Nitrite in tap

[SANND]

I tested my tanks tonight and all 3 had slight nitrite readings (< .03) which I thought was kind of odd that a) 3 cycled tanks would have a nitrite reading and b) all 3 had the same exact reading. So I tested my tap...you guessed it. I got the same exact reading.

So either my test is screwy or my tap has nitrites. I did water changes Saturday on all 3 tanks so shouldn't the nitrites have disappeared by now?

 

[Lotus]

Yes, the nitrites would have disappeared by now if all three tanks are fully cycled. I would guess your test kit is bad, or the test tube wasn't thoroughly cleaned last time you used it. You should be able to get your LFS or chain store to test your water for you, to check your test kit.

 

[GoldLenny]

What kind of water conditioner do you use? Some of the ammonia-locking tap water treatments cause false readings on ammonia but I'm not sure about nitrites.

There is always the chance that your public water had nitrites in it. Contact them to be sure. They only have to announce it if it's harmful to humans.... not to fish.

They are allowed to have up to 10ppm nitrates in many municipalities (which is what my tap is at) but I've seen reports of 30ppm nitrates by others, so before you throw away your test kit, contact them to see if they had nitrites released into the water recently.

 

[wayne]

Some nitrite kits give false positives on nitrate too.

 

[SANND]

I figured it out. It was user error Got the bottles for testing kh and nitrites put back in the wrong spots in my test kit. Nitrites are zero in all the tanks again.

 

[GoldLenny]

Thirty lashes with a wet noodle!