Found: Nitrate in tap water ?

[EbiTank]

hi, spoke to fellow reefer today abt increasing nitrate in pure reef tank (ok, + 1 cleaner shrimp) and went home to test my overnight tap water(premixed with coralife salt) and found traces of nitrate.

1. is it common to detect nitrate in hdb tapwater ?

2. or is it due to certain areas we live in, i.e. pipes old, storage tank in hdb old etc.

ps. i live in the west and flat is >20 years old. currently don't use any RO or DI kits.

thanks.

[CKS]

How heavy is the NO3 reading?

the last time i tested my tap water for only 1-2ppm of NO3 which isnt that bad IMO

neither do i have RO/DI

[Tanzy]

It could be due to the rainy season with the rain washing fertiliser into the rivers, so the nitrates may be higher.

[EbiTank]

hi CKS, cannot remember exact, but was pale orange on my Sera scale. enough to scare me

hey Tanzy, that sounds possible, cos this is not the first time i tested tapwater, and I never got such a high reading before.

pls help me to recall, does RO/DI remove nitrates ?

[Tanzy]

DI can remove nitrates.