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Cracked the water problem, I think.. NEED HELP THOUGH

SoulFish

SoulFish

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Ok after thinking about this for quite a while and with the help of you guys and after calling EBMUD. I think I have found the source of my problems. My water here according to the water purification dept, said my water is now 100% from a reservoir and is high in minerals and very low alkalinity. I'm been battling low Alk and high calcium recently and I keep trying to dose to get Alk up but not dosing enough b/c I was cautious and did not want to OD the tank. Plus I have no lid and high water flow causing tons of evaporation, thus I'm adding alot of freshwater to keep it balanced. But now I think that every time I'm adding the tap water I'm increasing the CA level and lowering my Alk level.

So what can I do if I have tap that is really low in Alk and high in calcium? Will a R/O unit fix this imbalance? Or is my only choice to go with ocean water?
 
1. RO will give you clean water, no alk, no ca, no salts, normal PH.
2. Evaporation does not remove any chemicals, including alk.
 
so if it removes the Alk from the water, that will be lower than what I currently am putting in the tank? But if it removes the high CA that will help balance the Alk in the tank then?

BTW my Alk is hovering around 5.5-6Kh
 
Problem is he really doesn't know what else is in his tap water. I am sure its not just calcium and a little kH. IMO, it will be pretty irresponsible to keep using just tap water.
 
Minerals doesn't really mean Calcium I suspect. I doubt it have much calcium in it actually. I bet it has iron and stuff like that. Regradless, it all has to be under a certain % anyways so ask them what the top level is for all. They can provide you with that.
 
Here is the EBMUD annual water quality report. This tells you everything that they test for in the water and what the levels are for each of there citys.
http://www.ebmud.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/2008_annual_water_quality_report.pdf
 
EBMUD said they are mailing me a full report of their monthly water tests. I will post the report when I get it. But that being said my tap could still be getting worse from the neighborhoods plumbing. I live in a really old area. The house to my right is 100yrs old.

So I guess like others have said I just need to get a RO/DI unit to make sure I'm working with pure water and a good salt mix. I think I may get a used RODI unit from Boun, he's got a Melves Reef 100Gph one he's not using. And I'll also get a dual inline TDS meter for the tap and the water coming out of the unit. Guess that way I know I'm getting good quality salt water and top off added to the tank.

It looks like from that PDF, I have some bad levels in my tap. I also have "Chloramine Residual" I noticed on Bulk reef supplies site they have a filter that filters that out. Do I have to filter that out? If is just use a regular RO/DI unit but dont filter the Chloramine Residual out will that hurt the tanks inhabitants?
 
All muni waters will have Chloramine or Chlorine in the water.

Chloramine is hard on the membrane but IIRC it is taken out by the GAC filter or changed into a form less harsh on the membrane. The membrane will take it our IIRC.
 
true, but he says he only used it lightly for 2 months, I'll get a TDS meter and check it out.

Thanks Gres, so the GAC filter is part of the filtering system in a RO/DI unit?
 
Yes, that and at least one pre-filter go before the membrane, then after that is the DI if the unit has one.
 
Yes, it is the carbon cartridge that removes the chlorine before the water enters the membrane.

IME, it is best to have either 2 carbon cartridges (they're cheap) proir to the membrane if you are dealing with chloramine, or if you do not have the capacity for two carbon cartridges you can use Pentek carbon cartridges that are specifically for that application. Either way carbon cartridges are a lot cheaper than replacing your membrane, or even worse your livestock..
 
This is the unit that I am selling to Steve: http://www.melevsreef.com/rodi.html. I used it for about 2 months making less than 100 gallon worth of water then it has been sitting in my garage unused for over 2 years. Anything needs to be change? Like Tim said.. I don't want Steve to paid more than a new one if he has to buy all of the replacement cartilages. I have no experience in this.
 
Yup, carbon for sure. If the membrane dried out, it's shot.
 
Or should I be looking at:
75 GPD RO/DI 5 Stage Chloramines Standard System

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/reverse-osmosis-filters-and-systems/reverses-osmosis-deionization-systems/chloramines-specific-systems/7.html
 
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