Question about tap water filtration

[wild_amazon]

Hi,

I just bought a filter for tap water. It has a sediment and carbon cartridges (both 5 micron), a standard under the sink filter.
For optimum water condition will this be enough if I intent to use the water straight into the tank for regular 50% water change.
I currently use seachem prime and I feel that a tap water filter will do a better job since it removes chemical rather than adding into it. Anyone has a different view on this?
I read somowhere that we should not use 1 micron cartridges because it removes all trace elements and will affect fish in a negative way?

[Proteus]

Carbon cartridge wont remove chloromines.

[wild_amazon]

Oh, that's mean I still need to add neutraliser like Seachem Prime?
Will the fish notice the different between filter and unfiltered tap water if I have to add Prime anyway?

[wild_amazon]

I just found out that most carbon filter will remove Chloramine. Some are better than others.

http://www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.php/cPath/24_42/products_id/161

If this is the case, we don't need to add chemical like Seachem Prime etc.

[Proteus]

FYI, that is a specialized type of membrane, not a regular carbon filter block, plus, as per what they say themselves, it does not remove 100% of the Chloramines.

To totally remove Chloramines, you need a specific membrane to do this.



Mains water in most metropolitan areas are treated with Chloramine not Chlorine, chloramine is a combination of Ammonia and Chlorine. If a standard carbon cartridge is used to treat chloramine the chlorine is split off and the ammonia liberated, some of the ammonia will turn into nitrate as a result.

There will be companies that will say that chloramines are treatable with a normal carbon cartridge due to the fact that they don't have access to a dedicated chloramine cartridge as yet but ask yourself why would the cartridge manufacturers go to all the trouble of producing a cartridge to target chloramines if it can be treated with a normal carbon cartridge. Also be sure if a claim is made that it is backed up with a manufacturers specification sheet. The only manufacturers at the moment that have a chloramine cartridge is Pentek and Omnipure which are huge world wide companies.

Just remember, sites such as the previous link are trying to sell something, so the information whilst not inaccurate, isnt totally correct either, after all it does state that it only reduces the Chloramines, not remove them.

[endless]

I have been using the sediment and carbon cartridges for a while now and have never had any issues with them. Infact, since changing from prime to this system my disucs have never been fallen ill. Only problem is you would need an ageing drum as the water flows out quite slowly and from the ageing drum pump the water into your tank. I believe ben has a similar setup as well

[wild_amazon]

Thank you for your info.
It's good to hear from someone that use it.
The flow from the filter is quite fast depending on the pressure from the tap. Am I suppose to run the water slowly so it doesn't go pass the filter too quickly?

I am still going to keep the water in a drum like what I do now except when I am running out of aged water. Water straight from the tap in Winter is too cold I think.

[Dave76]

Hi wild

I use a sediment/carbon combo for my tanks no problems.

According to the Water Corp in WA chloramines are only added to goldfields & agricultural water supply.

Have a read of this doco - http://www.watercorporation.com.au/dwq/index.cfm

Appendix B gives you a breakdown of the water for various areas in Perth as well.

Cheers

Dave

[Phlipper]

I have also heard that carbon filters do not remove chloramines, but how much does that matter if that's true ?

I have been running all my fish room water through a readily available carbon filter cartridge on a daily basis for around 50 tanks, never had a problem in any form, so I dont see a problem ?

I used to fill my 4 house tanks with a dual cartridge water filter also with no problems, except if you want healthy plant growth, the dual filters remove too many minerals vital for plant growth. They also soften the hardnes of the water considerably so I just use the carbon for them now. The dual filter set ups claim to remove all metals, carbonates and a host of bacterial agents, I would think the softness and lack of metals etc would be a great bonus for Discus ???..........but not so good for plants ?

[wild_amazon]

Dave, like what you said Water Corp don't use chloramines for Perth according to their website but I am sure they do. I have a friend that works for Water Corp that said we have chloramines in our tap water.
I though it's a common practice this day?

Philipper, did it affect your plants a lot when you used the sediment cartridge. I have java fern and anubias nana in my tanks.

I also notice that the flow from my filter is quite strong, I thought the filter would slow down the flow considerably with 5 micron cartridges. I have 10 meter hose on the output and when I unplug a short hose from the filter input to the tap, I have water running back (back flow) from the 10 meters output hose? I never have a tap water filter before so I don't know if it's normal.

[Phlipper]

My carbon cartridge filter doesn't affect the water flow a great deal and seems to do the trick, I change it every 6 months or so, you can tell when it gets near replace time, the water starts to smell of chlorine again. Running water through a carbon filter doesn't affect plant growth at all, but running through a twin filter set up tends to remove a lot more, and some of the elements needed for good plant growth will get removed. My twin cartridge set up is only on my house drinking water taps { Pura Tap }and not sure how much that slows water flow, ours comes from a seperate small purpose built faucet mounted on our kitchen sink, and the flow is slow, likely just due to the size of the nozzle on the faucet.

I did some tests on straight tap water and the twin cartridge water, surprising how much softer and acidic the twin filter water is compared to medium hardness and mid range PH of water straight from the tap or from a single carbon cartridge. This is what makes me think the twin cartridge filtered water would be very good for Discus, it is comparable to rainwater being soft and a lower PH. Hope I've been clear enough with this little story.......rambling on a bit :roll:

[wild_amazon]

Phlipper,

That's pretty much answer my question.
I'll test the water harrdness and conductivity to see the difference.

Thanks.

[vince]

mate:

Please let us know your test result.

thanx

vince

[wild_amazon]

I checked the water with a conductivity meter. Tap water is 170 (ppm?) and filtered water is 146. It doesn't bring it down that much but I don't smell the chlorine. I also remove all the garden hose and replace it with drinking water hose.

[Phlipper]

That's surprising, I thought it would lower the hardness much lower than that ?

[wild_amazon]

That's why I asked if the filter suppose to restrict the water flow considerably. My filter doesn't seem to slow down the water flow that much. But maybe because I use 5 micron cartridges.
Comment anybody???

[Bad Inferno]

I know my single carbon element has reduced my conductivity from 240 down to 200 micro siemens (you will need to convert to ppm).

I only have a single tank so I still use Prime in my 110L aging barrel.