Personally I'd give that "system" a pass, only because I haven't shopped around...& you don't know if you're moving soon...or not & what you may need with your next tank/home. Slow down! That's my best advice for now.
Tap water conundrum
- Thread starter MardieJane
- Start date
So. Property purchase fell through. Owner changed their mind about selling at all...
Anyway, results have even pretty consistent. Only doing 20% water changes. Ph 7.4 high ph7.6 ammonia 0 nitrites 0 nitrates between yellow and lightest orange.
So when I get gh and kh numbers will you guys be able to tell me if I can add the cories?
I'm still looking for ro system on Craigslist. In the meantime not to crazy to buy purified .79 at Aldi.
Anyway, results have even pretty consistent. Only doing 20% water changes. Ph 7.4 high ph7.6 ammonia 0 nitrites 0 nitrates between yellow and lightest orange.
So when I get gh and kh numbers will you guys be able to tell me if I can add the cories?
I'm still looking for ro system on Craigslist. In the meantime not to crazy to buy purified .79 at Aldi.
Sorry I disappeared, my computer broke. So with all this new info I would say finding a good RO (probably DI too) system is going to be your best bet. It is a big investment but it is worth it, it will pay for itself in no time too. Then you can make ANY kind of water you want for ANY fish you want in the future and you will know that you are starting with the best water possible, eliminating source water headaches completely.
Questions I'd ask myself when considering buying new from an establish company or second hand off craigslist. Do you know how it is supposed to look? How it's supposed to work? If all the parts are there? What if something goes wrong, who's gonna help you? I'm spending this much money do I want to risk on a stranger with no guarantee?
Again I recommend AirWaterIce. Being a first time RO user it is nice to have the support and they have great customer support. They also have a lifetime parts replacement warranty. And I have a coupon somewhere for I think 10% off if you want it. Now that I'm accustomed to RO units I might buy used but I still wouldn't be real comfortable with it.
Add the cories? How did we get here? lol Wait till you have a more stable environment, you're still working out the water issues. And cories NEED stability, they are a little delicate.
Questions I'd ask myself when considering buying new from an establish company or second hand off craigslist. Do you know how it is supposed to look? How it's supposed to work? If all the parts are there? What if something goes wrong, who's gonna help you? I'm spending this much money do I want to risk on a stranger with no guarantee?
Again I recommend AirWaterIce. Being a first time RO user it is nice to have the support and they have great customer support. They also have a lifetime parts replacement warranty. And I have a coupon somewhere for I think 10% off if you want it. Now that I'm accustomed to RO units I might buy used but I still wouldn't be real comfortable with it.
Add the cories? How did we get here? lol Wait till you have a more stable environment, you're still working out the water issues. And cories NEED stability, they are a little delicate.
So how long do the numbers have to stay consistent before it's been long enough? We're looking at a few more properties in the same area but from my research the water will be city. (Too close to the Indian River for a well (except for sprinklers) so I wouldn't use that for fish and I'm not sure about the tap there.
I'm thinking even if I buy an RO I will be using half and half or some mixture as RO takes everything away and I'd rather not use trace or artificial minerals.
Once I knew the set up in a new place I wouldn't mind natural ways... aquaponics (I'm pretty good with regular garden/plants) cuttlebone, oyster shells, peat or calcium etc. Of course I have no idea what I will be dealing with then so it would be a learning curve with some heavy amount of testing and water changes with purchased water until I got it straight.
I've never been big on fertilizer or pesticide in my regular plants. I would probably address this the same way. Usually takes a good amount of homework. When we lived in Virginia Beach for a few years, I had to adjust everything I knew about growing plants. And we have a place in New York which I have not got a hold on yet, it's very much like Michigan where I am from originally.
Your probably on spot with the new verses old. I will probably make myself very familiar with a system if I am going to use it indefinitely. If we build maybe incorporate a filtration system into the house itself as hard water can wreak havoc on anything it comes in regular contact with. ( a system if possible that leaves trace elements in tact iso there such a thing?) We almost got one for this house when we built it...was going to be 5k but we didn't think we would be here this long so we didn't. Wish we would have. We will have to replace the laundry and garage faucets because of lime and calcium deposits, having been neglected compared to all the others..
I should have test for gh kh over the weekend. That may help decide when. Especially if all the other numbers stay consistent. I have restrained from cleaning the filters besides exchanging the quilt batting for new and rinsing get the prefilters. I think the regular sponges are sufficiently full of enough stuff.
I'm thinking even if I buy an RO I will be using half and half or some mixture as RO takes everything away and I'd rather not use trace or artificial minerals.
Once I knew the set up in a new place I wouldn't mind natural ways... aquaponics (I'm pretty good with regular garden/plants) cuttlebone, oyster shells, peat or calcium etc. Of course I have no idea what I will be dealing with then so it would be a learning curve with some heavy amount of testing and water changes with purchased water until I got it straight.
I've never been big on fertilizer or pesticide in my regular plants. I would probably address this the same way. Usually takes a good amount of homework. When we lived in Virginia Beach for a few years, I had to adjust everything I knew about growing plants. And we have a place in New York which I have not got a hold on yet, it's very much like Michigan where I am from originally.
Your probably on spot with the new verses old. I will probably make myself very familiar with a system if I am going to use it indefinitely. If we build maybe incorporate a filtration system into the house itself as hard water can wreak havoc on anything it comes in regular contact with. ( a system if possible that leaves trace elements in tact iso there such a thing?) We almost got one for this house when we built it...was going to be 5k but we didn't think we would be here this long so we didn't. Wish we would have. We will have to replace the laundry and garage faucets because of lime and calcium deposits, having been neglected compared to all the others..
I should have test for gh kh over the weekend. That may help decide when. Especially if all the other numbers stay consistent. I have restrained from cleaning the filters besides exchanging the quilt batting for new and rinsing get the prefilters. I think the regular sponges are sufficiently full of enough stuff.
I don't have an exact amount of time to say to you for how long but we've only been working on this a little more than a week and your numbers have been all over the place. How long as this tank actually been cycling/running now? Looks like you have most of the nastiness sorted with the filter media and pothos but you're last pH reading was a difference of almost a full point from the one before it and that is a HUGE difference, 10x more alkaline. 7.4 or 7.6 (not sure which one was correct there) is better for the shrimp and OK for cories so that's a better place to be then the 6.4 you were at, wouldn't go any higher though. You really want to nail down these readings and get your water changing down to a science since you are messing with chemistry so much before adding any more creatures, those shrimps and snail are fighters. Like we keep saying, patience.
What are you considering artificial minerals? And what don't you like about using them? The minerals we (I) use to reconstitute our RO water is natural minerals, it's not like they are grow in labs and genetically modified.
They are the same things you find in your water just singled out and more "pure". But if you want to cut it with the poison (or toxic waste, sludge whatever you called it lol) coming out of your tap instead of powder minerals, that's your choice and may work just fine.
Depends what is actually IN your water what kind of whole house system you get but yeah there is probably something like what you want out there. Here is my situation for example. I am on an old shallow well that is high in ferrous iron and slightly hard. About 200 TDS 10 GH 10 KH. We used a whole house water softener that removed all minerals and replaced them with sodium ions giving us 200 TDS 0 GH 10 KH, no good for fishes, great for pipes but sucked for showering. I got a RO system and solved my fish problems until I wanted a 3,000+ gallon pond and a RO wasn't gonna cut it. Installed an iron filter with air injection (ferrous iron is 100% dissolved in the water and needs oxygen or other catalyst to make it removable, super layman terms here I know "science" police) that is now the first thing ALL water in my house goes through, then it either breaks off or goes to the softener which we have semi bypassed, now that the iron is gone, to give us the water hardness we like. It breaks off to my pond yard hydrants and auto fill as well as a PVC dedicated line running through both stories of my house just for my fish tanks. Unfortunately none of the fish water runs through the water heater so I have to fill a barrel with water and heat it (usually to room temp only though). So I've been through about ever water situation except city water. And the lesson is if you spend enough money you can get what you want! lol Water softener was about 5k installed (I think, it's been a LONG time) and the iron filter we installed for about a grand. Ran all extra piping ourselves though.
BTW cleaning your pre-filter and white batting is fine and a good practice to keep. As long as you have other media for the bacteria to grow on. And since you keep them dirty that is where the bacteria will grow instead of the pre-filter and batting.
Excuse the rambling and poor grammar, I'm tired.
What are you considering artificial minerals? And what don't you like about using them? The minerals we (I) use to reconstitute our RO water is natural minerals, it's not like they are grow in labs and genetically modified.
They are the same things you find in your water just singled out and more "pure". But if you want to cut it with the poison (or toxic waste, sludge whatever you called it lol) coming out of your tap instead of powder minerals, that's your choice and may work just fine.Depends what is actually IN your water what kind of whole house system you get but yeah there is probably something like what you want out there. Here is my situation for example. I am on an old shallow well that is high in ferrous iron and slightly hard. About 200 TDS 10 GH 10 KH. We used a whole house water softener that removed all minerals and replaced them with sodium ions giving us 200 TDS 0 GH 10 KH, no good for fishes, great for pipes but sucked for showering. I got a RO system and solved my fish problems until I wanted a 3,000+ gallon pond and a RO wasn't gonna cut it. Installed an iron filter with air injection (ferrous iron is 100% dissolved in the water and needs oxygen or other catalyst to make it removable, super layman terms here I know "science" police) that is now the first thing ALL water in my house goes through, then it either breaks off or goes to the softener which we have semi bypassed, now that the iron is gone, to give us the water hardness we like. It breaks off to my pond yard hydrants and auto fill as well as a PVC dedicated line running through both stories of my house just for my fish tanks. Unfortunately none of the fish water runs through the water heater so I have to fill a barrel with water and heat it (usually to room temp only though). So I've been through about ever water situation except city water.
And the lesson is if you spend enough money you can get what you want! lol Water softener was about 5k installed (I think, it's been a LONG time) and the iron filter we installed for about a grand. Ran all extra piping ourselves though. BTW cleaning your pre-filter and white batting is fine and a good practice to keep. As long as you have other media for the bacteria to grow on. And since you keep them dirty that is where the bacteria will grow instead of the pre-filter and batting.
Excuse the rambling and poor grammar, I'm tired.
I should have kept better records at the beginning but I set the tank up initially with plants around the 13th of April. By the next week I had the shrimp and snails in it. By the 11th of May I began taking pictures. By the 14th I had been running it with the bubbler filled with ammonia neutralizing crystals and batting, and the piece of drift wood doing about 30% water changes.
The numbers evened out around Monday of this week. I have not changed the water since but have added about 2 drinking bottles of purified water due to evaporation. This morning, thesession were the numbers
Register PH 7.6 (I know that could be higher as that's the too for that test)
The rest of the results are below. The nitrates are a little more orange than they were Monday.
The numbers evened out around Monday of this week. I have not changed the water since but have added about 2 drinking bottles of purified water due to evaporation. This morning, thesession were the numbers
Register PH 7.6 (I know that could be higher as that's the too for that test)
The rest of the results are below. The nitrates are a little more orange than they were Monday.
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I will give GH and KH asap
Wow. That's probably the situation we would be in if we stayed in NY year round. We are flipping a house up there in the mountains. Appellation trail runs a couple miles away. Good to know there are solutions. I didn't think the minerals would be pure. I thought it would be like a magnesium supplement a person takes...there are so many companies out there and most supplements have lousy fillers involved as so called carriers etc.
I will definitely be doing research before I buy a system that cost. I will check out that company you suggested. Thank you for all your time and advice.
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Will do. I knew I had to try to adjust for the tap. So I don't see any more besides water changes. I'm going to check it again Monday before a water change. Unless I can get to it Sunday night. So will update next week. Thanks for helping me get this straight.
