Well Water Chemistry Help

[Mr. Snook]

I am moving to a house that is on well water soon. I was able to get a copy of the water testing from the previous owner of the house (see attached). This is unfortunately pretty high alkalinity (220 ppm = 12.3 dKH) and TDS (340), which my SA cichlids and catfish aren't going to like. I've always been fortunate enough to have good tap water that did not need to be treated or adjusted for them. Would I be well advised to start making RODI and remineralizing it for my tank?

 

[NeverFadeAway86]

i know alot of houses on well water use a water softener system, is there one in this house ? if so is the test directly from the well or after it has been softened ?

 

[Mr. Snook]

There is a softener system, yes. The test is directly from the well. I was planning to not use water from the softener though due to the sodium content.

 

[Mr. Snook]

My thought was that I could mix the raw well water with RODI water at a 50/50 or maybe 60/40 ratio. Seems like that would get alkalinity more in the 8.0 dKH range and TDS to something like 175-200. These numbers would be better for the fish I keep (severums, chocolate, oscars, silver dollars, etc). Does that sound logical/reasonable?

 

[TetraFreak]

Good call on RODI.

I have a whole house water conditioner(DI) and after all the filtration, Ph is about 7, everything else is crystal clear. my TDS is still at 100. But the water is otherwise perfect coming out of the tap. GH=1 & KH=3. I ran my TDS meter on the RO output and that comes out at 40-ish.

There's one more thing I'm looking at and haven't had a chance to test it yet but when I do, I'll fill you in.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I think you need to get another test. The one you posted is about 8 years old. I have well water which is ideal for your fish. When I set up my first tank the pH was 7.3 and my GH was 6 dh and KH was 3-4 dh. About 8 years later a fish keeping friend came by and she had a TDS meter. She tested my water at 83 ppm. After she left I ordered my first TDS meter and checked my KH and GH, Both were down a couple of dh.

I am lazy. It isn't that I don't want to do any thing, rather I always want to find the best solution that also takes the least time and effort to use. After that, cost is the next important factor. So in your situation i would hate to have to go with 100% RO/DI and remineralize. You have to make the most water, you have to spend to remineralize and you spend the most time keeping it all working properly.

So, I would suggest you might try some experiments. You will need to buy a gallon or two of distilled water to substitute for RO/DI. You can try a few mix ratios for one and you can also run both pre and post softened water. You can actually do a decent amount of testing yourself for a lot less than paying to have it done.

We all know we can test for TDS, KH, GH, pH already. Here is what you can get easily and for not a fortune as well:
Iron
Calcium
Magnesium

A decent home softening system will add some sodium to the output water. But this should be pretty low. Here is what might be a worry and I am not sure of this but somebody else here might be. Salt as sodium chloride does not evaporate with water. What this means it there is the potential for it to accumulate in a tank is one is not careful. If one is regular in their water changes and insures there is not often a need to top off a tank, this should prevent the build up of sodium. The softener removes chloride as well the sodium and the chloride is a problem when it is discharged from the system into the environment,.

Finally, if one wishes to keep live plants and/or inverts in a tank, they need the things the softener is removing- iron, calcium and magnesium. In fact, I add all of these to my heavily planted tanks with shrimp and snails in them. I use SeaChem Equilibrium for this. I use way less than is suggested for true remineralization of RO/DI water. I am not defiicent in general obut because of a ton of plants. amano shrimp and assassin snails. There are not enough minerals for them all.

Equilibrium™ is specifically designed to establish the ideal mineral content for the planted aquarium. Equilibrium™ contains no sodium or chloride (which can be detrimental to a planted aquarium at elevated levels). Equilibrium™ is ideally suited for use with RO (reverse osmosis) or DI (deionized) water or any mineral deficient water. Equilibrium™ raises the essential mineral/electrolyte content (General Hardness) of the water to balance with and promote stability of the carbonate hardness.............

......... Equilibrium™ contains NO SODIUM CHLORIDE. Both sodium and chloride are not rapidly depleted elements in a planted aquarium, and, in the case of chloride, can do more harm than good. Competitors’ products generally contain primarily sodium chloride (because it is inexpensive), which will raise the electrolyte levels for fish, but can be detrimental to plant growth. In addition, sodium is not a contributing cation to GH levels. Equilibrium™ contains only calcium, magnesium, and potassium salts, which aid in fish metabolism, but are also highly beneficial to plant growth. Equilibrium™ guaranteed analysis and symptoms of deficiency

It also contains Iron and manganese. If you look at your well water report shows it has no iron, calcium or manganese. And if it had calcium or iron, the softener would remove these. The water report does not list magnesium at all.

The more complex this stuff is, the more easily one can make a mistake. If one takes their eye of the ball, things can get screwed in up a tank pretty fast. When one is adding things that are either lacking or get used up too quickly, it is even more important to stay on top of them.

One last thought, you kight want to get the output parameters of you softener test so you know exactly what is and isn't in it. This can help you to determine which water source works best- pre or post softener.

 

[Mr. Snook]

Eight years? The water test was from a few months ago.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Oops I read it as 2014 for some reason. My bad. That makes things easier as it is likely pretty accurate and there is no need to retest. However, everything else i wrote is on the money.

A lot of the issues surrounding home testing is the fact that we cannot easily test for some things. Yo do so either means more expensive equipment most do not need and will never use or else sending out water for a testing.

In your case there are two issues. One is what is in the water that you may need to reduce or eliminate and the other is things the water lacks and which you will need to add back.

In a modern house water softener most of the sodium and chloride is removed. The problem is where the chloride gets dumped. The sodium that is not all removed is a small amount but it can accumulate. For most home use it is not a problem unless a resident is on a low sodium diet, You can only change with the water., But if you do go with an RO/DI system that has a carbon module, it removes chlorine and chloramine as well as a lot of other stuff. If you do this, use the RO/DI on softened water not pre-softened as there should be less stuff to remove that way. But you will have to remineralize.

The equilibrium I use when used for RO/Di is added at the rate of 1 tablespoon per 80l (20gal). I add about .5 of a teaspoon teaspoon to my planted 75 with many snails and shrimp as well as plants (there are 3 teaspoons in 1 tablespoon). You will need to use something besides E/ Equilibrium.

RO/DI has nothing in it/ So it has no KH. That should leave the water at a pH of 7.0. But you will discover that what happens is the RO/DI will have an acid pH. This is due to the water acquiring CO@ from the normal gas exchange between air and water. This will create some carbonic acid and without any KH, down goes the pH.

My point in this is to illustrate that changing or creating water chemistry is not a simple matter. I had wanted to have Altum angekls for years but keeping them required I drastically alter my water parameters. It took me about a decade in the hobby with miltiple tanks befor I wasn't to afraid to try. I brought them into a tank with TDS between 20 and 30 ppm and a pH of 4.2. I then spent about 6 months gradually raising that to 6.0.

I have to premix 20 gals. of changing water every week for water changes in that tank. I do this in a 20 gal can next to the tank so I just have to move the probes from the tank to the can yo get the numbers where I need them and then I return them to the tank before the refill. The pH probe cannot be allowed to dry out once it has been put into water. I used to use Pen type testers, but that required htey be kept in their top filled with a special solution to prevent drying out.

This is what I have, but I paid closer to $250 back when I got it.
https://www.amazon.com/Temperature-Conductivity-Measurements-Calibration-Hydroponic/dp/B0081K32B0
Here is the company site for USA https://bluelab.com/amer/bluelab-guardian-monitor

You will also need calibration solutions for pH. There are 3 of these. one about 4.0, one 7.0 and the third is 10.0. If you run water below 7 you use the 4 and 7 and it the water i s above 7, you use the 10 and 7. I have had to replace the pH probe once over the past 8 or 9 years. I started out buying a less expensive Chinese made monitoring unit but it sucked. I ended up buying one made in New Zealand popular for hydroponics even more then fish keeping.

I chose ther Guardian, but you may want to investigate who else makes a monitor you can use and might prefer. I posted the above more for informational reasons not to tell you what to buy.