Water Quality

S

Shaner T

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Nov 3, 2003
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St Louis, MO
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I am starting a 75g FOWLR tank. The guy at the LFS told me that our community water is unacceptable even for fish-only and should also be DI treated. Of course in the next sentence he pointed out that they indeed sell RO/DI units.

I got a copy of the water quality report, but have no idea what I'm looking for.

Can someone give me an idea of what substances I should be looking at and what levels are unacceptable?

Thanks!
 
If you're doing fish only then the only thing I'd worry about is nitrates, which wouldn't be high enough in municipal water to have an effect on the fish. Here's a read out of what should be:
Nitrites: O ppm
Nitrates: Preferably lower than 20 ppm, but if it's fish only it can get really really high. Doesn't mean you should let it get there, but still...
Ammonia: O ppm
Hardness: Around 320 ml/equiv. (can someone give them a better readout?)
pH: 8.0-8.6, 8.2 being optimal
Less important for fish only:
Calcium: 450 ppm
Copper: Undetectable
Of all of the things above, the water can be toyed with enough to get them to those settings with the exception of tap-born nitrates. As long as you're only doing fish and live rock, I wouldn't bother. Can you give us what you've got for readouts? That'd help.
By the way, if you do buy a D.I. or R.O. unit, go to Ebay, it'll be probably 2/3 cheaper than the LFS.
 
Here is what I was able to find out:

Nitrate & Nitrites = not listed...I don't have a test kit yet...system isn't set up

PH = 9.4

Calcium, Dissolved = 31.1 PPM
Hardness as CaCO3 = 350 PPM
Alkalinity, total = 89.20 PPM

None of the other substances are listed...maybe I should email them for more info.

The LFS guy told me that sulfates are a problem...those read at 72.4 PPM...is that high?
 
the other obvious problems with municipal water is Chlorine, Chloramine, and Phosphates. In my local water I also have detectable Ammonia levels.

Buying an RO/DI is the wisest thing you can do when setting up a salt fish tank. I wish I would have done it since day one. After I bought mine algea problems subsided significantly and my water was 100% clearer. For a really nice 100gpd Ro/Di filter, your looking at around 175 to 200 dollars. I was buying bottled water for a while, and it was quickly becoming apparent that I would spend more on bottled water than an Ro/Di filter in a short time.

my 2 cents.
 
9.4...that's pretty impressive. You may want to look into an R.O. unit then. Thanks Guy for picking up what I missed.
 
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