Salt??????

[HarryW13]

I have well water at my house, it goes through a softener before it gets to my tap. The GH is 4, KH is 8, and my PH is about 7.5. On a previous post I learned that the softener is adding salt to my water that is not good for my Discus (I've only had Discus in this water a short period of time).
It seems that the more I learn about water quality the more I get confused. I've always added aquarium salt to my water, whats the difference between theses types of salt? Is there a way to test my water to see how much salt is in it? And if so what are acceptable levels for keeping Discus? Right now I don't have the money for an RO unit, and the water straight from my well is pretty nasty ( turns a rust color after a day, and stains everything a rust color).
Harry

[Smokey]

Howdey Harry: first - it sounds like your well water has IRON in it. The rust color! and it turns everything a reddish brown colour.
DO NOT PUT THIS WATER through A R/O UINT.. Apparently it will clog the membrane.
Testing for salt in the water.. your local agriculturist Dept. should be able to test the water for you.. free, I would think!
Just one more thing Harry... test your water for NITRATES, well water is increasingly becoming poulleted, and well water NITRATES are becomming alarming high.
Local water departments have dropped the acceptable limits from 50ppm to 10 ppm ... make you wonder, right.
Have you tried a salt water HYDROMETER, to see what the salt concentrations are??? Might work!
If all else fails, try running the conditioned water / and the raw well water - through a large peat filter( home made - 5 gallon bucket, fill with peat moss and let the water flow through it; collect and test).

Let me know what develops, ok?

Smokey

[kevster]

Smokey
I have alot of iron in my water. When I filled up my swimming pool and added chlorine the water turned a root beer color right before my eyes. I have an r/o unit and there is no problem put iron through the unit. Yes I will have to change the membrane sooner than later but so what that the cost of getting r/o water

Harry
you need to get the discus out of water from the water softner. It caused me alot of problems, 5 or 6 discus jumped out of the tank, skittish behavior, swimming upsidedown, banging into glass. Water softner water is no good.
Kevster

[Smokey]

O...K....

Smokey

[RandalB]

Just jumping in here,
There is no problem with putting Iron through an RO unit. All it means is more frequent prefilter changes and more regular membrane flushing. In severe cases, the addition of a 10" KDF 55 cartrige will eliminate the iron fouling problems completely.

The problem with most water softeners is the amount of sodium introduced into the water not the sodium itself....

Harry, what is the water from the well w/o the softener like?

HTH,
RandalB

[HarryW13]

Smokey,
I can't take my Discus out of the water, it's the only water I got. All my other fish do well in this water. I've only had Discus a few weeks (2 of them), I'm trying to see how they are doing in my water before I get any more. I have a 55 gallon tank that I'd like to make an all Discus tank. So far my Discus are doing great, very active with quiet the appetite.
Harry

[korbi_doc]

:bounce2: :bounce2: Hi guys, this problem keeps rearing its ugly head. I have well water, EXTREMELY rusty, & nasty with God knows what chemicals etc are in it. Have a water softener also (remember it exchanges sodium for calcium & magnesium both of which are necessary for growth & development in youngsters) & use a TDS meter (meas. total dissolved solids)to check it. Over 900ppm after the softener. (Can't get to the before original water so far) & yes have had severe problems with this water, losses high. So I put it thru the R/O system & (knock on wood) have had no problems since. So maybe the membrane will wear out sooner? Actually the softened water is better for the membrane than the untouched well water. I've been using 100% R/O & reconstitute it to a number for youngsters using the TDS meter. Perhaps, Harry if you get one of these, not too expensive, it'll help keep a check on things. Some of the waste water I can use on the salt tank & any other fish water. I don't like to use it for the discus tanks cuz of the high sodium concetration (any TDS in the waste water must be from the sodium). The reconstituted R/O is safer, but it MUST BE RECONSTITUTED.. If you can't get an r/o system yet, perhaps running it thru peat in high concentration will solve the problem for now HTH, Dottie :) :)

[brewmaster15]

Hi Dottie
Thats a very good idea... water softener first... then thru Ro water filter... This is what Al @ Rocky Mountain Discus does. He then reconstitutes and adjusts the pH to where he wants to be. We've been working on my water , as I too have lots of Iron. :) Al sells a really nice little inline sodium based "iron" filter that has been working really well for me . You just install it right before the Ro water unit.

I don't know if the water softner water is easier on the membrane, but I believe it is easier on the prefilter, as I believe it passes thru the pre whereas the iron doesn't very well.
hth,
al

[RandalB]

Al,
Sodium is definately easier on the membrane. Magnesium and calcium salts tend to stick to the membrane and are more difficult to flush away. Let me know when that salt softener is exhausted, I have a new product you might be interested in testing for iron/heavy metal removal.....

Dottie,
Don't sweat the membrane damage from a water softener. Flush regularly and it will last the 2 years no problem.

Harry,
The peat filter is a good experiment to try but may not do the trick for you depending on your tap water.
Mark from the UK has a good design here:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=6663;sta rt=new
(Nice fish and planted tanks too)
give it a whirl.

HTH,
RandalB