Blending water... Hard & thru whole house Softener & RO... what to expect???

[Magnum Man]

@ 2 tanks...

are you using a "consumer" TDS meter similar to this...

Amazon.com

that one had quite a few negative reviews...

this one looks better, at least as far as reviews...

Amazon.com

or are you using a "lab" type meter???

one thing is for sure... I'm learning a lot about water in general... the RO unit I bought came with an extra set of filters, & a filter change schedule in the instructions... we have a drinking water RO unit, that we rented at 1st, but we ended up buying ( dispenses both hot & cold drinking water )... made them change the filters before we bought it, but typically they go over a year... maybe 2 between changes... I'll be monitoring that a lot closer in the future...

also we have well water... it's really hard... it was tested when we moved in ( it was my wife's family farm... it's now a century farm ) but I assume the well is maybe 100 years old... we have no records of it being redrilled... it's deeper than needed, as we have a pretty high water table here, & it's not a shallow well... so I'm assuming the water chemistry is pretty stabile, but with it being so hard, a whole house softener is installed, so both RO units ( the new aquarium use, & older drinking water unit ) are fed by the softened water... of which I've also learned a lot... sodium Ion exchange for calcium...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I should have offered this link to my digital monitoring unit. It is made in N Z but sold round the world. This is less than I paid for mine but now they offer them with more stuff and configurations that cost more. They have ones with Wi-Fi or oline connections etc.

Here it is on Amazon in the states:

Amazon.com

This is my hand held TDS meter,- cheap but works great. I have 2 and this is a really good price.
https://www.amazon.com/Quality-Accu...home-garden&sprefix=hm+tds,garden,106&sr=1-11

 

[Magnum Man]

Oh the challenges we face… my new water pump will not draw water up from the bottom of the barrel… had 1/3 of a barrel of RO water in my barrel, this morning. I tested my water today, figured I had enough RO to change 1 tank… I suspected the fish load would tell me the tin foil barb tank was where I should start… actual water test confirmed that, but it’s not as bad as I thought it could have been… but the centrifugal pump won’t pull it from that far down in the barrel… I tried priming it several times… so, I just ordered a small 110 volt diaphragm pump, that pumps 5.5 gallons a minute… I will continue to let the barrel fill with RO water, and do all my 1st RO water changes when the new pump arrives…

Got lucky with wiring… the inside of my tank work area has not been finished, so the back side of an outlet, that was not being used in the room on the other side of the wall was exposed… I was able to pull it, and flip it around to the area under the stairs, where the RO unit and barrel are… I was already using an extension cord for the booster pump on the RO unit… now I have an outlet in the perfect spot to plug both pumps into…

 

[Magnum Man]

1st test… new pump is not here yet, but the RO barrel was full enough it would pump, with the 1st pump… so on a 45 gallon aquarium, I pulled 5 gallons out, and added 6-7 gallons ( the tank was a little low ) of RO with no added minerals… No change in the water… I’ll try 10 gallons in a 55 when the new pump gets here... several of my readings were maxed out on the test strips, so it may take more RO water to make those readings move... but I'm wanting to take is slow... the 1st pump I bought pumps a little fast, when the barrel is full enough to allow it to pump, & I was worried about the fish, with blending the water directly in the tank... but everyone looked OK during & after adding the RO

 

[Magnum Man]

5 gallons of RO at a time ( after the 3rd in 3 days ) the alkalinity has softened to better match the 300 on my test strips… 1st change

 

[Magnum Man]

Taking my time ( my centrifugal pump will only pump about 6" out of the top of my RO collection barrel, so I'm waiting on a Diaphragm pump, which arrives today ) but right now each aquarium has had at least 3 - 5 gallon water changes spread out at least every other day... the smallest tank is a 45 gallon, the others are 55 gallon tanks & the 45 got it's 4th change last night...

water parameters did not fluctuate to start with... on the 3rd change I started seeing lower GH numbers... on the 4th change on the 45 both the Alkalinity & carbonate hardness that have been maxed out high, on my test strips have softened a little still at 300, but the color better matches the scale ( they were darker than the maximum previously ) Ph has been maxed out high previously, & still is, but after the 4th change last night matches the color for 8.4... so I'm expecting bigger changes on 5th & 6th water changes... I swear I can see relief on the lil fishy faces... not had any adverse effects of any of the fish or invertebrate's

the pond snails have seemed to explode in the 45 since the water is getting fixed... perhaps the water as bad as it was, was holding them in check... I used to see 1-2 adults... now I'm seeing dozens & lots of babies... so I need to work on that...