 2x over-dosing of conditioner comes from Hovanec, who feels it has a suppression effect on Nitrospira growth and of course we do not want to do anything to get in the way of good N-Bac growth within the first year of a new tank, as the bacteria continue to move toward full maturity all during that first year.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[zebidee4ever]

This is something new Ive learnt today. BBB I believe you are situated in the west midlands like myself. From now on I will be adding 2x the amount of seachem Prime, when my tank eventually cycles and is ready for fish and when I do water changes from then on.

I have a 110 litre tank and wondered if anyone can advise the amount of Prime I should be adding when I do a water change.

 

[Gelt]

Thanks Guys for the replies,

Got an exact water chemistry report from East Surrey water sure is interesting reading...especially the last page of the pdf

Water Quality Report

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

If you are using the 500ml bottle of prime then the bottle cap holds 5ml. Each thread on the cap is 1ml.
5ml is sufficient to treat 200L of water.

Therefore if you are going to add it straight to your tank and then add the water, a cap full is fine.
Otherwise, alter the dosage if you are going to add it to the water before it goes into the tank.

 

[zebidee4ever]

Thanks Barry you have been most helpful.

 

[waterdrop]

I should also add that I think the thing of overdosing conditioner (such as Prime) can be weighed against the maturity of the biofilter. Specifically, my personal take on it is that one could consider doing the 2x overdosing for the first 6 months to a year of the life of the new aquarium, while the colonies are still maturing and then consider recalculating down to a 1.5x dose once beyond a year, since the big mature colonies will be much more resilient. And if you are beyond a year and are doing quite small water changes such as 20% or less then there is probably even less need, as some would do these without conditioner at all. But that decision should be weighed against the cost of the insurance (conditioner is like insurance) versus the value of the fish stock either in money terms or sentimental terms. Yet another alternative is storage of tap water for a period of time to clear the chlorine/chloramine (there are beermaker articles testing how long it takes for chloramines to air out - definately longer than for chlorine) rather than using the sodium thiosulphate (the chemical in conditioner that clears the chlorine compounds) treatment.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[BIG BAD BARRY]

Thanks WD for the additional info.