I have unlimited access to underground water , the only problem is that it is full of iron and maybe a few other elements. The content of these elements is pretty bad , so bad that if you water the garden with this water the plants, ground and anything else that comes in contact with the water turns brown or in better words it leaves a brown residue. My question is, is there a way to filter this water so it can be used for a my fish tank? I will have to test the water for GH,KH,NH4,No2 and No3, but if anyone has experience in the area, it would be appreciated if you could lend a hand. Thanks
Filtering out Iron ect,from under ground water table
- Thread starter ashdavid
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If you can get your hands on some chelates you can make a chelated element filter by packing some polystyrene beads, the smaller the better, into a clear tubing. Run the chelated water through the tubing, you should see a band of red-orange colour forming at the edge of the tubing. This is the chelated elements adsorbing onto the polystyrene.
Chelates have large non-water soluble sections to their molecules and when they "grab" a metal their water soluble side is tied in with the metal, so they stick to the polystyrene.
There's probably also a comercial version of this available. With the DIY you'll have to experiment with the amount of chelate used.
Chelates have large non-water soluble sections to their molecules and when they "grab" a metal their water soluble side is tied in with the metal, so they stick to the polystyrene.
There's probably also a comercial version of this available. With the DIY you'll have to experiment with the amount of chelate used.
Thanks Happychem. I don't where I can get hold of some chelates here in Japan, where would you buy them from in the US? I was hoping there was a cheap effective way to do it , b/c of the amount of water that I was thinking of using, is there no other way? If there was a comercial version of what you say, where would I go about looking for it? Thanks for your time.
The DIY version that I was suggesting probably isn't very viable for lots and lots of water changes.
I'm not too sure where I'd look in Japan, but around here I'd try the hardware stores in the water purifier section. In the end it may just be easiest to pick up an RO unit and make up your water's mineral content from there.
I'm not too sure where I'd look in Japan, but around here I'd try the hardware stores in the water purifier section. In the end it may just be easiest to pick up an RO unit and make up your water's mineral content from there.
While my understanding of RO units is limited, it shouldn't require much filter changing.
An RO unit works by pushing water across a membrane permeable to water and little else. The remaining water is left enriched in mostly everything else. The membrane shouldn't require changing since it's not a filter in the traditional sense. A lot of water is wasted, roughly 5 volumes wasted for every 1 produced.
Of course, I could easily be wrong about this, as I've said, I don't have much experience with RO units.
I just thought of something. How much precipitation do you get? I just looked at your sig. and you probably use tons of water weekly. Setting up a network of rain barrels would solve your iron problem (let nature do the work!). The plan kinda hinges on the amount of space that you have available, since you'd need a bunch of them, but it would be cheaper and easier in the long run than buying an RO unit capable of pumping out as much water as you need - they're pretty slow.
An RO unit works by pushing water across a membrane permeable to water and little else. The remaining water is left enriched in mostly everything else. The membrane shouldn't require changing since it's not a filter in the traditional sense. A lot of water is wasted, roughly 5 volumes wasted for every 1 produced.
Of course, I could easily be wrong about this, as I've said, I don't have much experience with RO units.
I just thought of something. How much precipitation do you get? I just looked at your sig. and you probably use tons of water weekly. Setting up a network of rain barrels would solve your iron problem (let nature do the work!). The plan kinda hinges on the amount of space that you have available, since you'd need a bunch of them, but it would be cheaper and easier in the long run than buying an RO unit capable of pumping out as much water as you need - they're pretty slow.
happychem said:
When you say rain barrels, I am not sure what you mean. Are you talking about storing or collecting rain, if that is the case we do get a lot of rain here but as you said space could be a problem, but the biggest problem is the pollution in the air. I will look into a RO unit able to handle the amount of water that I am looking to use. I use a RO for my 400g planted so I have a pretty good idea of water production rates.
StacieA said:
Stacie when you are using about 1000-1600 liters of water a week ,you tend to shy away from water additives. Thanks for the input.
Yeah, I meant collecting rain water. You can get big (60g, I think) barrels to collect and store the water. Again the region is a question, but I know that you can pick them up here from home brewing supply centres pretty cheap if you don't mind doing a little cleaning.
But yes, they take up a fair bit of space and air pollution is always of concern. But it's also an alternative source for the RO. Instead of pumping through masses of trace-rich ground water you may get better results with the polluted rain water, just removing the pollutants.
But yes, they take up a fair bit of space and air pollution is always of concern. But it's also an alternative source for the RO. Instead of pumping through masses of trace-rich ground water you may get better results with the polluted rain water, just removing the pollutants.
