Glen Adams
New Member
its not definite yet.. just exploring and looking into it lol
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R.O Water on big tanks
- Thread starter Glen Adams
- Start date
Glen Adams
New Member
i did try and look last night but couldn't find the info on it, i'm on southern water in the Southampton area.. i know that the water isn't great cause multiple fish shops have also spoke of this
You can get a report from this link How hard is your water?
Glen Adams
New Member
just as you sent the link i was on there lol
112.4 ca mg/l - southern water class this as hard
Glen Adams
New Member
112.4 ca mg/l - southern water class this as hard
I haven’t got a clue about Asian arowana but I know of a few people that keep them in London tap water which I’m sure must be worse than southampton? Like wise I know of someone who keeps big cichla in tap water and they seem to do great.
If you can get an automated system going it will certainly be less of a chore.
Parablennius
Member
A word of caution here if I may? If you end up buying RO from a LFS don't assume that that's what you get. A mate down home counties way had all kinds of problems. I told him to get a TDS pen, his alleged RO read 120ppm! Then he was adding minerals on top. Double what my tap reads. He now gets his from Spotless Water
Glen Adams
New Member
yeah he shouldn't be getting those sort of readings from their r.o unit. i would do plenty of research first before purchasing
I've just created an account for spotless water, I think it would be good for my smaller tanks but I have one question, is there a way of them delivering it? me myself transporting 600l a week isn't really ideal
I've just created an account for spotless water, I think it would be good for my smaller tanks but I have one question, is there a way of them delivering it? me myself transporting 600l a week isn't really ideal
Zeus.
Fertz Meister
The percentage of RO water produced can be as little as 5-15% of water used, so your running cost of water alone could exceed ÂŁ1000
sparkyweasel
Member
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- 30 Jun 2011
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Is that an Asian Arowana? I don't know about those; a friend raised some Osteoglossum bicirrhosum in our hard tapwater from babies to three feet long.
I've had Clown Loach grow from an inch to over a foot in tapwater.
Another friend had various Datnioides spp, he used tapwater, but some species needed salt added for brackish water, so you might need to check which ones. They can be quite shy, may not be ideal with boisterous fish although in your tank size it may not be a problem, with plenty of space for all.
Oscars are usually trouble.
Again, a big tank could lessen the problems. I will only introduce Oscars to tankmates when I have enough tanks to be able to separate them again if necessary. The same with introducing a male and a female together. They will be fine in tapwater though.
sparkyweasel
Member
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I've never known a shop say that you don't need to buy the stuff they sell to fix problems that may not exist.
Hi @AlecF
Not all API Test Kits are unreliable. But, over the last few years, people have found the API nitrate test kit to be unreliable. One of the reagents needed a lot of shaking to mix the sediment that formed in the reagent bottle. And even then, it wasn't trustworthy. Unfortunately, I cannot remember which of the reagents was a problem. But, I recently noticed on a well-respected aquatics forum that this continues to be a problem for a few people.
JPC
Hi @Parablennius
This has happened to me several times. On one occasion, the RO water had been accidentally mixed with the feed to the marine tanks! Since that time, I always take my conductivity meter along with me whenever I buy RO water. Some aquatics stores don't even have their own hand-held conductivity/TDS meter. Nor do they have a meter monitoring the output from the RO membrane and DI cartridge. It's always worth confirming exactly what an LFS is providing. In order to get the purest water from your LFS, it is necessary to use both an RO membrane and DI cartridge. That's because RO membranes don't remove ionics and that's where the DI cartridge comes in.
JPC
Glen Adams
New Member
yeah Asian Arowana... im kind of doing my research, seeing how much everything is going to cost etc etc.. ive recently brought my own place so now i can have what i want lol and no girlfriend to say no so i have all sorts of things going through my mind! the idea was maybe have the big monster tank in the dining room, but i do also like the whole planted tank too so im thinking a nice 4ft in the living room for a high tech planted tankIs that an Asian Arowana? I don't know about those; a friend raised some Osteoglossum bicirrhosum in our hard tapwater from babies to three feet long.
I've had Clown Loach grow from an inch to over a foot in tapwater.
Another friend had various Datnioides spp, he used tapwater, but some species needed salt added for brackish water, so you might need to check which ones. They can be quite shy, may not be ideal with boisterous fish although in your tank size it may not be a problem, with plenty of space for all.
Oscars are usually trouble.
currently have a 600l (rena 600) with 6 clown loaches, red spotted cichlid, 2 bristlenose pleco, dwarf gourami
MichaelJ
Member
If the fish your getting are breed in captivity I wouldn't worry about the tap nitrate levels being in the 30ppm range and hard water (112 mg/l Ca is 15.7 GH ... NOT counting for Mg contents, which is likely low in your neck of the woods. Hard, but not exceptionally...). High nitrate levels that does not originate from organic waste production is not a problem.... Arowana are huge, hardy and very messy fish - what you do want to pay attention to though is waste buildup as these beasts will generate a lot of waste, so massive regular water changes (using dechlorinated tap water) will be mandatory and with a tank this size it better not be a hassle. Make sure your source for these expensive fish raised them in water that are reasonably within the range of your tap water otherwise you may have to acclimate them.
Cheers,
Michael
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mort
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I agree that if you make waterchanges the least hassle they can be then you will more likely keep up with them. Fish can also be very adaptable, especially if you aren't trying to breed them. A friend has a 11x5x5ft tank that was originally marine but he didn't want the hassle so went tropical instead and kept peacock bass, Oscars and some others in very hard local tapwater. It's in the midst of becoming a massive riparium.
My clown loaches and south american fish have been living happily in very hard tap water and there is nothing in there bought this century, the clowns are from 1992 and the others mid 90's.
My clown loaches and south american fish have been living happily in very hard tap water and there is nothing in there bought this century, the clowns are from 1992 and the others mid 90's.
Years ago when i started keeping Tropheus, i was struggling to get nitrates to a suitable level (for tropheus, in heavily stocked tank), i found that my tapwater was 30-40ppm
I used ion exchange resin, in a column, to remove nitrates from tapwater, result zero nitrates in tapwater and controllable nitrates in tank water
I used ion exchange resin, in a column, to remove nitrates from tapwater, result zero nitrates in tapwater and controllable nitrates in tank water
Is that the final price? I pay double of that, not in the UK though, but it includes a price for wastewater. I looked on the Southern Water website and ÂŁ1.48 is only for freshwater delivery but another ÂŁ2.045 for wastewater. Am I right?
Exactly. You should get the RO equipment from a specialized water filtering store, not from the LFS. And if you are really considering RO to filter such amounts of water, you should look at industrial solutions because the pump and membranes of quality domestic RO units are not designed for such task.
Hi all,
I understand it is difficult with herbivorous fish, like Tropheus, but that is the great advantage of plants, they are very efficient at depleting fixed nitrogen, and you get a <"visible indication of nutrient content">. When you harvest the plants that nitrogen (and <"all the other nutrients">) are removed.
Planted tank keepers have to continually add nitrate, mainly due to their relatively light stocking densities and heavy planting, but in <"aquaponic systems plants will still deplete nitrogen levels">. Most fish-keeping literature and forums vastly underestimate the nitrogen removal potential of plants, particularly floating or emergent ones.
<"Anion selective resins work">, but you have to keep on testing for nitrate (NO3-), to tell when the resin is exhausted, <"which isn't entirely straightforward"> and <"there is the cost issue"> when you treat a large volume of water which has relatively high NO3- levels.
cheers Darrel
I'm going to tell you plants are the answer.
I understand it is difficult with herbivorous fish, like Tropheus, but that is the great advantage of plants, they are very efficient at depleting fixed nitrogen, and you get a <"visible indication of nutrient content">. When you harvest the plants that nitrogen (and <"all the other nutrients">) are removed.
Planted tank keepers have to continually add nitrate, mainly due to their relatively light stocking densities and heavy planting, but in <"aquaponic systems plants will still deplete nitrogen levels">. Most fish-keeping literature and forums vastly underestimate the nitrogen removal potential of plants, particularly floating or emergent ones.
<"Anion selective resins work">, but you have to keep on testing for nitrate (NO3-), to tell when the resin is exhausted, <"which isn't entirely straightforward"> and <"there is the cost issue"> when you treat a large volume of water which has relatively high NO3- levels.
cheers Darrel
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