RO water with Nitrites and Nitrates

tastingSalty · 09/18/2008, 02:22 PM

I have found that my tap water has pretty substantial amounts of ammonia in it, so I bought some RO water for my aquarium and tested it. It came up with 0 Ammonia but about 5-10 ppm of Nitrate and about .75 ppm of Nitrite. Is this common with all RO water? If so, how do you remove these compounds before putting it in the tank? Thanks everyone!

AZDesertRat · 09/18/2008, 02:29 PM

No that is not common. Ammonia compounds are one of the tougher things for a membrane to remove but they are still 90% +/- efficient at them.

I would look at buying your own RO/DI unit in the long run but maybe look at a different source for RO water in the meantime.

Deionization should eliminate any ammonia compounds missed by the RO process.

savethereef · 09/18/2008, 04:47 PM

looks like you have chloromines in your water. your water department has upgraded from Chlorine to chloromines.
My city is also using Chloromines and my RODI carbon filter wont remove them. now i have to swap out the carbon filter to a catalitic carbon filter and that will remove the chloromines.

http://www.airwaterice.com/product/C...Cartridge.html

crvz · 09/18/2008, 05:07 PM

Your best bet is to just invest in your own RO/DI setup. I imagine the volume of water made at the LFS overexceeds the capability of their filters.

AZDesertRat · 09/18/2008, 05:32 PM

Catalytic carbon filters do not remove chloramines.
It takes the combination of carbon , RO and deionization to accomplish this. Catalytic bituminous carbon may have a slight edge over the standard coconut carbon blocks we normally use but its not significant in most cases. The acrbon only breaks the bond and removes the chlorine portion and the DI takes care of the bulk of the ammonia portion.
Here is a link to an old thread on chloramines that may provide good reading:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=200056

A properly functioning RO/DI with a single high quality Chlorine Guzzler type carbon block and a full sized (20 oz) vertical DI packed correctly with high quality resin is more than sufficient for chloramines at EPA approved drinking water levels.

09/18/2008, 02:22 PM	#1
tastingSalty Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Algonquin, IL Posts: 498	RO water with Nitrites and Nitrates I have found that my tap water has pretty substantial amounts of ammonia in it, so I bought some RO water for my aquarium and tested it. It came up with 0 Ammonia but about 5-10 ppm of Nitrate and about .75 ppm of Nitrite. Is this common with all RO water? If so, how do you remove these compounds before putting it in the tank? Thanks everyone!

09/18/2008, 04:47 PM	#3
savethereef SCRK Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Bellflower 90706 CA (So Cal) Posts: 7,720	looks like you have chloromines in your water. your water department has upgraded from Chlorine to chloromines. My city is also using Chloromines and my RODI carbon filter wont remove them. now i have to swap out the carbon filter to a catalitic carbon filter and that will remove the chloromines. http://www.airwaterice.com/product/C...Cartridge.html __________________ Instead of building a reef in my home i would rather build my home in the reef. Rob aka STR SCRK & SCMAS MEMBER Current Tank Info: Leemar 450g 96L x36W x 30T 3/4 inch Starfire With 70g Sump Vertex 250 Royal Exclusive protein Skimmer Laguna 2900 Return pump 5 Aquaillumination Hydra's LED Modules. 4 Tunze Stream Bubble Magus Doser. Reef Keeper Elite

09/18/2008, 05:07 PM	#4
crvz Team RC Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: houstonia Posts: 7,989	Your best bet is to just invest in your own RO/DI setup. I imagine the volume of water made at the LFS overexceeds the capability of their filters. __________________ -Chris- You don't win friends with salad. "Look! They're trying to learn for free!" ... "Use your phony guns as clubs!" Current Tank Info: rectangluar? wet?

09/18/2008, 02:29 PM	#2
AZDesertRat Moved On Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: NW Phoenix Posts: 16,621	No that is not common. Ammonia compounds are one of the tougher things for a membrane to remove but they are still 90% +/- efficient at them. I would look at buying your own RO/DI unit in the long run but maybe look at a different source for RO water in the meantime. Deionization should eliminate any ammonia compounds missed by the RO process.

09/18/2008, 05:32 PM	#5
AZDesertRat Moved On Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: NW Phoenix Posts: 16,621	Catalytic carbon filters do not remove chloramines. It takes the combination of carbon , RO and deionization to accomplish this. Catalytic bituminous carbon may have a slight edge over the standard coconut carbon blocks we normally use but its not significant in most cases. The acrbon only breaks the bond and removes the chlorine portion and the DI takes care of the bulk of the ammonia portion. Here is a link to an old thread on chloramines that may provide good reading: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=200056 A properly functioning RO/DI with a single high quality Chlorine Guzzler type carbon block and a full sized (20 oz) vertical DI packed correctly with high quality resin is more than sufficient for chloramines at EPA approved drinking water levels.