# Zap the Tap



## PBM3000 (19 May 2018)

I’ve always used pure RO (then added minerals) for water changes on my Cherry shrimp tank but I now want to avoid the hassle of buying the stuff (and the expense/waste of making my own). 

However, my tap water comes out at 40ppm nitrates so that’s a concern. I have one of those Pozanni nitrate filters so if I zap the tap water what am I left with?  Would it need mineralisation or treatment of any sort? How long could I keep it in 25l containers as stock?


----------



## dw1305 (19 May 2018)

Hi all, 





PBM3000 said:


> I have one of those Pozanni nitrate filters


These are ion exchange resins, so they swap the the NO3- ion for an another anion (usually chloride Cl-). They don't change any of the other water parameters. 

If you have plenty of plants I'd just use the tap water, Cherry Shrimps like hard-water and the plants will reduce the NO3. 

cheers Darrel


----------



## PBM3000 (20 May 2018)

Thanks.  Would this be considered 'plenty'? (55l scapers tank)


----------



## dw1305 (20 May 2018)

Hi all, 





PBM3000 said:


> Would this be considered 'plenty'?


No, probably not in terms of efficient NO3 reduction. You really need a floating, or emergent, plant with a fast growth rate and access to aerial CO2.

Could you pre-treat the water? You would just need a container with some floating plants, Water Lettuce (_Pistia stratiotes_) <"would be ideal">, although you could use a polystyrene float and grew Lettuces in it. You could do this outside in the summer.



cheers Darrel


----------



## zozo (20 May 2018)

PBM3000 said:


> However, my tap water comes out at 40ppm nitrates so that’s a concern.



My tapwater has about the same, the water company states average always > 20 ppm.. If i run a drop test myself the color always tells me its far  over 20 all the time. Dunno what it realy have and actualy don't care anymore because i do not experience any problems.

I have a syngonium growing in a pot in the living room, it's a trailing plant. Lately it needed a trim and did cut a portion off. I hung it with a suction cup inside the tank and leave it trailing over the side. And it grows on happily..




These are the roots the rootless cutting grew in about 2 months time and while taking the picture i notice the suction cup is loose. So it doesn't realy need extra support 
Thats the pro of a trailing plant hanging over.




Mater of taste, but you mind find these roots hanging in the backround a welcome atractive addition to the scape. For example squeez it in between the glas and the filter and let the roots grow and tangle down in front of it. Syngonium is just 1 possible option i had at hand and somehow i rarely dispose plants if i don't have to. But i also could use a Philodendron spp. for it. There are several choises in color and leave shape..


----------



## PARAGUAY (20 May 2018)

I use common garden ivy hedera never fails to set roots, and the roots look really good as an addition I agree, mingled in with a peace lily and the Siamese Algae Eater just loves to graze around the roots


----------



## Petra R (20 May 2018)

PARAGUAY said:


> I use common garden ivy hedera never fails to set roots, and the roots look really good as an addition I agree, mingled in with a peace lily and the Siamese Algae Eater just loves to graze around the roots



I'm going to try that! I have some neglected ivy in the garden


----------



## PBM3000 (20 May 2018)

Thanks all.  I have a golden ivy at the ready but I'm not that enamoured about hanging it on the tank to be fair.  I also have Frogbit which does well in my main tank but, again, wasn't planning to add them.  Which is kinda why I just wanted to run the tap through the nitrate filter and store it as stock in 25l containers...


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke (20 May 2018)

PBM3000 said:


> However, my tap water comes out at 40ppm nitrates so that’s a concern.



I wouldn't worry about it, just see it more of a benefit than a concern as you're getting free no3 possibly. Just omit any kno3 from you're fertilising regime and be done with it and see how that pans out. Looking on a quick graph on rotala butterflyand change 50% water weekly and if say you have 40ppm out the tap and the plants in there were using say 1ppm per day which is probably quite a low estimate and a third  of what most people on an E.I regime dose without any issues the graph would look like this...





As you can see nitrate wise I would say you are sitting in a pretty nice place with plenty of buffer if the plants use more than you thought. Obviously adding a fast growing weedy stem plant or some duck weed would increase the no3 reduction further still and just keep harvesting out the floaters regularly or clipping down the stem often. Maybe put a pothos plant or similar in one of them little glass bowls you can get on auction sites for a couple of quid which aren't such an eye sore, in fact in an open topped tank I think they add more to the overall aesthetic and give a very natural feel. Don't treat the no3 as an enemy, the best way to deal with it is to put it in your tank and let those plants feed on it I would say.


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke (20 May 2018)

BTW nice tank! You have Hydrocotyle tripartita in there which is known for growing weedy already. Just let that go a bit nuts.


----------



## PBM3000 (20 May 2018)

Thanks again all.  I'm perhaps guilty of overprotecting my Cherry shrimp when in fact they're probably much hardier than I realise.  This stems from my experience of losing ten (of a dozen) within a month of getting them last year with no apparent cause.  Fortunately I was left with a breeding pair which did their thing and I'm back to around 16 adults - with more on the way.



AverageWhiteBloke said:


> BTW nice tank! You have Hydrocotyle tripartita in there which is known for growing weedy already. Just let that go a bit nuts.


Cheers.  Yes, I intend to get it growing up and towards the back but also trailing diagonally right to left up and across the wood.  It's my understanding that to propagate, you simply push the stems into the substrate.  Is that the only way?
.


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke (20 May 2018)

IME Hydro Japan will just do whatever it wants, just let it go. Yes you can push the runners into the soil but I find it will grow along the substrate and drop some roots into it all by itself. if you let it go and breach the surface it can grow a bit quicker or clip a small portion off and let it grow as a floater where it gets more access to co2 and closer to light=faster growth=faster nitrate consumption.

Yeah I think you could be being a bit protective about the RCS, they are pretty bullet proof and I doubt the nitrate levels would have anything to do with the loss. Ten going in a oner sounds like something quite toxic which nitrate isn't.


----------



## AverageWhiteBloke (20 May 2018)

forgot to mention rain water might be an option as well. In a small tank you don't need that much. I tend to just put a 5gall fermenting bin out in the garden in a good down pour after the initial rainfall has been going for an hour or so. If you get a few litres to mix with your tapwater it all helps.


----------

