I test my tap water every few months just to have an idea what I'm dumping into my aquariums. It didn't occur to me to test for Nitrate until a few weeks ago. I was pretty surprised to find out that my tap water has 8-9 ppm of nitrate. I suppose that makes sense considering that my water comes from the Mississippi. There is tons of life in that river. Also, this here is the "Breadbasket of the World" so there's certainly going to be some fertilizer runoff. Have any of you tested your tap water for Nitrates?

Just for the heck of it, Davenport City Water has the following chemical makeup.

Ammonia____0ppm
Nitrite_______<1ppm
Nitrate______8-9ppm
pH_________7.6
KH_________30ppm (approx. 2 degrees hardness)
GH_________400ppm (approx. 22 degrees hardness)

I haven't tested my tap water for nitrates but I know it's quite common for nitrates to be present in tap water

I tested my tap water a while ago and nitrates were present. Not loads but some. This is why keeping nitrates to less then 20 can be hard. When I mentioned it to a fish shop they said that if its too high then contact the water company. Like you are going to get any joy out of them. Can imagine the response 'within parameters' type answer

Funny thing is I just read another topic on a different forum saying that all there fish died- he tested his water for nitrates- and it was loaded! So....you get my point. Interesting topic.