Nightmare! Can't do W/Cs

[korbi_doc]

:'( :'( :'( :'( :'(Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!
Well, it's finally happened, wells can be such a problem!!! I've been expecting something like this, since my house is very old, things just seem to fall apart!! They're telling me it's not the well, but the pump & reservoir. Haven't had much water for the weekend, minimal am't. The r/o with a booster pump worked for a few minutes, then just quit, so had to stop cuz the horses & house took priority, & this am there's none at all. Good thing I had done the w/cs on Fri nite, but it'll take time to make more r/o before I can do them again. Maybe by tomorrow nite if I'm lucky!!! But if it's the well, I'm in DEEP trouble!!! That takes more time!!!!!!!! Well, here I sit, getting ready for office hrs in the hospital with no water, ???
& to make matters worse, was trying to get the tanks ready for a 2 wk absence since I'm going to hospital to get bionic knees. (Dec 12). Why does everything have to get so complicated????????????? :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( Dottie (sorry guys, just had to vent!!!!!!!!!)

where i live used to be more of a rural area(it's since become built up) and before about 8 years ago, we had to get our water trucked in....stored it in a 3000 gallon holding tank hooked up to the house....any businesses near you that offer that sortof service?? and could you store it?

[RichieE]

Dottie, Thats bad news. I heard a story a few years ago of a newlywed couple whos well ran dry and they had to abandon the house! They couldnt afford to drill another well. I hope thats not the case and its just the pump. Have you checked into the cost of getting city water hooked up? If I were in your shoes the fish would be swimming in Poland Spring :) Rich

[Liz_Streithorst]

Dottie, If it's the pump and not the well there shouldn't be a problem. They can just replace the pump and you'll be back in business. Don't know about the "resivoir" though. Don't think my well has that...just a hole in the ground to where the water is.

Liz

[keno]

Dottie, sorry to hear about your troubles. Try and cut down lots on the feeding while you are not doing water changes.

Ken

[ChloroPhil]

Go to your LFS and get as much duckweed as you can and dump it in your tank(s). Most stores don't mind unloading a ton on you as it grows like the dickens. This should help use up a lot of the Nitrogen and Phosphate in the water while you're unable to change the water.

i would say "ix-nay" on the duckweed....you would be putting all the bugs and germs from the lfs tanks into your tanks!!! that would have the potential to do much more harm than good, and would be like throwing a bunch of fish into the tanks un-quarantined....

[brewmaster15]

Hi Dottie,
sorry to hear about the troubles! :'( pretend you are vacation. feed the fish zero or very little, and they can go for at least a week with no water changes until you get things with the well handled.

Other things you can do is add carbon ( it won't hurt the discus in the short run-possibly not even in the long run) and if you haven't already... get some pothos from a nursery and put the vine cuttings in the tanks. or rinse the dirt off the roots at a friends house ::) and place the roots inthe tank for nitrate control

hope it works out for you. I have a well and its my biggest fear!

-al

Good tips brew!
only thing I could add to that is keep lighting off and temps on the lowside. :'( :'( :'(

Best wishes!
Cary Gld!

Dottie,
Sorry to read about your troubles. I would go get a couple of 55 gallon food grade barrels and go vist your neighbors. Then I would heat it up and change water. Then go on vacation. You might have to make a few trips to the neighbors, but what are neighbors for.

HTH
Miles

[DarkDiscus]

I like Miles' idea!

I would be on my way to my mom's house with water storage bins!

John

[korbi_doc]

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :) :) :) :) ;D ;D ;D ;D

IT'S BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank goodness!!!!!! & everyone, thank you for the back-up & good wishes.. It's nice to have someone who understands the frustrations. Turned out (so far) the pump was the problem, well seems ok. Put in a larger pump & larger reservoir & now there's water PHEW!!!
Have no idea how long the well will go, but for the moment(heave a big sigh of relief)!!
Great ideas from all of you, will put in pothos this week for the nitrates when I'm away. Almost went to the neighbor for a hose for the horses, (only one, rest is now commercial). This used to be rural too, not now. Hooking up to the city water would be cost prohibitive cuz of the horses, & hospital bldg, not bad just for a home. (unless you have discus of course) Wouldn't it be nice to have one of those huge reservoirs above ground that some towns have??
Thanks so much for the support, made me feel better, now I feel like a wrung-out sponge!! Oh well, start collecting r/o again. Maybe tonite some will be ready to use?? Dottie ;D ;D :bounce2: :bounce2: :bounce2: :bounce2: :bounce2:

[DarkDiscus]

Dottie,

It's great to hear the W/C are back on schedule! I bet your fish are even happier to hear it!

John

[brewmaster15]

Dottie,
Did they have to open the well? If they did they have to Bleach it! Becareful if the well was bleached...it takes a long to time to work out of the system.

Glad you have water though!

-al

[brewmaster15]

PS... it can also destroy the RO membrane in the filter.


-al

[korbi_doc]

:bounce: :bounce: Thanks guys, no didn't open the well. Wouldn't they have to do that from the outside? They worked inside, changed the pump reworking the pipes, & installed a much larger reservoir tank & the water is running ok now. There is no odor, started the r/o several hours after running the water. The only difference I'm seeing is mystifying. The r/o blue water is tds @ 68ppm & the reject water is only 78ppm. That is not usual for the reject water. Wonder if I could use both with a tds that low, gen'rlly regenerate with the potassium & calcium salt recipe to about 250-300ppm. Oh well, time will tell, will I ever learn enough? These folk advised me to have my softener serviced cuz the water is so acid its eating the copper pipes away; may need some replaced; boy, I'm tired just thinking 'bout all these problems. lol, Dottie ;D ;D

[Dennis_Hardenburge]

Dottie
Glad to hear the water is back running.
Hope every thing goes good with the knee surgery, will be thinking about.
I think they could just give me whole new legs. Guess I shouldn't complain as I still have them.
Dennis