Let's Test The Water!

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Hey friends! So I thought I'd do a simple test today to see if my water filter really is removing chlorine, and if it is affecting other water parameters that I can measure with the test strips I have for my aquarium. I got a surprising result!

So my water filter is a Pur brand one, and it says on the back that among other things, it removes chlorine. Since that is super dangerous to aquarium animals and generally city water has it in there as part of the purification process, I use dechlorinator when I do water changes in the aquarium. I was curious to see what the difference would be between water straight from the tap vs. from my water filter.

Test #1: from the filter

A low pH of around 6.4, no KH to speak of, a low GH (that's calcium and magnesium) of 25 mg/L or so. No nitrites or nitrates, and as expected, no chlorine. Fabulous!

Test #2: from the tap

A slightly higher pH of 6.8, some KH this time at around 40 mg/L, somewhat harder GH at 75 mg/L, no nitrates or nitrites, but the surprise - no chlorine here, either! What? I want expecting that. And no, it wasn't sitting out so that the chlorine dissipated; I just filled the jar and tested right away.

This prompted me to do a little search and it seems Denver uses chloramine rather than chlorine:

So I still have to treat the water for my aquarium, as chloramine isn't good for them either, but I'm guessing that it doesn't read on the test strip checking for chlorine.

So it seems, other than the things my little test strips can't check for of course (my filter also removes things like lead and certain pharmaceuticals that are common in the US water supply - yes, really), the main difference is that my filter removes some minerals in the water.

That's good to know, as my snails want more minerals for their shells but I don't want them too high for my betta - I have to strike a balance where it's acceptable for all of them. If I ever need to adjust one way or the other, it's good to know that tap water has more minerals, and filtered water has less.

Thanks for reading about my little science experiment testing my water! What is your local water source like, do you know?

hive-163521 science palnet archon proofofbrain water quality test filter tap
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19 comments
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Well its good that you did this experiment to keep your aquarium safe rather than just trusting any water you use.

For our own end here I don't even know the quality of water distributed not to even tell if the water is safe..
Portable water isn't even in circulation yet and individual build personal wells and boreholes.
Everyone is responsible for the quality of water they provide themselves and their households.

For me I just make sure we buy drinking water from purifying companies and get other source of eater for personal use.

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Well water varies a lot! I remember one camping trip as a kid where there was a water pump outside and it was so full of minerals, it tasted metallic when you drank it. Years later I got a bottle of water at work and it was the same! Usually here you see mineral waters that are carbonated, but this one was just regular water but with that same amount of minerals making it taste metallic to me.

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This was very interesting! We have town water, and some days the chlorine smell is awful. I have a Berkey water filter for drinking/cooking and another one on the 2nd floor showerhead. Decades back our town had the 4th best water in Western Mass, but no longer...

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(Edited)

Denver's water is pretty good from what I know, but they did recently change the pH due to people who still have lead pipes. The city has, I think completely, changed all the mains so they are no longer lead, but they are not responsible for the connections from the main to a house, and so a lot of people still have those with lead. It costs tens of thousands to change, so of course they do. So they made the water a little less acidic so that it doesn't erode those pipes as much.
Edit: INTERESTING! It should be much higher, according to their website:
image.png

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Hmmmm, I wonder what effect such high pH has on the body...I know plants won't like it, they prefer 6.4 as ideal.

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I did notice that when they switched it, I started having more dishwasher powder not really rinse off well in the washer and the silverware looked cloudy.

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I learned something new today. Did not know chlorine was dangerous to aquarium animals. But it makes sense though, to not need chlorine, since the water gets changed regularly.

Makes you think how safe it actually is for us. I've always just drank tap water, but I've been lucky enough to live in places where it's drinkable (or so I think).
I do know one person who uses a filter for her tap water as well, specifically to raise the PH above 7. She explained that that is more natural to the human body and helps especially in case of people who have allergies. Interesting stuff.

!WINE

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Interesting that her filter raises the pH, I didn't know any could do that. Is it a reverse osmosis system? I think those generally leave it at neutral though (7).

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It's generally known as alkaline water, and there are systems/machines/filters for it. You can also raise the PH by other natural none-machine ways, but that's all I know.

I think the main thought behind it is that our blood PH is higher than neutral, therefore drinking water closer to that PH range reduces the strain on our body regulating the PH levels.

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Interesting. You're from America, aren't you? In Germany, tap water is almost not chlorinated, or at least very little. I always drink tap water here at home, but when I go on holiday to other countries, I almost can't drink it. I'm just not used to it.
!LUV

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Interesting read and makes me want to try the test kit myself 😂.

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