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Thread: Looking for help with creating good source water

  1. #1
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    Default Looking for help with creating good source water

    Getting out of the Reef hobby I have a big ro/di system that I want to use to create good water for my Discus. I know that I will not be using all of the ro/di components but I can use a lot of what I have and reconfigure it to create good water. I plan on using a 5 canister system that would have the following in order from the source:
    5 micron sediment
    1 micron sediment
    0.5 micron sediment
    0.5 carbon block
    0.5 carbon block
    I know I need to restrict the flow of this system to about 0.5gph to make the carbon blocks effective. They will effectively treat 20,000 gallons of water. At 0.5 gah I can make about 700gpd. I will not use the membrane or di for my Discus tank. I already have a 800ml/min flow restriction.
    Would this go on the source water side or the post filter side?
    Also I have 2x 65 gallon plastic water storage tanks to age my water. One has a float valve already in it and my ro/di unit has a shut off valve. I want to utilize this shut off valve so I don’t have to rely on the float valve to stop the flow of water into these tanks. How old I plumb this shut off valve? It has 2x in ports and 2x out ports?
    The reason for the 3x sediment filters is my water is extremely hard. The first one has always turned orange on mr very quickly so that is at least filtering out some of the iron and my toilets turn black if water sits in them which might mean manganese?
    Hopefully this water will be ok....

  2. #2
    Homesteader RogueDiscus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    Hi Marc,
    Forgive my ignorance, since I'm no expert, and I'm trying to understand it all first. If you restrict your carbon block to .5 gph, how to you get 700 gpd?

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    Homesteader Adam S's Avatar
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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    Maybe they meant gpm not gph. That's 720 gal a day.

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    Homesteader RogueDiscus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    Thanks, that makes sense.

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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    0.5 gpm sorry
    Last edited by MarcVargas; 10-01-2018 at 09:30 PM.

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    Administrator and MVP Dec.2015 Second Hand Pat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    Hi Marc, what is wrong with your current tap water? I use a hi-pass carbon and sediment filter on my well water using the 20 in housing http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...unhappy+fishes which works really well.
    Pat
    Your discus are talking to you....are you listening


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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    Quote Originally Posted by Second Hand Pat View Post
    Hi Marc, what is wrong with your current tap water? I use a hi-pass carbon and sediment filter on my well water using the 20 in housing http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...unhappy+fishes which works really well.
    Pat
    Pat, I am still waiting for my test kit to check all parameters. I am sure it is very hard as I have to decalcify shower heads twice a year. Sediment filter turns orange very quickly so I am assuming high in iron and then the black rings in the toilets form fairly quickly after cleaning so more than likely high in manganese?

    I have the equipment to do what I am thinking of so I figured why not? Would it make better quality water for my fish when I get them or is this all not necessary?

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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    Quote Originally Posted by Second Hand Pat View Post
    Hi Marc, what is wrong with your current tap water? I use a hi-pass carbon and sediment filter on my well water using the 20 in housing http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...unhappy+fishes which works really well.
    Pat
    Pat our water here is very hard. I am still waiting on my test kit to get accurate numbers of everything
    On my ro/di unit I would only be able to make about 300 gallons of water and my sediment filters would be completely orange and brown so I assume high Iron?
    I have to descale my shower heads, and dishwasher every 3-6 months
    And I always have a black ring in our toilets which from what I am told is high manganese?
    I already have the equipment to filter the water and think it would be a good idea
    What’s your thoughts?

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    Registered Member Tshethar's Avatar
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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    Hi Marc,

    Personally I don't have the background to tell you whether things like manganese are potentially irritants or not, but there is certainly no harm at all in using those filters, and many of us do something like this for various reasons. (For me it was as simple as noticing that my fish sometimes seemed stressed after a water change for reasons I couldn't explain--temp was matched, water was aged, no pH swing, no microbubbles, etc.--so I opted to remove sediment and have carbon inline before my storage container. Couldn't hurt, right?) Admittedly not a very "evidence-based" decision, but if you don't get more responses there are some old threads (like Pat's) that talk about these things. (The one I started is here: http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?133427)

    Given that there are some cheap, almost disposable options nowadays you might put some of those at the front end (maybe even start with a 10 micron or something) so that your replacement costs on the higher-grade filters on the back end won't be too high given the potential frequency you're looking at.

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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    If manganese is staining your toilet bowl there is a chance it will stain you aquarium. Do you have a whole home softener in your house?

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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    I do not have a wate4 softener.

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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    Looking again at your system, nothing in it will help to bring down the hardness of your water if that is your concern. The sediment and sub micron and carbon block will help with clarity, chlorine and DOC to an extent but the macro KH, GH and pH shouldn't change very much if at all. Are you on a private well or municipal water? Knowing the KH and GH will be a good start to know if the extra effort of filtering is required.

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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    Quote Originally Posted by JamesW View Post
    Looking again at your system, nothing in it will help to bring down the hardness of your water if that is your concern. The sediment and sub micron and carbon block will help with clarity, chlorine and DOC to an extent but the macro KH, GH and pH shouldn't change very much if at all. Are you on a private well or municipal water? Knowing the KH and GH will be a good start to know if the extra effort of filtering is required.
    Just checked my water and it as follows:
    GH = 360
    KH = 240

    Checked it with my Nutrafin water test kit

    GH = 18 drops to change to blue (18x20=380)

    KH = 24 drops to change to yellow (24x10=240)

  14. #14
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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    The beauty of midwestern liquid rock...

    IMO you would be best served to mix ~2/3 RO to 1/3 tap. Currently you are at the upper range of water best suited for rift lake cichlids... A 1:2 ratio should get you into the range of typical fish or you can use 1:3 or 1:4 to get closer to prototypical soft water. Best to discuss with your discus source and adjust appropriately.

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    Default Re: Looking for help with creating good source water

    Quote Originally Posted by JamesW View Post
    The beauty of midwestern liquid rock...

    IMO you would be best served to mix ~2/3 RO to 1/3 tap. Currently you are at the upper range of water best suited for rift lake cichlids... A 1:2 ratio should get you into the range of typical fish or you can use 1:3 or 1:4 to get closer to prototypical soft water. Best to discuss with your discus source and adjust appropriately.
    Spoke to Kenny from Kenny’s Discus and he stated that my water should be fine. My TDS from the tap is 320 and will be fine. Stability is the biggest issue.

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