Interesting Nitrite Discovery

[BrendanJ23]

So, I found out by accident that my aging tank has nitrites, to my surprise.(because it is town water that has chlorine and chloramines present). Let me just say that I do not age my water for a PH swing, it is simply to heat the water for free (it sits outside and gets heated by the sun). As seen in the photos, the hose runs to a 4 stage filter, consisting of two carbon filters and two sediment removal filters. I am wondering does the removal of chlorine allow nitrites to be present? Given the results, I am wondering if I need to ditch the 4 stage filtration, and just put straight tap water into the aging tank. Then all I have to do is add prime to the aquarium when doing a WC. Thoughts?

My testing found the following:

Nitrites
Aging Tank- 0-0.25ppm
Direct from Tap- 0ppm
RO- 0ppm

[cooper666]

You could keep it as is and put a little bio filter in there, a sponge would probably do it.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Brendan, I would personally want to find the source of the nitrites prior to changing anything.
Pat

[fljones3]

Since the water container is outside, perhaps something has gotten into it. How much aeration is occurring?

[BrendanJ23]

There is an air stone in the tank, and water is never in there for more than 24 hours. It gets rinsed once a month too. There is never any slime or algae buildup, I’m just being pedantic. I’ll put some new filter elements in the filters and see if that changes anything.

Edit: I’ve just been reading a study that confirms treating water with chlorine and chloramines is an effective way of controlling nitrites in tap water.

[Willie]

I think you mean nitrates (NO3-), not nitrites (NO2-). Nitrites do not persist for any period of time. If you're really getting nitrite readings, I highly recommend you take a water sample to a local fish store for their analysis. Very likely, those readings are incorrect.

Willie

[BrendanJ23]

Definitely nitrites Willie.

I’ll take a sample with me today just for good measure.

[BrendanJ23]

So I took a few samples down to the LFS yesterday and they tested and confirmed the same test results. After a long chat we ended up agreeing to just use the sediment filters, and just add prime (as always) with the addition of stability. They did also suggest the sponge filter in the aging tank. I have also emailed the Urban Utilities to ask their water quality team.

[fljones3]

Interesting. What are the causes of nitrites other than ammonia? Fertilizer, but your water into the tank is registering 0.

[BrendanJ23]

Well there is ammonia in the tap water.(town water is treated with chlorine AND Chloramines). From what I understand Prime will bind up ammonia more quickly/effectively than nitrite, without using the 5x dosage. I could be wrong though. My tap water sits between 0.5-1.0 ppm Ammonia.

[cooper666]

At a guess, your carbon filters are are acting like a bio filter (working on the ammonia i the tap water) but not enough to get the job done completely. Just a theory.