RO alternative

[95jeepxj]

I am looking for alternatives to RO water. I know I could filter through peat but I am concerned about the "brown water". I'm not a fan of buying an expensive RO unit, only to waste 4 gallons of water to every 1. It's bad enough that we go through a drought every summer.

If I filter through peat and use carbon in a holding tank, will the carbon get rid of the browning?

jake

[RandalB]

Jake,
First, do you need RO water? Maybe not. What are your conditions (pH, Gh, kH) and what are you trying to do? Grow out fish or breed?

Are you on a well or a well derived municipal water supply?

Activated carbon will remove the tint from peat filtered water, FYI

Let me know,
RandalB

[tommydiscus]

Hi Randal how are you doing .I was just wondering If you sent my meter's out yet. please keep me posted thanks

[RandalB]

Tommy,
Just got your MO today, should have the meter on the way tomorrow!

RandalB

[95jeepxj]

No well water. Ph 7.4not sure of kh or gh the test kit I have measures in PPM which is 250 out of the tap.

I'm going to be growing out to start (have not started with discus yet). I may eventually try to breed for some friends of mine whom I just finished helping to build a LFS. I'm going to be their "Guinea pig" for discus. They primarily deal in saltwater fish and reef systems.

jake

[RandalB]

Jake,
It's your lucky day. You don't need an RO unit or peat filtering for growing out discus. I know lots of people that use water in that range (250 PPM TDS) with great results.

Make sure your Tap water's pH is stable (let a sample sit for 24 hours and test it to see what the pH does)

If the pH is stable, use the tap water with a good dechlorinator for your waterchanges (making sure to match temp with the tank!)

When the discus grow up, you might need to adjust the tap water (RO mix or Peat filtering) to get better results from spawning, but that is a wait and see.

HTH,
RandalB

[Carol_Roberts]

My well water tds is 276 ppm. My growouts are doing just fine.

I have to worry about pH swing. You may too. My pH directly from the tap is 6.8, but after circulation and off gassing of CO2 it stabilizes at 7.8. AS you can see a 50% water change would drop the pH to 7.3 in minutes. Way too big of a drop for discus comfort.

[95jeepxj]

I tested my tap water after sitting overnight no airation. PH 7.6 up from 7.2 - 7.4(maybe higher test kit tops out at 7.6) Tds 100 down from 250.

jake

[Carol_Roberts]

Those numbers are fine for raising discus.