Topping off with RO/DI Water

[ZorroNet]

Well the good news is, I walked across the street to the utilities office (I'm across the street from the water tower too... hurray pressure!), and I asked for the water report. No chloramine is added to our local water supply. Test results are pretty good on other substances of worry too. I don't disagree with the point of dilution happening in a larger tank, but my biggest tank is only 40 gals (55 in the works), so I'd feel better if I at least tried to filter the water for chlorine. Also, this is very cheap and easy to do for a little peace of mind. We're talking about $40, and there are definitely fluctuations in chlorine levels here. You can taste it when they add it to the supply. I have friends that work there, I should ask them to show me how they do it and when just out of interest.

Pinkey, I have seen your setup, and I really like it a lot. Mine will be a variation of that and much smaller. Your notes about your setup are actually one of the inspirations for my design and the reason I think an automated top off would be helpful because of the evaporation factors you've outlined. After some more research last night, I think an overflow system would benefit me as well, but rather than sending it to a sump, I would just send it down the drain. Not on the aquaponics set-up though. It would be wasteful there because in theory the terrestrials should clean the water for me rather than me pouring it out. The top offs should just keep it going. I might need to employ the use of a 5 gallon bucket as a flood fail-safe in the case of a power outtage or syphon break.

 

[Pinkey]

Zorro,

That is very cool. In a perfect world we would recycle all the water and grow plants on it. . .wait. . .that is the way real nature works.

I don't know how many gallons each fish gets when it lives in a lake. I do know that rivers give 100% water changes many times an hour. After a year of working on it I have not yet found a practical way to eliminate the need for water changes by creating a functioning biotope with the number of fish I have. It takes far more plants than I estimated to clean the water as water is cleaned in nature. I have no doubt that my water is a lot cleaner than it would be without the plants but I have not yet found the ratio to do this with Oscars.

I do have a 55g tank that is heavily planted and has many yards of vines growing out of it. That one has had perfect readings for two years now. I have not detected a trace of anything in it. That tank has only 6-10 community fish in it (I have neglected it while nurturing the other tank). I have introduced a few fish into it over the last year but none have lived. That is a whole other problem that I will post to the forums at some point in the next few months.

It might be possible to set up a functioning biotope in a 40 gallon tank. I am convinced that Oscars are some of the worst polluters of all and that community fish would be a much better choice to test this theory. When I had such success with the small tank I decided I wanted to do even better with a big tank. I have not accomplished that goal yet.

This is the 55 right now (neglected sorry state):





There is no support structure or crazy water system for this tank. The pothos will grow like mad anywhere. I have two varieties. From this tank they circle the room about 3 times and grow 8+" per vine per month in the summer. I tack them to the wall with cotton string tied to pushpins. People also tend to give me lucky bamboo for some reason. It always ends up in the tanks. All this cleans up after my 6 little community fish. The whole dining room is turning into a jungle. The root mass isn't particularly large and would be at home in a 40g as well. One word of caution, though. I did lose a pleco when it got stuck in the roots and died.

I don't use CO2. The room has 1 northish facing window. I use a sump and about 200 gph flow. I think that's about it.

For what it is worth, I don't do water changes on this tank unless I am landscaping. I just add about 3 gallons per week and that is because the plants drink so much. Sometimes there is a water drop at the end of a vine. The longest vine must be about 40' if I had to guess.

Please let me know how your adventure progresses and what approach you take. Good luck.

 

[gmh]

Holy cow. Now That's a planted tank.

 

[ZorroNet]

As Byron stated, I would think there would be some mineral deficiencies without water changes, BUT I know you are adding them while topping off. That's similar to what I was talking about too. That's why I was concerned about using RO/DI water for top offs... now I've moved away from that idea, and I'm more interested in automating top offs to compensate for evaporation. However, I will accomplish both the top off and a constant small water change with the overflow plus auto top off. Even better, I should also be able to remove nitrates with the terrestrials. I'm looking forward to this experiment

 

[Pinkey]

Just through that wall behind the tank is my fridge with ice cube maker. It means I have the plumbing right there. All this talk of automation is getting me thinking. It is so tempting.

 

[ZorroNet]

Just through that wall behind the tank is my fridge with ice cube maker. It means I have the plumbing right there. All this talk of automation is getting me thinking. It is so tempting.

DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!