Am considering Seachem Purigen for use in my aquariums..have read reviews from peoples use of it in verious curcumstances and they are conflicting..or am i being silly wanting a low a nitrAte level as possible for the fishes welfare???

To be honest you'd be better off waiting to find out what level of nitrates you get in a week when the tank is normally stocked.

Purigen doesn't remove nitrates, what it does do is to remove some organic waste and thereby prevent the formation of nitrates to some degree. It was originally made for use in marine tanks where very low nitrates are essential, but in tropical freshwater tanks you don't want absolute zero - a small amount is needed for plant growth and a complete lack of nitrates can lead to growth of some unpleasant forms of algae.

On the whole nitrates are best controlled by correct stocking, regular water changes and gravel vac'ing and correct feeding. For most fish a level under 40ppm is fine and for more sensitive types under 20ppm is fine. If you have high nitrates in your tap supply then the better option is to remove the nitrates before the water goes into the tank. Otherwise, if you rely on nitrate reduction media in the tank, your fish will suffer from a RISE in nitrates every time you do a water change, which is not good.

Special nitrate reducing media has its place in some specific situations - where normal maintenance can't keep nitrates under control with very messy fish, but in the main it shouldn't be used unless it's known to be needed.

Im using the Pozzani filter for now..but am uncertain of its future...

I tested the tap water without using the filter and its 50ppm if not more as it turns dark red after the drops and vigorous shaking test!!, so theyve done some work on the pipes or something recently as 4 days ago it was 30ppm

an Hour ago using the pozzani filter at a slow rate i cant get the nitrate leavel better than 30pmm after 3 buckets trying...im sure im not doing anything different to when i used it last week

I paid a plumber to fit it he'd never seen one before but had it done withen 15mins..so unless he fitted it wrong i dont know whats happened
I will phone them tomorow as the service was good when i brought it...

Only other option is that my testing is wrong I vigorously shake the second bottle before using it hold the bottle vertical, dont have my thumb on top when shaking etc..

Hmmmm....the Pozzani would normally do a better job than that. How long have you used it and (roughly) how much water has been sent through it so far?

There may be an issue with increased nitrate in your supply, but the Pozzani should deal with that. As the results for the tap water and the filtered water have both risen maybe there's a test issue. Here's a quick run down on test procedure:

Put 5 mls of water into a clean, dry test tube.
Shake bottle No 1 and add 10 drops of solution to the tube
Cap the tube and shake very vigorously
Shake bottle No 2 verty hard for a full 30 seconds
Add 10 drops from bottle No2 to the test tube
Cap the tube and shake very vigorously for a full 60 seconds
Wait 5 minutes (exactly) to read the result
Hold the tube in front of the colour chart, but not touching and in good light to read the result

As I said earlier though, Purigen isn't the answer to a high tap water nitrate problem - the nitrates really need reducing before the water enters the tank.

Very new ive had the filter installed about 2 weeks now! not installed correctley was one of my thoughts? (paid a plumber £65 to do it for me!)

In relation to the NitrAte testing - the only thing thats happened is that I left the 2 bottles on a really bright windowsil one day they felt warm when i returned to move them - could that have had an adverse effect prehaps??

Im going to take my tank and tap water to a LFS shop tomorow before i do anything- to be sure.

Thanks

Just as a guide when I was doing about 200l of water changes a week I was changing my Pozzani nitrate filter insert about every 3 months, my tap water is 20 - 40 ppm nitrate ...

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Not likely - it's either installed correctly or it just wouldn't work. The only things that could go wrong would be leaky joints or installing it without the cartridge, in which case you'd see no reduction at all in nitrate levels.

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Possibly, as the storage advice is to keep it in a "cool, dry, well-ventilated place".

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Do make sure they give you actual results!