I get lime/calcium and rust/iron build up in my water aging barrel. I don't involve my husband in my fish keeping hobby and he is totally disinterested which is fine.
This morning I told him about a few things I've recently found out about water, why I don't use water softener water and how I planned on addressing the build up issues in the barrel. He said "you don't have to deal with it like that" then he picked up the phone and called the plumber!!!
Today is a good day. ;D
See?, we care.... ;D...sounds like a good man...
Well aren't you the lucky one! Maybe you will get all your water issues taken care of without having to even do anything. Wish I had a good man around to help me with stuff like that...lol Boy , do I need help. (no comments from the peanut gallery, as my Dad would say! LOL) Good luck with it all.
Humans tolerate quite a bit of salts, metallics and other compounds in their water. Fish have a different group altogether. For human water quality we can use zeolites and binders, various salts etc. This gives us a generally OK sort of water. Placing the zeolites and salts into the water can give us a water that becomes quite poor for the fish though. It can become hard to remove those zeolites and salts.
The thing to consider is how much water do you need that is specifically a certain specification? The cost, the efficiency of the cost and the amount of waste and serviceability. You don't want to get "sold" a unit that does not do what you want. You do not want to get sold a unit which requires added treatment to get you to where you need to be as far as final product quality.
The nice thing about this is that the product water and the aquatic water really do make a fine standard for base water for human consumption. A good water specialist will have a lot of options and be well versed in what equipment needs to be used. A basic plumber will be lacking in this knowledge. It is a specialty field.
How were you planning on resolving the issue before reinforcements were called in? I know that Josie on Simply moved to a place with a lot of iron in the water. If the plumber doesn't work out you may want to shoot her a PM and ask how she fixed it. Her user name is Chicago Discus. She's a sponsor there.
Quote from: Mugwump on January 31, 2013, 10:38:00 AM
See?, we care.... ;D...sounds like a good man...
Absolutely. ;)
Liz I think I read 2-3 yrs worth of posts about water on SD. I do believe I got a lot of info from Josie's posts. I'll go back and review it again. Thanks for the reminder. I did receive some advice from an angelfish person regarding a filter I could cobble in between the well water faucet and my aging barrel. That's when hubby stepped in. Lol.
Frank if you were in my neighborhood I'd hire you. :D
I have my fish to simply enjoy "as is". Breeding isn't involved as finding homes for fish was difficult when I bred my angels. (Live too far out in the boonies and have an awesome LFS 30 miles away) My plants grow well, angels spawn regularly and all my various species of fish do fine. So what I want to get control of is the iron and calcium.
Frank if you were in my neighborhood I'd hire you. :D
Hire him? Heck, if he were in my neighborhood I'd marry him ;)
Ahhhhaaaha!!!!
Quote from: LizStreithorst on January 31, 2013, 03:09:19 PM
Frank if you were in my neighborhood I'd hire you. :D
Hire him? Heck, if he were in my neighborhood I'd marry him ;)
I'm not sure he can cook....LOLOLOLOLOL... ;D
The plumber just left. I now have my hard water running through a "Big Blue" type Culligan filter. My iron issues should be at least lessened quite a bit now.
Baby steps..... ;D Just wait til hubby goes to Florida for a month in a few weeks.......
Sounds good, you can also add a couple more 'big blue' type cannisters to further filter it out, if needed...
Hmmmm. So what is within the big blue cartridges? A sediment stack? I wonder?
You're the plumber here, Frank. I figured that you would know what the big blue things do. I don't know for sure, but I think that it's difficult to remove iron from the water without having to go to a lot of trouble.
I believe the term 'Big Blue' refers to the container/canister....you can use various filters to remove the iron from well water,etc.....when we lived on the farm, we used a whole house large sediment filter that was made specificly for iron and minerals....not perfect, but worked very well...had to change the dang thing almost monthly tho....water was phooey...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-Big-Blue-Water-Filter-Housing-Canister-1-NPT-w-PR-/270545332372
Now I understand. Thanks Mug.
Yep, Jon that's about got it covered. We had the filter for several years but my hose connection was pre-filter. Now I can connect the hose for my tank water after it runs through the filter. And with all the water changes I'm doing there will be lots of filter media being used around here.
Now I'm going to surf the web to find about a hydrogen peroxide injection system for our well water. It may actually involve the well so that may be pushing the limits of what I can get away with. Sounds expensive. Lol.
It's all for the fish. ;D
In Chicago we use the water from the lake. It's nice water and needs little done to it for most of us. I rarely get out into the areas where they use wells, the lake water is piped out all the way to Naperville in a radius some 50 miles from the lake. This makes us less than informed upon the specifics of water filtration and we have specialists who do only drinking water and filtration, our market allows for specialization because it is so large. That's why I am sort of curious to know if the contents were some filter sleeves of various micron sizes. That would have been my choice to try to squeeze the iron out.
In the ion exchange water softening process, Calcium and Magnesium chloride are trapped in the resin bed for removal later. Sodium bicarbonate is released to the water in the exchange. I use soft water and my fish never have an upset stomach.
Here's information on the filter. I found them on Amazon for $19 + $1.99 delivery charge with an auto-delivery system. Delivery schedule is flexible. I chose one every three months.
http://www.allfilters.com/wholehousewaterfilters/replacementfilters/culligan-rfc-bbsa
My concern with water softener water is that the fish need the calcium and magnesium that the system removes for proper osmosis. When I tested the pH, GH & KH on our water softener water the GH was zero.
I'd check the local 'Farm & Barn'..'Farm & Fleet' , 'Lowe's', 'Menard's', etc....prices may surprise you and no shipping costs...
R.O.'s take everything out, too. The fish can get all the calcium and magnesium they need from the foods you feed them.
Take a look at bottled water labels. Some remove everything from the water and then use calcium carbonate for flavor. Calcium carbonate . . . . . . . egg shells.
I've always thought the process of osmosis in fish is achieved via their cellular exchange of minerals in the water rather than having anything to to with their digestion. I've read articles like the one in the attached link when I discovered zero GH readings years back while trying to understand caring for fish and aquatic plants.
http://www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2006/12/how-do-fish-drink.html
So is it possible that fish can get what's missing in the water from their food? Isn't it necessary to reconstitute RO water? :o. Ouch...my brain is starting to hurt again. Lol.
It's a given that pH regulates how the nutrients are absorbed. However, there is a paragraph that states minerals and trace minerals are replenished by the food they eat.
Take Vitamin D, for instance. Although sun light (UV B radiation at 290-315 nanometers) stimulates vitamin D synthesis, Cod liver oil in their diet is an excellent way to receive it internally. The fish oil also keeps the cell walls in good shape to help the process of osmosis.