Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board - Tap water, RO water, Well water????

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Tap water, RO water, Well water????

I am on well water, do I still have to worry about all the effects of normal tap water? Am I better or worse off then tap? Would RO make my water considerably better?

thank you all

I would say for a fish tank Well water is considerably worse than tap water. Although tap water has lots of chemicals. Well water is full of the minerals in the surronding soils and tons of nutrients that will promote algae growth. Ro water is definately worth the invetsment.

On the plus side it will give you nice drinking water too :biggrin:

i'm on well water and am combating a green algae outbreak. ive bought a bottle of r/o water and already (2days) noticing a decrease in algae (plus turning down the amt of light time)
going to order a r/o unit soon..... :arrow:

Doug Lowey is on well water and all of his tanks are doing good bt he does have the hair algae in the tank. i wonder Doug is on his way to THOMPSON for Easter . so he is not here to talk
his tanks 170 ,70, 180,225, 170 have all been on
well water .

but he does battle hair algae.

mike

Interesting, how much does a R/O run for?

It looks like it might be something I will seriously have to take a look at.

Thanks for the input.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NaCL H20 REEFER

Doug Lowey is on well water and all of his tanks are doing good bt he does have the hair algae in the tank.

From pics I've seen, Doug has a REALLY eleborate filtration system for his well water. I imagine the water he uses in his tanks is very much like RO/DI.

Here's a quote of Doug's about his filtration system:
(from http://www.canreef.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=13218 )

Quote:

I use well water. I had most of the usual tests done, but not for nitrate or phosphate. They were a couple hundred dollars.

I have and still do at times, use straight well water for my tank, after running through a large main line filter. I also use ro water. The ro unit also feeds my upstairs fridge ice/water maker and a spigot at the sink.

However your correct on hard, cold well water being hard on ro membranes. Actually a better job for a unit like the Kold Sterile unit. The secret is to pass the well water through the water sofener first. This makes it much more easy for the ro unit to handle not to mention the ro removing the softening salts before it goes to the fridge and sink.

So, my water first goes through a main line 30m filter, then the softener, then a 5-stage Vectapure ro unit.

I dont have a water softener, or a RO yet...

is there anything I can do to improve my water until then?

like boil it first or something??

Thanks

Boiling well water will only kill bacteria like E. coli and such. It won't remove heavy metals, nitrate, phosphate, iron, etc.

If you can get to a larger grocery store, they will have bottle RO or distilled water in 5g jugs. I'd use this water instead of well water.

A 1 micron filter and adding your top-off as kalkwasser will help some,but if you have much disolved metals etc it won't be good enough.
Kalk will ppt some phos etc and the micron filter will remove large organics. Maybe OK here (tapwater less than 25ppm) for some of the year, but nobody I know has lasted the year algea free without RO.
In the long run....a very very well spent $100. (Aquasafe)

It really depends on where u live. In keremeos we have well water that, in my opinion, is the best water around. I've never had a hair algae problem and all my corals and fish are thriving. It is really worth it to get your water tested to see whats in it.
JME

Thanks

I dont think my water is GREAT. When the water is really, really hot you can smell that sulphur stench.

I think my best bet will be to go to the grocery store and get the RO jugs of water until I move into a place that i can treat my water easier.