Need advice please???

[Mike Wise]

I tend to agree with Darrel. It seems that something in the tank is raising the hardness. This is usually something in the substrate or a decorative rock. My R/O unit is a 90 gpd, 4-stage system, but I only use 3 stages (particulate, carbon, & R/O; I see no reason to use a D/I unit, but I have naturally soft water). I suggest, with your hard water, that you get and use a back-flush accessory for your R/O membrane. It will extend its life considerably.

 

[Norman Fenske]

All I have in the tanks is sand plants and apisto's prior to this I had no idea that the water was this far out of whack. My other tanks African Cichlids are doing great my 55 gallon community tank is doing great none of these require soft water ( well not like the Apisto's ). Yesterday I checked the water twice once before I did a water change and then after the results are still high but they did come down in some cases close to 100ppm and others approx. 50ppm. Its apparent I need to do frequent water changes to drop the levels further and once I get the RO and set up a storage tank for the water hopefully things will come down to normal levels. So back to the RO images I uploaded out of the 2 which should I get my guess is the 5 stage but then again I am not sure so can you offer some guidance before I buy the wrong one???

 

[gerald]

My tap water (Raleigh NC), which is quite soft (20 to 30 mg/L GH hardness) has conductivity about 210 uS and TDS about 140 mg/L. Three ions: sulfate, sodium, and chloride, comprise 80% of the total ions (by weight) according to the City's water quality report. The hardness ions Ca and Mg combined are only about 8% of the total ions. TDS is not hardness.

 

[Norman Fenske]

We are sort of neighbor I live north of you Richmond Va. I am going to get a test kit for GH and KH that should eliminate any doubt on how good or bad my water really is hopefully? I still think based on what I read even if the reading I got were not a direct representative of general hardness they were still on the high side so at least the way I am thinking mineral content is still high and An RO system is still a good solution.

 

[Norman Fenske]

Well I just confirmed what I thought I went and got a GH and KH test kit from API if these were reef / saltwater I would be okay but the average is 10gh not good now which RO should I get?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

My tap water (Raleigh NC), which is quite soft (20 to 30 mg/L GH hardness) has conductivity about 210 uS and TDS about 140 mg/L. Three ions: sulfate, sodium, and chloride, comprise 80% of the total ions (by weight) according to the City's water quality report. The hardness ions Ca and Mg combined are only about 8% of the total ions. TDS is not hardness.

Now that is really interesting, and not what I would have expected from the UK.

I'll assume it isn't salt water ingress? So I wonder if there is a salt dome or similar near the aquifer. You wouldn't need much NaCl to raise the conductivity, because it is a very soluble compound.

cheers Darrel

 

[Norman Fenske]

Well hope I made the right choice ended up getting the 5 stage its probably more then I need but I figure with my water it should help.

 

[gerald]

Hi all, Now that is really interesting, and not what I would have expected from the UK. I'll assume it isn't salt water ingress? So I wonder if there is a salt dome or similar near the aquifer. You wouldn't need much NaCl to raise the conductivity, because it is a very soluble compound. cheers Darrel

The averages for 2017 were 47 mg/L sulfate, 33 mg/L sodium and 13 mg/L chloride. It's not from salt water ingress or geological deposits. It's from upstream wastewater discharges, salt applied on roads in winter, urban runoff, and water treatment plant chemicals (sodium permanganate, sodium hydroxide, ferric sulfate, etc).

 

[Linus_Cello]

We are sort of neighbor I live north of you Richmond Va. I am going to get a test kit for GH and KH that should eliminate any doubt on how good or bad my water really is hopefully? I still think based on what I read even if the reading I got were not a direct representative of general hardness they were still on the high side so at least the way I am thinking mineral content is still high and An RO system is still a good solution.

With all this rain and Florence on the way, if you collect the rain water you should be good for a year of water changes.

 

[Mike Wise]

Norman, too much is always better than too little.