Testing your tap water - how long to wait?

Porter10

Porter10

AC Members
Dec 20, 2006
15
0
0
Shrewsbury, MA
I'd like to test my tap water (for PH, KH GH, Nitrate, Phosphate, and Iron), but have heard many different opinions on how to do it.

I heard you should pour some new tap water into a glass bowl and wait 24 hrs for the gases, etc. to disperse and then test it.

Any thoughts?

- Jeff
 
If you dont want to wait overnight, drop an airstone in the water for an hour or two and then test. Disolved gases are what you are looking to work out before testing.

As an example, water comes from my tap at pH 6.3, after outgassing the co2 it rises to its actual 7.4 pH.
 
Importskyline22 said:
Where did you find that? Id like to find one for my area.
Click to expand...

Probably Google, uness it was printed on the annual water statement sent out by the water authority/company. :)

TwoTankAmin is correct...*resisting temptation to make wise crack about dissolved being misspelled*...ahhh, did it :D
 
Yes just google your local water company. They all have to do reports on the water quality. It is the easiest way to find out what your water chemistry is. I would then test it straight from the tap. That would give you a good idea about what is in it and what tests might not be accurate. Then I would take fresh water again and dechlorinate it and test it again. Unless you are storing water that is what you actually put in your tanks. After that I would off gas the water and test it again. Then compare all those results with the water actually in the tank. At some point in there I actually took some of the water to my LFS and got them to run all those tests to make sure I wasn’t making any big mistakes.

I did all of this a few years ago. It is very informative. Then I compared all that to the DIY fert lists and figured out what I needed to add. Less Epson salt more enema kind of thing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom