Water from well

S

Sumpin'fishy

Humble Disciple of Jesus Christ
Oct 16, 2002
673
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49
Savannah, GA
Finally fixed our pump to our well system. Seems I lost syphon in my 22 foot tube into the well. My neighbor helped me fill the vertical pipe back up with water, then prime and get my pump back online. Everything works fine now.

The cool part is that my well water is very different from my tap water. Now I have plenty of options. Here is a quick breakdown of my different water supplies (after settling for over 24 hours):

Tap Water:
- pH 7.8
- KH 5.4
- Nitrates 0

Well Water:
- pH 6.6
- KH 1.0
- Nitrates ~5ppm

Anyone ever have ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate problems when using well water? Since I have detectable nitrates should I test for ammo? Also any other possible problems I should worry about? Parasites? Etc.? Will I be OK adding directly to my aquarium mixed with tap water?

I don't think I'll be using this water by itself because it has barely any alkalinity (KH), and I would be prone to pH crashes. But maybe this could help me (by mixing with tap water) to get a decent environment for acidic environment fish. I would most likely use this in a future planted tank with CO2 injected, but I'd have to be careful of lowering the KH too much. Any input on this anyone?

Regardless, it's nice to water my lawn without cost!:D
 
Nice water! Yes, you should test for ammonia. Lots of groundwater has nitrates in it, due to fertilizer run-off from lawns (in suburbs) or agribusiness (in farm areas). 5ppm is considered very good.

If you have a planted tank (and with this water why wouldn't you?) the low KH means higher CO2 levels. Give it a try without added CO2 first. My KH is lower than yours: I keep a teaspoonful of crushed coral in the filter and have no crashes. (I also clean my filters regularly and have good photosynthesis going and don't overload my aquaria.)
 
I had a 135 gallon tank that I used with well water with about the same specs as yours and the fish did beautifully. No problems and the fish loved it. I had 4 tiger oscars about 11-12" long and ended up with one breeding pair. It was nice to not have to add any chemicals to the water during changes. Now I am on city water:(
 
I used all the test kits I have and tested the well water right after filling up a cup and after 24 hours of filling a cup. The results are listed below:

Immediately:
- pH 6.0 (or less)
- KH 0.6
- Ammonia 0
- Nitrite 0
- Nitrate 5ppm (Red Sea kit), 0ppm (Salifert kit)

After 24 Hours:
- pH 6.6
- KH 1.0
- Ammonia 0
- Nitrite 0
- Nitrates 5ppm (Red Sea kit), ?? (Didn't use Salifert kit yet)
....will retest Nitrates with Salifert kit tomorrow

I also noticed a bit of sediment in the bottom of the cup both times I've filled it up. This won't be a problem will it? It's a bit of sand. Also, thank you both for the input. Wetman, what is your KH with the crushed coral added? Did it raise significantly? I've heard it's tough to add CO2 with low KH and maybe I won't need to. I hope you are right about maybe having higher CO2 levels in the water itself. I assume this would diminish over the week until I change the water? I might just be able to get by with injecting less.;) I really want to go all out with this future plant setup, and want to do things right, but without overdoing it also!

BTW, why does my KH seem to raise after settling for 24 hours? Isn't it supposed to drop? My FO tanks have a drop in KH. My pH is lower also until it settles. Hmmm, strange. Any input out there?
One last question: if I did use this water in a tank, would I still need to treat it with some kind of water softener/dechlor? It doesn't seem like I would need to. Thanks again, everyone!
 
It just hit me as to why my pH and KH might raise after settling....probably losing some of the CO2 that is in my well water, right? This would explain both of these raising after settling instead of dropping. Still, any input would be appreciated on my other concerns.
 
Yes, that outgassing of CO2 would raise your KH, but your two readings are within the margin of error.

I haven't tested for months, so following your suggestion I've just tested four ten-gallon tanks, all well-matured, with almost identical h.o.t. Whisper filters, all full of plants, with light fishloads:

NYC's soft water is made even softer, after my plants have sucked the remaining calcium out of it, and what with teabags in the filter, leaf litter, Osmunda fiber, coconut shell, etc. releasing humic substances. To get a trace of KH I have to double and triple the volume of testing water. It's below 1 degree KH according to a Tetra test kit. Like a lot of Amazon basin streams. You wouldn't want to diffuse CO2 into water like this.

Just before the lights came on, at the day's pH lowpoint, two tanks tested pH 6.2-6.4 and two tested 6.4-6.6 The difference? A large "escargot" snail shell dissolving away in one 10-gallon tank, and a sprinkling (a teaspoon) of crushed coral scattered over the substrate months ago in another (for barbs and a pair of Botia modesta loaches). When the lights go out tonight, they will all test about 6.8. (I'll doublecheck this for you later and repost.)

What stabilizes these aquaria. 1. (currently rather unusually) light fish loads: a. three juvenile Rams b. six pencilfish and an old Apisto grandpa c. two Otos in quarantine d. eight Tiger and Black Ruby Barbs and two B. modesta. 2. nitrates don't accumulate because the filters are rinsed weekly, and plants scavenge NH4. 3. photosynthesis counteracts bio-acidification; I fertilize with a very light hand with KCl.
 
This may be getting into planted aquaria questioning, but how will I be able to heavily plant this aquarium if I can't add CO2 and have about 3w/gal of light? From what I understand, around 2w/gallon and higher you should inject CO2. Also how much water do you change each week? Should I change about 25%, more?.....less? I've never heard about photosynthesis counteracting bio-acidification, before. Where did you learn this? Your input is great, any others have some input for us?

BTW, I'm using a Salifert KH/Alkalinity Test Kit. I really like it. It is used by getting 4ml of water to be tested and adding 2 drops of Reagent "A". Then fill up a 1mL syrenge (divided into hundredths) with 1mL of Reagent "B". Then add one drop of Reagent "B" at a time until the test water changes color. Then you look at how much of Reagent "B" is left in the syrenge and cross-reference this with a chart. My tap water changes color at .66 mL left in the syrenge (=5.4 dKH), and my well water changes at .96 mL left in syrenge (=0.6 dKH). I tested the well water twice immediately and twice after 24 hours. Immediately, both tests had .94 mL left in syrenge (=1.0 dKH). After 24 hours it had .96 mL (=0.6 dKH). That is about 2 drops difference. Each drop is about .15mL from the syrenge....pretty accurate to me! I do agree that my dKH could be anywhere from 0.5 dKH to 0.8 dKH, though. How does your KH test work? The only thing with mine is that I wish I knew how to convert dKH to ppm (like some people use). Any clue?
 
Crushed coral can be used to raise kh. I had a problem with falling kh and wanting to do a co2 added tank. My well water kh was 5 but after aging in the tank it would fall below 3. I found that putting about 3/4 cup of crushed coral in the Eheim on my then new co2 added 50 gal tank kept my kh at 6-7. It may also have had a slight effect on my ph. EVen with pressurized co2 added my ph holds at 7.2 (7.4 from tap after outgassing) and kh at 6-7.

btw way divide ppm by 17 to get degrees, if I remember correctly.
 
Photosynthesis counteracts bio-acidification. Just logic. If photosynthesis depletes the dissolved CO2, driving up the pH (always highest in the end of the photoperiod), then it's countering all the metabolic processes that pump acids into the water, carbonic acid (from dissociation of dissolved CO2) being the main one, but all those bacterial metabolic pathways that release a H+ proton are by definition increasing the acidity, where the "H" of pH is Hydrogen. The pH in a planted tank drifts down in the dark hours.

As for my alkalinity test (uh-oh, I'm no chemist): the Tetra KH test is a titration test like the Salifert one you use. I just add drops of the single reagent to aquarium water, til the blue turns yellow. I have to use 15ml of water instead of 5ml, dividing by three afterwards, but the blue turns yellow with the second drop. Not nearly as accurate. Enough to say "very very soft."

George Booth posted this to the A-P D,27 Aug 1997:

"After doing some exhausting experiments last weekend, I've pretty much satisfied myself that the Tetra "KH" test kit is simply an alkalinity test,just like some folks have been saying all along. This means that if bicarbonates are the dominate buffering agent in your water, the "KH" test will be pretty close to carbonate hardness and the readings will work well with the CO2/KH/pH tables. If you have phosphates or other buffers in your water, you're out of luck."

Well, New York puts some polyphosphates into our water, to protect the ancient water mains, so some of my faint alkalinity could be from polyPO4

Tetra doesn't list any ingredients save the ethyl alcohol solvent: www.tetra-fish.com/products/instructions/ghkh.pdf.

As for CO2: fire up your lights and grow plants! Worry about CO2 later. CO2 diffusion was invented to enable folks whose carbon was all bound up in their carbonate/bicarbonate buffer to grow some nice plants. Results are spectacular!

One amusing way to add CO2 to the system is with tropical fish! Yes indeed! Besides adding CO2 for the plants, they're often considered more entertaining to watch than the CO2 cartridge...
 
I don't know....I'll take a bubble counter over Rams courting each other any day!!!:p
 
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