Very High Hardness-ro Unit

[blue acara]

hi all
i live in south england and my water has very high hardness KH+GH 300-400ppm, which is very annoying because i want to keep south,central american cichlids and plants in my tank. So i can either keep african fish or try to change the water. I have heard of RO units and that the take the minerals out of the water. If anyone could tell me the price, size, easyness of use and cost of upkeep of these machines id be gratefull

 

[apester]

My water is just like yours. I purchased a Coralife 50 GPD unit with deionaziation for$150.00. Works great now my discus eggs hatch properly.

I tried using kent R/O right and seachem Discus Buffer but I really never had any luck getting the water parameters right using them. I finally found just adding tap water with the R/O water will get the water to the right parameters. You will need test kits to find the right mixture of R/O to tap water. You can't use just R/O water because everything is removed and it will kill your fish.

The one thing that I don't like about R/O units is that for every one gallon of R/O water you will create at least 3 gallons of waste water. This depends on the incoming water temperature, pressure, hardness of your water source. You need a certain amount of water pressure for the R/O unit to work. You may need to buy a pump to reach the needed pressure.

Depending on the model of R/O unit you buy you will need to get what is called a flush kit. It will remove debris from the R/O membrane and make it last longer.

The one thing that I haven't hooked up yet is the automatic shut off valve. I can see where this is a good thing to have. Because right now if I forget to turn off the incomming water my waste barrel overflows. With the shut off valve it will stop the water when it reaches the top of the container.

Ape

 

[jarmado]

i have the same problem but is now trying out several methods because of the waste water produced by an RO system.
i am now trying out adding peat as a filter media to soften the water.
i am now seeing the effect and the water softens a bit and the pH has gone down as well.
i have to change the peat every 6 weeks.

 

[blue acara]

cheers for replys,

the bit where u mentioned a waste barrell worries me a bit as i havent got much space also the pressure pump thing- it could take up a lot of room. i live in a flat and this couldnt work if it is too large the peat idea is a good 1 because of the space issue also i will not need massive amounts of water from the ro unit (mabie 30 gallons a week) so an ro unit may be a bad idea for me. if u look back at this thread.... please tell me the space i will need to fit the ro unit and waste bucket (and any other needed stuff) thanx