Well water

IDAN · Jul 13, 2020

Hi all,
Does anyone use well water for this fish tank? If so please share pro and con and what type of filtration do you use.

MERKEY · Jul 13, 2020

We use a well and then a 7 stage brs rodi.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 13, 2020

IDAN said:
Hi all,
Does anyone use well water for this fish tank? If so please share pro and con and what type of filtration do you use.

I have well and water comes in to a whole house carbon filter, then into softener then RODI unit before reaching tank
I have an extra whole house unit if you’re interested

IDAN · Jul 14, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
I have well and water comes in to a whole house carbon filter, then into softener then RODI unit before reaching tank
I have an extra whole house unit if you’re interested

Do you add chlorine to your water?
What system do you have?

vetteguy53081 · Jul 14, 2020

IDAN said:
Do you add chlorine to your water?
What system do you have?

No chlorine and i believe its Sunbeam . Works very well

K7BMG · Jul 14, 2020

I am on a well, had the water fully tested.
My well produces good quality water. Better than the city water around me anyway.
Not to high in silicates.
I also run a BRS 7 stage RO/DI unit.
But I added two 20 inch big blue sediment cartridges as well as three 10 inch BRS sediment filters.
I do this in case solids like sand or dirt find ther way through.
This is the bad or con of the well.
The rest is all pro if you ask me, but I am not a water expert.
The best thing or bigest pro is no chlorines at all whatsoever.

My RO/DI is directly fed from the well. I drink it daily without concern.
So if its good enough for me so its good enough for the reef tank.

My TDS meter shows source water around 178.
My product water is always 0.
I am lucky to have good clean water in my aquifer and to date no bad stuff like arsenic or other nasties.
I guess a con would be I highly would recomend the water be tested bi-annually. Things change on the Earth that could change whats in the water. With city water they test often (I think) so we dont have to. (Umm yea right LoL)

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 14, 2020

Most people on well water that I have seen report here use an RO/DI. Some may use their water directly, but I'd only do that if you have a detailed analysis of the water. Water can be perfectly drinkable and not suitable for a reef tank.

K7BMG · Jul 14, 2020

Oh but let me add one thing.
I just finished a electrical job for our areas water company.
Some of the employees of the water authority will not drink the water they produce. LoL

IDAN · Jul 14, 2020

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Most people on well water that I have seen report here use an RO/DI. Some may use their water directly, but I'd only do that if you have a detailed analysis of the water. Water can be perfectly drinkable and not suitable for a reef tank.

what type of testing I should do? I was told to check co2 but I dont know how.

DSEKULA · Jul 14, 2020

I have well water, here's my ro/di set up. Pros- no chlorine to deal with. Cons- water comes in 300-400 tds, intermittent iron, and alk 14dkh di resin lasts about 100gal.

K7BMG · Jul 15, 2020

To test your water, contact a local analyst and have them do a full spectrum analysis.
This way you will know everything in your water.
Its not cheap. I had my analytics lab do my water and it cost me $185.00.
But I know everything in my wa5er.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 15, 2020

IDAN said:
what type of testing I should do? I was told to check co2 but I dont know how.

Presumably it has been tested to see if it is drinkable? DO you have those results.

An ICP test will detect problematic metals, but an RO/DI will remove them.

To test for CO2:

Helpcenter

spectrapure.com

click on:

" How do I calculate CO2 and its effects on DI water production? "

Starkrost · Jul 15, 2020

I'm on a well in the middle of farm land. I use a 4 stage RO/DI and haven't had any problems other than I have to replace the deionizing crystals pretty often due to the CO2.

Adamantium · Jul 15, 2020

I’m on a well, and did have to make one big change after moving from city water.

Due to the nature of well water, it tends to have very high CO2 content. As a result, it absolutely rips through DI resin. I’m talking one whole cartridge gone after producing 50 gallons.

What I did was buy a 40G brute, and diverted my RO water straight to that, before it hits the DI. Then, once that’s full, I put an airstone in and bubble it for 24 hours. After that, I use an aqualifter to pump that 3-4 TDS water through my DI to get 0 TDS. I’ve now produced well over 100 gallons, and barely even see any color change. Worked like a charm.

IDAN · Jul 16, 2020

I will try all these methods, let see how it goes

Just_on3 · Nov 5, 2022

My water from the tap is 700 tds !!! I run a 7 stage with a extra anion filter to get a 0 tds and I have to change it every 70 gallons

Just_on3 · Nov 5, 2022

Adamantium said:
I’m on a well, and did have to make one big change after moving from city water.

Due to the nature of well water, it tends to have very high CO2 content. As a result, it absolutely rips through DI resin. I’m talking one whole cartridge gone after producing 50 gallons.

What I did was buy a 40G brute, and diverted my RO water straight to that, before it hits the DI. Then, once that’s full, I put an airstone in and bubble it for 24 hours. After that, I use an aqualifter to pump that 3-4 TDS water through my DI to get 0 TDS. I’ve now produced well over 100 gallons, and barely even see any color change. Worked like a charm.

Can you show me your setup so I can try this

MoparMike97 · Nov 5, 2022

I'm on a well, I pretty much always run it through an RO before I use it (my system is a basic 3 stage unit) and it knocks it down to around 8-10 TDS. I will admit, I've used water straight from the tap a few times for emergency water changes, never any adverse effects despite it having approx 450 TDS. I did have our water tested, and the majority of "contamination" was just calcium, with trace amounts of silica and iron. If you plan on foregoing an RO, I'd highly recommend having your water tested.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 14, 2023

petemccollister said:
I noticed your post about using well water for your fish tank. While I haven't personally used well water for my tank, I've heard that it can be a good option as long as you take certain precautions.
One potential pro of using well water is that it can be free of some of the chemicals found in tap water, which can be beneficial for your fish.

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