Reverse Osmosis Usage Check

[Bradders]

Hi All,

In terms of RO water, and moving your hard tap water to a softer one, is is really just a case of mixing tap water with RO water to create the softer water?

Just wanted to check this out before I think about trying anything on my Hard (nearly Very Hard) tap water in an established aquarium. I know pure RO is dangerous to fish, and also not sure why some mix with tap and some use a remin product instead.

Any thoughts and things to watch for would be great

Thanks,
Brad

 

[MichaelJ]

Salts wise my current regime of Ca, Mg (Inc sulphate) and all the other ferts added, even after a few weeks of accumulation should add around 46ppm Tds. Tap water is fairly consistent at 55ppm, so assuming nothing added gets used that gives me a total of around 101ppm.
For sure waste products coming from the fish and plants will add to these numbers (lets guess 10~15ppm?) but conductivity throughout the week remains within 1~2 ppm and week in week out tds readings remain incredibly stable, so I'm kind of perplexed as to why we are now at 140ppm.

Imperically, when I add everything in correct proportion to a bucket of RO water (Ca,Mg,NPK,Micros) I end up with a TDS of about 75 ppm for one of my tanks, but I never see a TDS lower than ~80-90 ppm in that tank - so the buildup (predominantly from waste and possibly some leaching bits here and there due to my low pH ~6) seems to be constantly hovering around 5-15 ppm. With a bit more rigor - i.e. more frequent and larger WC's - I could probably shave off 5-10 ppm (at most)... If I lapse on WC's the tank fairly quickly get up around ~100 ppm.

The plan is do a couple of back to back large water changes, vacuum some of the substrate and see where that leaves us. I suspect after doing this tds levels will end up leveling out at around 120ppm.

That would be quite a dent for well maintained tanks such as yours, but sounds plausible.

As an aside @Bradders despite my earlier comments about conductivity/tds numbers I think they are a fantastic bit of kit for monitoring trends in our tanks. 😀

A TDS meter is a huge help to maintain consistency. Besides temperature, it's really the only thing I measure on a regular basis. Typically before and after WCs and in my WC mixing buckets - If it's not what I expect it's because I screwed up somewhere... for instance, when measuring out the salts that I front load.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Bradders]

As an aside @Bradders despite my earlier comments about conductivity/tds numbers I think they are a fantastic bit of kit for monitoring trends in our tanks. 😀

You won't be surprised to hear that I have one tucked nicely under my aquarium.

 

[Wookii]

I wasn’t quite sure who’d said it originally. I thought it might have been Ernest Hemingway, but WC Fields it is.

. . . and I think you’ve “edited” the quote . . . I think you should quote it verbatim . . . 😂

 

[hypnogogia]

. . . and I think you’ve “edited” the quote . . . I think you should quote it verbatim . . . 😂

And it has nothing to do with urine…

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Plenty more space for fish there, @dw1305.

I think you are right, it is definitely <"go big, or go home">.

This is my new tank, I think that this one really is fully stocked.

Fishes and Scales M.C. Escher Date: 1959 <"Fishes and Scales, 1959 - M.C. Escher - WikiArt.org">​

cheers Darrel

 

[MichaelJ]

Hi all,

I think you are right, it is definitely <"go big, or go home">.

This is my new tank, I think that this one really is fully stocked.

View attachment 216158

Fishes and Scales M.C. Escher Date: 1959 <"Fishes and Scales, 1959 - M.C. Escher - WikiArt.org">​

cheers Darrel

I love Escher! He had no formal mathematical training and claimed he had no abilities in the domain, yet contemporary mathematicians such as Sir Roger Penrose had a deep appreciation of Escher's deep and intuitive mathematical abilities.

Roger Penrose talks about his relationship with the Art of M C Escher | Mathematical Institute

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Cédric]

I think both microbial ammonia oxidation and the conversion of nitrite (NO2-) to nitrate (NO3-) would be compromised.

Hi Darrel,
I have a question about nitrification. Can NH3 (gaz) be converted to nitrite and nitrate by microbes or only NH4+ ?