Portable RO filter?

[concealed]

Howdy all,

I'm setting up tanks for retail establishments and I am excited about setting up my first discus tank! The problem is our tap water here can spike as high as 10.0 because of our geographical location (limestone river beds). After a month of cycling, my tanks might come down to a 8.0. From what I understand, this is not an option for discus.

I guess my options are to truck in water (and make many trips from my car to tank with a 5 gallon bucket), or buy a portable water filter that will suffice. Any ideas on a portable filter? I don't want to spend more than an hour and a half filling a 55 gallon + 10 gallon sump.

[flyman767]

Have you checked the PH after 24 hours of aeration? My PH runs around 9.2 but after 24 hours of solid aeration it drops to around 8.0. There are several sucessful hobbists that have raised discus in PH of 9.5+. Value isn't as important as having a solid, consistent PH.

[concealed]

Thanks Flyman. I just read the thread about how discus don't /require/ a neutral/acidic PH. Interesting, I guess I will give them a go on our hard/high PH tap water. After cycling, my tanks seem to be consistently around 8 PH.

[TURQ64]

As for the high ph, there are buffers that work well. My water is artesian well stuff around 8.5 to 'off the chart', but I use RO for our tanks and drinking water. They are very clumsy around my neck of the woods with how they administer cloramines...Two days of RO, and my prefilter is dark brown from the cloramines...

[flyman767]

As for the high ph, there are buffers that work well. My water is artesian well stuff around 8.5 to 'off the chart', but I use RO for our tanks and drinking water. They are very clumsy around my neck of the woods with how they administer cloramines...Two days of RO, and my prefilter is dark brown from the cloramines...

The problem with buffers is the phosphate used to control(stabilize) PH. Phosphate generates diatoms(algae)...and lots of it. There are non-phosphate buffers but they tend to be very unstable.

Also, I never heard of Chloramines(Ammonia+Chlorine) turning a filter brown? Have you tested for Iron/Copper?

[Elite Aquaria]

If you decide to go with an RO unit Please give me a look. Click here (http://www.eliteaquaria.com/Discus_RO_Units_s/44.htm) to see the units I sell.

[TURQ64]

The problem with buffers is the phosphate used to control(stabilize) PH. Phosphate generates diatoms(algae)...and lots of it. There are non-phosphate buffers but they tend to be very unstable.

Also, I never heard of Chloramines(Ammonia+Chlorine) turning a filter brown? Have you tested for Iron/Copper?

As an Ironworker, I've built a few treatment plants around the country in my lifetime....The cloramines I've seen are all that color right from the package.Looks like purple-brown rock salt..At home, the rural water district covers several hundred miles. I live on a glacial lake that is the lowest spot in the system. Gravity always wins, so when they add five pounds of cloramines for the whole system, it seems as though four pounds end up at my house. It is really so heavy during the winter, that my wife can run water in the kitchen sink, and I can smell it in the living room 36 feet away. Yep, tested for iron, etc..zero, zip, nada..The underlying strata here is solid, rose colored granite..You have to swing way north into Minnesota to get into much iron from here....The lakes here are so hard, if ya dive in, you sprain your neck! We didn't have running water here until 1981. Some places don't have it yet..hard to imagine for 'city folk', but it's a reality here. I was spoiled most of my working life by Hetch-Hetchie water in San Francisco..Discus heaven for breeder's (I give tribute to Herman Chan, Fairy Lake Discus Palace)...now I have to work at quality water.........

[flyman767]

As an Ironworker, I've built a few treatment plants around the country in my lifetime....The cloramines I've seen are all that color right from the package.Looks like purple-brown rock salt..At home, the rural water district covers several hundred miles. I live on a glacial lake that is the lowest spot in the system. Gravity always wins, so when they add five pounds of cloramines for the whole system, it seems as though four pounds end up at my house. It is really so heavy during the winter, that my wife can run water in the kitchen sink, and I can smell it in the living room 36 feet away. Yep, tested for iron, etc..zero, zip, nada..The underlying strata here is solid, rose colored granite..You have to swing way north into Minnesota to get into much iron from here....The lakes here are so hard, if ya dive in, you sprain your neck! We didn't have running water here until 1981. Some places don't have it yet..hard to imagine for 'city folk', but it's a reality here. I was spoiled most of my working life by Hetch-Hetchie water in San Francisco..Discus heaven for breeder's (I give tribute to Herman Chan, Fairy Lake Discus Palace)...now I have to work at quality water.........

Quality Water is a term many take for granted. A standard water heater/faucet lasts approx 5 years around here due to rock hard-limestone beds. Having said that..I thought I had bad water until I heard what others, like yourself have had to experience. I guess it's all relative.