Rowater At Lfs?

[jarmado]

i kno you use it for marine but is there any other reason to use it for freshwater?

ive often wondered this too sam and my conclusion is I have no doubt that I do not require an RO unit for freshwater, but i suppose there must be people out there whose water supply would benefit it for both FW and marine? But for most FW users, using tap water with conditioner will work out roughly the safe, esp if you purchase your conditioner in large quantities. Just me own opinion on that one though.

do you use RO water if your tap water it not suitable for a tank?


i kno you use it for marine but is there any other reason to use it for freshwater?

As you know, Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Deionized (DI) water is mainly in marine tanks. This is becaused tap water contains nitrates and phosphates. Marine tanks should never have a reading of phosphates and nitrates should ideally always remain at zero and should not exceed 5 ppm. Unless your tap water is absolutely pristine, (which 99.9% are not) tap water should never be used in a marine aquarium. In freshwater aquariums, tap water is much more friendly. Ideally nitrates should be under 25 ppm in freshwater aquariums, but tests show that no ill health effects occur until roughly 90 ppm. Phosphates are also not an issue in freshwater aquariums as well.

Marine aquariums require pristine pure water through Reverse Osmosis or Deionization, freshwater aquariums do not. IMO remineralized Reverse Osmosis or Deionized water is a bit overkill for the average freshwater aquarium, but if you are willing to purchase an expensive RO or DI unit your fish will only benefit.

what if you want soft water and lower pH for discus without using chemicals/peat/bogwood/mopani?
you want to make it right first time and that is by using the correct water with the right parameters?
rainwater? maybe on some parts of the country but not the city.

 

[Mr Miagi]

There could be alot of what ifs iJay. You just need to do your homework on your required RO system. You also need to know what you want to accomplish with RO water.

IE if your keeping Discus, perhaps the way to get the best quality water for your community is with an RO. A planted FW community may not do so well with RO water, unless your willing to replace many micro/macro nutrients and under go EI for nitrate and phosphate. If your keeping a salt water reef tank, the need to own your own RO is a neccessity, removing harmful products and contaminents before reaching your (supposed) nutrient poor reef.

Whether out of neccessity or convinience (IE> cant reach an LFS who sells any), an RO unit performs a variety of functions, depending on what you keep.

As Andywg mentiond, running an RO unit does have its drawbacks. There is significant water loss. I have heard in the UK there is restrictions on water use, so again, research and ask other UK RO owners what they do. You can use the "grey" waste water for the garden, washing, cleaning etc. Its just a concentrated form of what you use daily. In Aus we dont have restrictions on tap, so the ability to run an RO unit as often as neede is ok. Its just sensible and more environmentally friendly to save the waste water for use elsewhere.

You dont have to run an RO all day, or constantly. Storing RO is fine, and can be done regularly in the usual food safe containers.

Maintenance is an issue, but generally you only replace the membrane/s based on readings from a TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meter, sometimes sold with the RO, or built into it. A TDS meter can also be bought seperate.

So in the end, research is the key, and knowing why and what your going to do with the water.

 

[jarmado]

There could be alot of what ifs iJay. You just need to do your homework on your required RO system. You also need to know what you want to accomplish with RO water.

IE if your keeping Discus, perhaps the way to get the best quality water for your community is with an RO. A planted FW community may not do so well with RO water, unless your willing to replace many micro/macro nutrients and under go EI for nitrate and phosphate. If your keeping a salt water reef tank, the need to own your own RO is a neccessity, removing harmful products and contaminents before reaching your (supposed) nutrient poor reef.

Whether out of neccessity or convinience (IE> cant reach an LFS who sells any), an RO unit performs a variety of functions, depending on what you keep.

As Andywg mentiond, running an RO unit does have its drawbacks. There is significant water loss. I have heard in the UK there is restrictions on water use, so again, research and ask other UK RO owners what they do. You can use the "grey" waste water for the garden, washing, cleaning etc. Its just a concentrated form of what you use daily. In Aus we dont have restrictions on tap, so the ability to run an RO unit as often as neede is ok. Its just sensible and more environmentally friendly to save the waste water for use elsewhere.

You dont have to run an RO all day, or constantly. Storing RO is fine, and can be done regularly in the usual food safe containers.

Maintenance is an issue, but generally you only replace the membrane/s based on readings from a TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meter, sometimes sold with the RO, or built into it. A TDS meter can also be bought seperate.

So in the end, research is the key, and knowing why and what your going to do with the water.

thanks mate!
i am constantly doing my research.
and of them is posting on this forum to get inputs from people who actually use it.
books are theory. experience is the (best) teacher.
thanks again.

 

[SamUK]

do you use RO water if your tap water it not suitable for a tank?


i kno you use it for marine but is there any other reason to use it for freshwater?

As you know, Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Deionized (DI) water is mainly in marine tanks. This is becaused tap water contains nitrates and phosphates. Marine tanks should never have a reading of phosphates and nitrates should ideally always remain at zero and should not exceed 5 ppm. Unless your tap water is absolutely pristine, (which 99.9% are not) tap water should never be used in a marine aquarium. In freshwater aquariums, tap water is much more friendly. Ideally nitrates should be under 25 ppm in freshwater aquariums, but tests show that no ill health effects occur until roughly 90 ppm. Phosphates are also not an issue in freshwater aquariums as well.

Marine aquariums require pristine pure water through Reverse Osmosis or Deionization, freshwater aquariums do not. IMO remineralized Reverse Osmosis or Deionized water is a bit overkill for the average freshwater aquarium, but if you are willing to purchase an expensive RO or DI unit your fish will only benefit.

thanx for that.

 

[andywg]

As you know, Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Deionized (DI) water is mainly in marine tanks. This is becaused tap water contains nitrates and phosphates. Marine tanks should never have a reading of phosphates and nitrates should ideally always remain at zero and should not exceed 5 ppm. Unless your tap water is absolutely pristine, (which 99.9% are not) tap water should never be used in a marine aquarium. In freshwater aquariums, tap water is much more friendly. Ideally nitrates should be under 25 ppm in freshwater aquariums, but tests show that no ill health effects occur until roughly 90 ppm.

The only tests I have ever seen on the long term effects of nitrates on fish is on marine fish, where it was noted that so long as the nitrates stayed under 100ppm the fish suffered no ill effects.

One should be careful to lump all marine tanks together. Reef tanks aim for 0ppm and need them as low as possible, but FOWLR tanks can safely stay at 20 and more ppm. When you actually look, a number lfs have their tanks at 80ppm and above with no great effect on the fish.

 

[dgwebster]

what about a ware softener in order to improve water for freshwater fish?? alot cheaper i know that much, esp if your water is metered ( i know i live in a place called "Sunny" Dundee, but its a load of dosdjfjdfjajdf, it pishes down with rain 312 days a year here, or at least feels like it. thankfully tough, it means lump sum water treatment charge and thats it.)

 

[annka5]

I think the problem with softeners is that they use mineral salts to "bind" to the calcium or whatever, which means that the minerals are still there, just in a different form. I'm sure if I knew more chemistry I'd be better able to make such comments!

 

[jarmado]

i am now looking into getting a water purifier instead of the proper RO unit mainly because of the amount of water 'wasted' by using RO system.

 

[Mr Miagi]

In a good system, which are more expensive, the membrane is good quality, so waste products should be 2:1, but if you buy an el'cheapo model, with substandard membranes you could be looking at 5:1

(2 units wasted : for 1 unit produced)

 

[jarmado]

In a good system, which are more expensive, the membrane is good quality, so waste products should be 2:1, but if you buy an el'cheapo model, with substandard membranes you could be looking at 5:1

(2 units wasted : for 1 unit produced)

should it be the other way around?
or is dependent on the water quality?
a better quality RO system should filter better thus you get less water from what you put in?

 

[dgwebster]

I wouldnt say so - a good quality system should remove more contaminents giving a higher output IMHO

 

[Mr Miagi]

No. If you read up, you will soon come across many sources which state, go quality rather than save money. (Just like evrything in this hobby I spose! )

A poor membrane and RO unit has a lower efficiency, creating more waste per water produced. A good quality RO unit and membrane has better efficiency at creating purified water from the tap water, hence a better waste to product ratio.

You get what you pay for in the end

 

[jarmado]

let us try to put some numbers/assumptions in:
water input: 15% contaminants

good filter:
-> removes 10% contaminants
-> water output = 90%

a not-so-good filter:
-> removes 5% contaminants
-> water output = 95%

is this right?

 

[dgwebster]

im probably just being nieve to the technoloy, but i would have thought it was:

Stock: 100% water, 10mg of crud.

el cheapo filter: removes 10mg of crud, but uses 40% of the water to do so, therefore:

60% usable water, 40% needs chucked away.

el not-so-cheapo: removes 10mg of crud, but uses 10% of the warer to do so, therefore:

90% water usable & crud free, 10% chucked away?

 

[Mr Miagi]

Stock: 100% water, 10mg of crud.

el cheapo filter: removes 10mg of crud, but uses 40% of the water to do so, therefore:

60% usable water, 40% needs chucked away.

el not-so-cheapo: removes 10mg of crud, but uses 10% of the warer to do so, therefore:

90% water usable & crud free, 10% chucked away?

Yes, you have the idea! Not nieve at all, thats what I couldnt explain rationally LOL!