Heys guys!!
Ive just done a water test on my tank and the levels are as follows
pH - 7.0
AMMONIA - 0ppm
NITRITE - 0ppm
NITRATE - 10ppm
These levels are good but i also did a test on my tap water without conditioners init or anything and the levels were
pH - 7.0
AMMONIA - 0ppm
NITRITE - 0ppm
NITRATE - Just below 5ppm.
With these levels in my tap water could i just put it straight into my tank without adding the conditioners such as Safe guard and safe water (king british products).
Would be greatful if anyone can help cheers
I'd expect the "harmful metals" to be fairly low on the scale of harmfullness in the tapwater in the UK (at least if the tap-water is 7 or higher in pH), but Chlorine at some unidentified level is added to tap-water to sterilize it. This will be present when you pour it from the tap.
You can get a water report from your local water-supplier, it will tell you the min, max and mean values of "last years" testing.
You have two choices when it comes to removing chlorine:
1. Leave it to aerate for 24 hours (that is, add an air-stone to a tub of water, and leave it for 24 hours or more).
2. Add a dechlorinator compound. These often say that they neutralize other things such as heavy metals [1], but I expect this to be of negligable effect if you have public water supply in the UK.
[1]I'm pretty sure that the active ingredient in this is EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), which indeed binds many differnt substances - however, it's not really "removing", it's just binding it so that it's not quite as easily taken up in other ways.
