My water

[TremblantAquarium]

I am starting a new reef tank and plan to use my well water. TDS is below 40ppm and here are the specs:

Antimoine (Sb)	< 0,0002 mg/L
Arsenic (As)	< 0,0005 mg/L
Baryum (Ba)	0,0815 mg/L
Bore (B)	< 0,002 mg/L
Cadmium (Cd)	< 0,0000200 mg/L
Chrome (Cr)	0,0002 mg/L
Copper (Cu)	0,0184 mg/L
Fluorures (F)	<0,10 mg/L
Nitrites-Nitrates	1,8 mg/L N
Lead (Pb)	0,0010 mg/L
Selenium (Se)	< 0,0005 mg/L
Sulfates (SO4)	10 mg/L
Uranium (U)	< 0,0005 mg/L

Any comments? My first thought is the water looks fine but I will need to remove CU, I am thinking of using Cuprisorb.

All comments and help welcomed!!

Ben

 

[TremblantAquarium]

Also:

Alkalinity	16 mg/L CaCO3
Chlorine (Cl)	16 mg/l ≤ 250
Calcium (Ca)	7,83 mg/L N/A
Iron (Fe)	0,01 mg/L
Magnesium (Mg)	2,37 mg/L N/A
pH	5,70 UpH
Manganese (Mn)	0,0003 mg/L
Sodium (Na)	8,54 mg/L

 

[Jekyl]

Get a 5 stage RoDi. The number you're looking for is 0 tds

 

[Jekyl]

Any copper getting into your system is a bad thing. It will attach to your rocks and substrate and grow with time. Eventually corals and inverts will die because of it. As for the rest it will make your algae issues much worse than with clean water. With how much this hobby hinges on water quality you want to start with a clean slate rather than introducing more issues with every water change. I use the BRS 5 stage, it comes with a TDS meter. I'd also recommend the booster pump for it to save yourself some DI resin.

 

[TremblantAquarium]

Thanks for your answer Jekyl. I used RO in my first tank since I was in the city. Now I am in the country side with extremely pure well water.

TDS is a combination of different parameters and if what is in my water isn't bad for the reef, why do RO? Right now the only parameter that seems problematic is CU and that can be eliminated. I understand the RO argument but looking for comments on analysis of my water. Thanks!

Ben

 

[Jekyl]

@Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for your answer Jekyl. I used RO in my first tank since I was in the city. Now I am in the country side with extremely pure well water.

TDS is a combination of different parameters and if what is in my water isn't bad for the reef, why do RO? Right now the only parameter that seems problematic is CU and that can be eliminated. I understand the RO argument but looking for comments on analysis of my water. Thanks!

Ben

While you likely could purify your well water adequately using something like cuprisorb, I'm not sure how you could monitor it over time and have confidence it is adequately pure without spending more than it would cost to run the water through a DI.

 

[TremblantAquarium]

While you likely could purify your well water adequately using something like cuprisorb, I'm not sure how you could monitor it over time and have confidence it is adequately pure without spending more than it would cost to run the water through a DI.

Would a monthly CU test and cleaning the Curpisorb be enough to monitor it? Thanks,

Ben

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Would a monthly CU test and cleaning the Curpisorb be enough to monitor it? Thanks,

Ben

I think the cuprisorb will need replacement rather than cleaning, but some sort of monitoring like that could work.

Thing about using a DI is that you can monitor the effluent for almost no cost with a TDS meter. You may not need the RO.

 

[TremblantAquarium]

Sure seems like RO/DI is the easier path. Thanks!