Water dilema...

[GrillMaster]

I thought I would run this by the members an see what you guys come up with as far as options are concerned...

Some of you may know I am fixing to move to a house in the country in about 10 days. It has a huge basement in which I was going to set up a fish room. I was informed yesterday that the well was dug to a depth of 20 ft when the house was built 35 years ago. :shocked2:

That is just unheard of around here since most are dug to 60 ft. He says he has never run it dry. He has never done water changes either...

Needless to say a fishroom on this well is out of the question. Digging it deeper is an option but a very expensive one.

I have a brook that runs thru the property that has a mag pump to pump the brook water up to the house with the flip of a switch. (1 1/2" pipe) This was used to fill the pool and of course chlorine killed all the nasties.

Would this be an option for a fishroom providing I had the storage tanks? What would be the best method for getting rid of all brook micro organisms everyday? Add a bit of bleach...Then dechlor it? Is there a product on the market for this type of application?

The brook water would go thru an RO unit for the breeding tanks, so that shouldn't be a problem. I could have a seperate storage tank pumping water thru an RO unit.

What do you guys think would be the best way to handle this situation? :)

[scolley]

Hey Mark, congrats on the country house! Didn't know about that. But since you have a pool... well I've got a bathing suit, an inflatable float ring and a six of cold beer. I'll be there in a jiffy. ;)

Actually you could run your water through a 0.5 micro filter (RO canister variety) and get most of the nasties. And then zap it hard with a UV and get most of the rest. It's the chemicals I'd be worried about.

As you know, we've got farms here. And lots of farm run off. I suppose you could set up a heavy RO/DI operation. Or, since most of the chemical contamination is fertilizer of various forms, you could just have a big planted holding tank to soak up the NPK (mostly N&P I'll wager). Even if it winds up as algae soup, as long as you filter out the aglae before you use the water, you've still soaked up most of your problem with plants (even if low-order plants).

But those are just the thoughts of a novice. Will be intersting to see what others say...

[GrillMaster]

Thanks Steve!! Hey you are welcome over anytime my friend! :) The pool is gonna get put away here soon but you can still wear yer rubber ring and drink a 6 pack! ;) :D :D

That may be a way to go for sure as long as I can get around 250G of water through the RO and UV in a day or so. If a heavy duty RO system would let me use the brook water and give me enough water each day for the water changes, I would spring for it! It would be cheaper than digging another well!!

I guess the chemicals would be a crap shoot since there wouldn't be any way of testing for them with any consistency.

I will research it all further and see what I can come up with...

[Don Trinko]

Check with the local county agent. In many areas 20' is not deep enough to prevent contamination. You may need to treat the water to make it safe to drink. Don T.

[tacks]

Hi Mark Great news about the new house and most of all the fish room. I was wondering will that brook freeze over in the winter or is the flow pretty good? It does seem an RO system is what you would need. Good luck with your new home. Ed

[brewmaster15]

Mark...

Check the stream parameters... you may not need the RO water if the stream is good.

perhaps a better option... something like.. pump to a storage bin.. rough filter enroute....treat with chlorine..... pump to secondary storage tank...dechlorinate with sodium Thiosulfate...aerate...heat. filter thru carbon block.... then to the tanks.

The well is definetly not going to be good for water changes...theres a big difference between the former owners use of water... and your families+fishroom.:(:(:( definetly need to get creative here.

-al


hth,
al

[wgtaylor]

Hi Mark, I use spring water passed thru a UV20-2 filter. (5 micron sediment and uv). Using this system for ~ three years. Works great for the fish, heated than straight to tanks. The only addition I may make is adding a carbon filter before storage tanks. Water parameters, 65 ms (34 ppm), ph 6.3 winter, 6.5 -6.8 summer. Nitrates 0 in winter and ~ 5 summer. Water great for wilds. Havn't had a problem yet with water too soft, will adjust if it is a problem. You may find your brook a very enviable source of water. Myself I would not add bleach. If anything maybe add a 1/2 micron filter after carbon, should filter out almost anything in the water. Best of luck, hope you enjoy your new place. Bill

[GrillMaster]

Check with the local county agent. In many areas 20' is not deep enough to prevent contamination. You may need to treat the water to make it safe to drink. Don T.

Hey Don...The owners dug this well 35 years ago and they are still walkin around upright. I guess it would be ok to drink...According to the owners, Six feet of earth will filter the water enough for safe drinking. They use bottled water though...:inquisitive:

Thanks Ed!! I am pretty excited myself! :) The flow in the brook is constant and it doesn't freeze. Will keep ya informed to which way this all goes...:)

Al...You an I both know there is a happy ending to this scenario! We just need to find the happy ending! When you get a chance to come up here, I will give ya the grand tour, and we can go from there. :)


Hi Mark, I use spring water passed thru a UV20-2 filter. (5 micron sediment and uv). Using this system for ~ three years. Works great for the fish, heated than straight to tanks. The only addition I may make is adding a carbon filter before storage tanks. Water parameters, 65 ms (34 ppm), ph 6.3 winter, 6.5 -6.8 summer. Nitrates 0 in winter and ~ 5 summer. Water great for wilds. Havn't had a problem yet with water too soft, will adjust if it is a problem. You may find your brook a very enviable source of water. Myself I would not add bleach. If anything maybe add a 1/2 micron filter after carbon, should filter out almost anything in the water. Best of luck, hope you enjoy your new place. Bill

Sounds like an awsome system Bill! Where does your spring water come from?

[wgtaylor]

Mark, I believe the spring is fed from the Siskiyou mountains (snow melt and rain) about 70 miles from here. It perks up through cracked basalt rock. Difficult for most to find water here along the coast, I am blessed. Drilled wells are only successful if they hit the right crack in the rock and may be 40 feet or over 300 feet with about a 30% success rate. A lot of empty holes around here. I believe Al could be right, you may never need a RO. You could be a lucky man, hope so. Bill

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

I have seen one too many people down here in FL use surface water and having it end up biting them in the rear. Mostly it was due to their fault for not properly pretreating the water. Since drilling a deeper well is not an option, my suggestion would be to pump it through a 2 stage micron filter (10 and 1), followed by either a commercial chlorination or ozone setup, then a 1+cu ft carbon canister setup. Even then, all water would flow through a heavy duty over sized UV after all is said and done. Some of the bigger farms go a few steps further, depending on their water.

-Ryan

[Don Trinko]

We have an old trailer by a lake here in Ohio. When I had the well put in they said they had to go deeper than 30' because of the possability of lake water. They also had to grout around the well to keep surface water from getting in. But.... When I was a kid my dad had some land in Wisconsin. He asked the county agent how far from the well the out house should be. The agent said 6' was far enough in that soil!
Your family can get some strange illnesses if the well is contaminated. You can treat the well with clorine bleach to kill bacteria. (temporary cure of course) Don T.

[GrillMaster]

I believe we can come up with the proper filtration and make it work! I will fill everyone in on the details when we get started on it.

Thanks for all the replies, I am sure that a combination of the ideas will ultimately be used. :)

A draw back that I see is the cost of trying to heat the water in the winter. It will arrive at the house pretty cold!! :(

[scolley]

A draw back that I see is the cost of trying to heat the water in the winter. It will arrive at the house pretty cold!! :(Am I mistaken? Did you say you were sucking water from a free running stream? Of course it's going to be FREAKING cold!

Frankly you are luckly it's still liquid.

But temperature is just another water parameter that can be managed. Now one way or the other, you are going to pay the price of raising it up from ambient temperature. But I've got a LOT of experience with that in our area, and am happy to help if needed. In January my water does "flow" into my tank at water change time, but only barely.Two or three degrees colder and there'd be no water change at all!

Good luck!

[GrillMaster]

Am I mistaken? Did you say you were sucking water from a free running stream? Of course it's going to be FREAKING cold!

Frankly you are luckly it's still liquid.

But temperature is just another water parameter that can be managed. Now one way or the other, you are going to pay the price of raising it up from ambient temperature. But I've got a LOT of experience with that in our area, and am happy to help if needed. In January my water does "flow" into my tank at water change time, but only barely.Two or three degrees colder and there'd be no water change at all!

Good luck!

:D :D :D Call me spoiled!! I am use to gettin it from the tap all the time. I can make it any temp I want!!

I believe Al is right! It looks like it might not be more than adding a lil chlorine to the storage tank and dechloring it...

I am however going to take a sample to the lab here in the area and see exactly whats going on with it. I really dont think it will be that big of a deal in the long run...Except for the heatin it up part!! ;) :D