Carbon filter and increased nitrites [Archive]

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CAGE-RATTLER

10-23-2006, 12:40 AM

I have a whole house filter on my main water line that i just had a sediment filter on and when i went to get a replacement i thought i would try one of the combo sediment & carbon filters out.

Well after only 2 weeks ..... i noticed a big drop in my water pressure and it slowly got worse until i couldnt stand it no more.

I was also starting to notice some split fins on my discus which concearned me. I normally do 50 - 75 percent WC's each day and when i do skip a day ....... i'll do a 90% WC ........ and everything had been fine till recently. I use tap with prime for WC's.

Well before i replaced the water filter i decided to do some water tests to see what was up. Tank parameters were fine ............. but the tap water with the filter had 0.50 nitrites. After seeing that i decided not to use the same type of filter (had bought a 2 pack) and just pulled the clogged filter out and now running with no filter in the canister. Im assuming the high nitrites in my tap water was what was causing the discus's fins to split.

After running water through the lines for a while to make sure the filtered water was out ......... i retested and the tap water was fine again (no nitrites). And after a few days ........ the discus's fins are fine again.

Thats one thing thats always tipped me off to a water parameter problem. I keep a good eye on my discus and when ive noticed the fins start to split a little ......... the nitrates had usually climbed or ammonia or nitrites had climbed in an uncycled tank.

Im just curious what caused the increase in nitries in my tap water with the filter??? The reason i got the sediment-carbon combo was because i thought it would improve my water. Maybe it did at 1st ? ............. but loosing that much water pressure in just a couple weeks was a bit rediculous i thought.

No way im changing them that often!! The filter that i replaced was in there almost a year and never lost pressure ............. but it was pretty shredded when i changed it .... lol.

Any thoughts??

lhforbes12

10-23-2006, 12:57 AM

Ed13

10-23-2006, 01:10 AM

I have no clue why you would get NO2, I could understand very well NH3 or even NO3 (coconut based carbons are well known for this) and the ammonia could be from Chloramine being reduced. NO2 is a different story though, unless your water supply has NO2 in it. Hopefully Randal will see this and reply.

YEAH, what he said

I use this filters all the time when running water lines for fish, I even use the cheap home depot ones with no side effects but they are replaced often since they run a lot during the day. What micron sizes did you use? How many canisters?
HMMM, A YEAR c'mon Cage you know that's too much!;) :D

Wheres Randal when you need him?:confused: :)

CAGE-RATTLER

10-23-2006, 02:31 AM

Well ive never used a water filter before and this one was given to me brand new in the box (cant remember the brand) so i hooked it up with the filter that was in it and had no idea how long the filters lasted.

Its a single cannister filter that i put on my main line coming into the house.

The filter i recently put on is a GE model FXWTC carbon sediment filter that i got from HD. Its listed on theyre site but i cant direct link to it. Its a 1-5 micron filter and just noticed it says it has a 15,000 gallon capacity with filter life of 3 months. Looked more like 3 weeks to me ...... lol....... cause my pressure was way down and taking a shower was becoming difficult. Not to mention ... slowing up my WC's.

I wasnt seeing any additional ammonia or nitrate readings from it .......... just the nitrites at 0.50 till i removed it.

RandalB

10-23-2006, 07:37 AM

If you have chloramines in your water your whole house carbon was starting to cycle just like an aquarium.... First step in cycling is NH3 to No2... Bacterial growth is probably why the filter clogged up too..

HTH,
RandalB

RandalB

10-23-2006, 07:38 AM

Wheres Randal when you need him?:confused: :)

Asleep in bed you nut! Gotta get the kids up at 0630...

RandalB

CAGE-RATTLER

10-23-2006, 04:02 PM

Any ideas on what filter i should use on the canister that wont clog so quick??

Its already mounted ....... so no sense in leaving it empty i guess .... but its a pain to get to so i dont want to have to change cartriges to often.

No idea if theres chloramines in my water or not.
Is there a test kit for that??

RandalB

10-23-2006, 04:33 PM

20 Micron or larger on the filter,

Call your local water utility, they should be able to tell you...

The presence of ammonia (test kit) in your water should also be an indicator..

RandalB

CAGE-RATTLER

10-23-2006, 04:59 PM

lhforbes12

10-23-2006, 06:19 PM

I can find nowhere that states whether you have Chlorine or Chloramine in your water. However on page 3 of the report it shows that you have both NO2 and NO3 in your tap water. Both appear to be low (if I am reading that convoluted report correctly). My best suggestion is to contact your water dept. and ask them.

White Worm

10-23-2006, 07:14 PM

con·vo·lut·ed (kŏn'və-lū'tĭd)
adj.
1.Having numerous overlapping coils or folds: a convoluted seashell.
2.Intricate; complicated: convoluted legal language; convoluted reasoning
Had to look that one up also. Thats 2 today. :D

Cosmo

10-23-2006, 07:25 PM

Cage,

If you have chloramines in your source water and you're testing your tap water without first running it through a carbon block or applying an agent (such as Prime) the ammonia would still be bound to the chlorine ~ which may be why you're testing negative for it... other reason of course is it may not be there :confused:

Tried those carbon impregnated sediment filters from HD once too, seems like a good idea combining the two but there's obviously a problem.. The fish really didn't like it so I just threw the second one in the 2 pack in the trash.

I'd go with the 20 (or larger if you can find it) micron sediment as Randal suggested. I use one of those before the booster pump. How long it lasts before needing replacement varies on the season and water conditions.

Know this probably didn't help much.. just my 2 cents :)

Jim

Ed13

10-23-2006, 09:23 PM

Asleep in bed you nut! Gotta get the kids up at 0630...

RandalB
:o Sleep is overrated:o :D OK, I suffer from insomnia(I've been told:p ) so I shouldn't blame it on you

20 Micron or larger on the filter,

I like going from 25 to 10 to 5 and if RO to 1

Bainbridge Mike

10-23-2006, 10:07 PM

My tap has zero ammonia on my test results.

Actually since there is no ammonia ............. how could the filter be cycling to give me nitrite readings?

Here is a link to our water quality report for 2005.

I personally dont know what to look for except for the PH, nitrites and nitrates readings.

Any thoughts on this water report would be appreciated.

http://cityservices.baltimorecity.gov/dpw/waterqualityreport/

By the way .......... I believe our water comes from the Montebello plant.

At the end of the report it describes water treatment. It says your water is chlorinated, treated with aluminum sulfate, flouride and then Lime to adjust the pH. In another place in the report, it states that your average monthly residual of chlorine is about .5 ppm.

Mike

raglanroad

10-23-2006, 10:45 PM

"If needed, additional chorine is added to the finished water that leaves the water plants. Low levels of chlorine (approximately 0.2 to 1.0 part per million) must be maintained in the distribution systems pipes and home plumbing to prevent the growth of microorganisms."

This is seeming to say that only chlorine is used, or else they would say ammonia was added to produce chloramine, and there would be a small residual of ammonia, because a slight excess of ammonia is added.

D

CAGE-RATTLER

10-24-2006, 01:07 AM

Thanx All ........ from that report ...... my hardness seems to be higher than i thought too.