Well Water is it ok for salt tank.

[NJMarch3]

I have well water that's really good PH at 8.0 really great for cichlids
My question is do I have to install RO/DI filters for salt tank or is the well water okay to use?

 

[Mattl22]

Test it ! And check tds proably won't be good for reef but fish only might be ok

 

[NJMarch3]

TDS total disolved solids metals etc?

 

[House of Laughter]

TDS total disolved solids metals etc?

Yes,

Keeping a reef of softies could get away with low TDS.

I live in an area where TDS from tap is 24-34. That's great for a fish only or softies tank.

Best to have zero tds though and use an RO system. Also, consider the RO need for a booster given the general pressure coming from wells - not sure if they garner the 70psi generally needed for good filtration-to-waste ratio of an RO unit.

HTH<

House

 

[Bryceandmandy]

Yes,

Keeping a reef of softies could get away with low TDS.

I live in an area where TDS from tap is 24-34. That's great for a fish only or softies tank.

Best to have zero tds though and use an RO system. Also, consider the RO need for a booster given the general pressure coming from wells - not sure if they garner the 70psi generally needed for good filtration-to-waste ratio of an RO unit.

HTH<

House

Where are you that you have such low tds out of the tap? By me were pulling 217.

 

[skene]

He's from Ossining NY...
My TDS out of tap is also fairly low in the 20s. It must be a jersey thing... having high TDS. Or why people from Jersey glow more brightly under blacklights.

:p

 

[jnelson]

NYC has pretty good TDS but I use a RODI anyway for the following reasons:

1) Water is chlorinated
2) My building has copper piping (not very good for the corals/inverts)
3) NYC water has high amounts of non-dissolved particles. I have to clean out my kitchen sink's aerators every few months because little bits of sand/pebbles keep getting stuck in there.

 

[NJMarch3]

Gotcha Ive been researching different types of RO/DI units However I don't know which on to get so many
to choose from and it seems that they are quite some price differences.
Any input ?

 

[jnelson]

Honestly, I'm making do just fine with a cheap eBay 5-stage RODI. Some of the common "big" names for units are Air Water Ice and Bulk Reef Supply.

 

[NJMarch3]

That's fine for me too. Do you know where you got it from and how much was it? My local reef store wants $199.00 + tax for a 5 stage.

 

[jnelson]

I got mine from the eBay seller PureWaterClub. 5-stage RODI including filters/plumbing for $100 plus some shipping.

 

[NJMarch3]

Great Thanks, buy the way your tank is awesome Love the lighting

I may be looking for a bigger tank ...

 

[ryangrieder]

To put it this way, I did well water for almost 4 years. Never had problems. All the fish were happy, corals opening fully, ect. Only thing was I always looked at it and felt like it was just missing something... Coraline algae never took off, growth rate was not as fast as others and every day I had a light coat of algae on the glass and has to use the magnet to clean it off. It never looked like it does in all the pictures of everyone else's set up. If you go far back into my pictures you can see what I mean with my 72 bow. It was nice, but never perfect. The day I broke it down and did a new tank, I said I'll give the whole Rodi thing a shot. Let's just say, I found the missing factor of the tank.

 

[NJMarch3]

Ryan WOW nice tank bro just saw some pics.

 

[ryangrieder]

Ryan WOW nice tank bro just saw some pics.

Thanks man. Here I uploaded. Few pics for you...


Here is my old 72 bow set up about 5 years ago. Never used RODI water...

Here is my 46 bow and it was notm100% Rodi water, but was doing water changes every week with Rodi water 50% changes...

And here is my current set up. 100% Rodi water with water changes every other week. Corals are growing like weeds, Coraline algae it out of control, and it looks amazing. Its only been running for several months too....

 

[NJMarch3]

Very nice, I have a 46 Bow fresh water.. I'm down to 2 cichlids and catty Im debating on whether to convert it over to a reef tank now