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View Full Version : Drip systems and DI...need some answers



tag
01-31-2005, 03:41 PM
Hi,

Here's what I'm doing currently.. prefiltering tap water through a 4 stage filter before it's aged for 24 hours and prime is added. First filter is a 1 micron sediment filter, second is a KDF filter (copper and zinc resin to eliminate heavy metals), third is again another 1 micron sediment filter and last is a carbon filter. The water quality is good, the fish are happy with it HOWEVER...we have a fine white dust circulating through the water..maybe scale, lime/calcium it appears( it appears white but when you wipe it off tubes etc., it's actually an amber colour, turned a white sediment filter golden yellow in 3 weeks :( . The water filter help we've had says...since we're filtering down the water the minerals are being broken up so fine they're allowed to bleed into the water still :confused:.

I have a 125 gallon with 6 (SIX) hydrosponge filters running and a Rena 3 canister as well, a UV sterilizer. If I want to reduce this white dust stuff I have to remove the prefilter on my canister...we all know the disadvantages of that. What should I do? Anyone know how to eliminate this problem?

We're on city water that's not fit for consumption of any kind, lots of chemicals and chloramines. I've had the great help from Randal with our water analysis but I've lost touch since then. I can't/don't want to consider RO because of the water waste, plus I need 150 gallons per day and I don't think the fish would do any better in the long run.

We've been researching deionized water but I'm seriously confused about re-adding what's needed and do I want to mess with the ph which is 7.8 after aging and stable, kh and gh, in short, I don't think I have the knowledge to do it! Soooo.. what about a drip system? I have 2 - 125 gallon tanks, 2 - 40 gallon tanks and a small tank set up as a hospital tank, looking at getting a 90 gallon to add. Any advice/info on deionised water?

Anyone use discus trace (seachem) or discus essential (kent) to add what they say are important trace minerals.

I would REALLY appreciate any info you can offer. Tell me what you would do if you had this set up to reduce wc time...I'm open to any suggestions!!!

Thanks

Take care

Tina

Carol_Roberts
01-31-2005, 05:57 PM
Hi Tina:
This question is out of my league . . . . Are you able to drink the water after it has gone through the filter system? If yes, it's probably OK for discus. A hot magnum filter may get rid of the dust you are seeing. I think DI would be very expensive . . .

tag
01-31-2005, 06:03 PM
Thanks Carol, I appreciate your reply. It is one heck of a challenging question and believe me I've approached many resources already, just need to find someone/anyone that can combine their discus experience with water filtration experience. Anyone?

Thanks again

Tina

lldewe
02-17-2005, 05:28 PM
OK, so to follow this through, I work at a lab and can get distilled deionized water. Is this good to use or should I maybe mix it with my tap water which is well water and quite mineralized?

TIA...
Lorie