We have well water. The ph is 8.2, the nitrates are 5 ppm, the gh is 12 and the kh is 11. No chlorine. Is this water okay for saltwater tanks? Should I run it through a deionizer first?
Well Water
- Thread starter JON
- Start date
I would run it through a DI filter and then reconstitute it to seawater with commercial ocean salt mix, but that's just me.
OG, I was under the impression that you had to know the makeup of the hardness elements in the water in order to say that. Feel free to flame me if I am wrong, but correcting me would be better for all if that's the route which you choose...
The problem with using the FW values for hardness is that they aren't going to be the same once the salt mixture has been added. All commercially available mixes contains buffers, calcium, will change the alkalinity, ect. Once the SW has been prepared, you can determine what specific minerals/trace elements might be deficient, and possible change to a complete filtration system if needed, but to change before, without knowing if it's needed in combination with the salt mix, seems a waste to me. What if you use the filtered water, and then have to increase the hardness back to the same value? His tests don't show anything abnormal, other than the nitrates, so why alter chemistry when all you really want is cleaner?
Thank you--that is exactly the type of response I was looking for. It makes sense, and I now know what to do with a potential reef tank at my house.
The only thing is that he has not mentioned what levels of phosphates, or silicates the water contains. We also don't know the levels of metals. If your planning on making this tank a reef, I would go with a RO/DI filter.
Brian
Brian