Tap water

[Darbex]

Now I never noticed this before but my tap water has .25ppm Nitrite. Has anyone experienced this before? Also does a carbon filter remove this or is it only heavy metals and chlorine?

[myjohnson]

I don't think it can. If it would people wouldn't need to do water changes and they would only use carbon filtration.

This link might help.

http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water_quality/quality1/38-08-nitrate-problems-with-gac-filtration.htm

[Zulaab]

Nitrites are removed with a carbon filter.
If you have Nitrites in your water this means your water has sat to long in the storage tanks. Which means the Chloramines have had time to break down (ie oxygen in the storage tank, has converted the chloramines back to Ammonia and Chlorine. Then the ammonia has converted down to Nitrites.

[myjohnson]

Sorry for the stupid question Jesper, but I don't know much about this area.

If it can be remove by carbon, and the nitrogen cycle has nitrite before the BB changes it to nitrate why do a water change?

[cichlid1409]

I have to disagree with you jesper . I believe it takes RO or an ion exchanger like DI to remove nitrate/nitrite. but, show me the proof so i can become a believer.

[Zulaab]

Now I never noticed this before but my tap water has .25ppm Nitrite. Has anyone experienced this before? Also does a carbon filter remove this or is it only heavy metals and chlorine?

Note what Darbex said.. Nitrite not Nitrate. Nitrite is what ammonia converts into with oxygen. Please take a few seconds and reviewThe Nitrogen Cycle: Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate

Note that water and ammonia converts to Nitrites and additional hydrogen particles which in turn bubbles off.

From what I can read Ammonia and Nitrites are removed using carbon and very potentially Nitrates too. Prime and Amquel neutralizes all Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates too. I dont see a reason why activated carbon wouldn't do the same.

I would have say the only way to make sure.. is go goto Darbex's home with a carbon bottle in hand and test the water.

Darbex -- does your fridge have a carbon filter installed to filtrate your water from your fridge ? If so ?? have you tested it ?

[cichlid1409]

heres what i found. 3rd paragraph, but it is all interesting. http://www.opus.net/technologies/activated-carbon/ . i'm not saying this is the holy grail, deffinitive answer . i would like to see a test. maybe i should test my water for nitrites and see if i can test carbons removal capabilities.

[Zulaab]

I tested my water and all I have in it is free chlorine. Nothing of the other stuff.. to many people watering their yards I suppose.

[cichlid1409]

no nitrites here either...

[myjohnson]

.25ppm Nitrite is relatively low.

I would re-test. I had a kit that showed me a reading of .25ppm Ammonia. I was stock to see this. I tested it over the course of weeks and talk to Geoff about it. Sometimes I was getting Ammonia readings and sometimes it never showed up and this tank has been established for years. I just couldn't figure it out.

Come to find out.....the test kit was not doing an exact reading, or my method for testing was not correct. So I started testing for Ammonia in three different tubes each time I tested. Did this every three days for 2 weeks. This showed me the Ammonia was a fails reading. Sometimes it showed up and sometimes it didn't even from the same batch of sample water.

Test kits may get old. Depending on the kit but generally 2-3 years is the average shelf life.

[tbui1178]

Darbex... looks like we live real close to each other as I live on 288 and the bltwy too. I'll test my water when I get home to see if i get the same reading. If I do see nitrite in my tap water, I'll test the water coming out of my carbon bottle to see if the nitrites are removed.

[wesleydnunder]

Doesn't the conversion of ammonia to nitrite require a substantial nitrosomonas colony? I can't imagine that large a colony living in a system that is continually subjected to sterilyzers. Is it possible that the nitrite got into the system during filtering processes at the water plant prior to sterilyzer being added?

Mark

[Mzungu]

Darbex - didn't you just replace your test kit because the old one had expired? Or am I thinking of someone else?

Also, I think I remember reading from some of the links Mike posted in the chloramine thread that carbon doesn't remove heavy metals, either.

[cichlid1409]

Doesn't the conversion of ammonia to nitrite require a substantial nitrosomonas colony? I can't imagine that large a colony living in a system that is continually subjected to sterilyzers. Is it possible that the nitrite got into the system during filtering processes at the water plant prior to sterilyzer being added?

Mark

thats just the thing wesleydnunder, the water treatment plant is only required to provide water with a maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 1 ppm nitrite or 10 ppm nitrates, these are set by the EPA. so yes they could already be there and they don't have to test it everyday only once a year . but i'm leaning towards the test kit being old or inaccurate with a reading of .25 ppm. but you never know the water co. could be off their game.

reference: http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/wat...oval-water.htm

[blacksmith37]

And , just to help; I believe nitrite is a corrosion inhibitor for steel in potable water (very few compounds are approved for potable water). So the utility may be adding nitrite directly.
For 1/4 ppm I wouldn't care.
The reference on active cabon was interesting but not 100% accurate; Petroleum coke (the very bottom of the barrel in a refinery) when treated in a special manner is substantally more effective for water treatment than any other active carbon. (Amoco had a patent on it in the 70's).