How "serious" Of A R/o Unit Do I Need For Well Water?

[JeffreyThornton]

I am looking to set up a freshwater aquarium that would have community fish.  They would mostly consist of ram's, angels and other softwater fish.  The tank would be a 38 gallon with an Eheim filter.  My PH is somewhere near 8 and water hardness around 170ppm.  The guy at the fish store recommended using an R/O unit on half of the water before using in the fish tank.  Assuming that is good advice, how fancy of an R/O unit do I need?
 
I am looking at a $68 unit (Aqualife Buddie 3 stage RO system) at Al's Online or a $250-$300 - with supplies - Bulk Reef Supply unit (4 Stage Value Plus) that I can get for $150 on Craigslist.  The BRS unit is a great deal, but if I only need the $68 unit then I would prefer to spend the money elsewhere.  
 
Thoughts?
 
Thanks in advance.
 
Jeff

 

[StevenF]

I am not a big fan of that type of design.  To change the filters you have to depressurize the system, disconnect the hoses. and pop off the filter.  For the RO filter you also have to unscrew a cap and pull the old filter out.  However if the filter has been installed for some time it can be difficult to unscrew the cap and pull out the filter.  I had my GE unit break last time I changed the Ro filter and it took a week to  the replacement parts.  Also push to connect fitting do occasionally scratch the tube and when that happens you will get a leak.  Also the unit you linked to apparently comes in 2 capacities a 50  or 100 gallons per day output volume.  That is very high  Even with frequent 50% water changes you will only need about 20 gallons a day capacity.  You can get larger pressurized storage tanks at extra cost or use a barrel to store water.   A 30 gallon pressurized storage tank will likely cost double to tripple t the RO unit cost.  You also need to check you house water pressure.  If the pressure is too low water will only trickel out and you would need a boster pump.  Normally RO unitl cost about $130 to $300.  $68 makes me wonder about the quality of it.  Check on the replacement part costs and replacement filter cost.  Also verify that you can get replacment filters.    I recoomend looking over the reviews and quesitons people post about these units on amazon.com
 
http/www.amazon.com/Aquatic-Life-Reverse-Osmosis-50-Gallon/dp/B00DOG63OY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461373919&sr=8-1&keywords=ro+buddie
 
My sister has very hard water (no aquarium) at her place and I installed a whirlpool under sink unit.  It produces 18 gallons a day.  to replace the filters you turn off the water supply and twist each filter about a half turn.  the filters occupy an area of 6"X12"X12" It would in two days produce enough water to almost fill your tank.  Unfortunately it only comes with a small 3 gallon tank.  However the entire unit easily fit under her kitchen sink.  There is enough space left for a 20 gallon tank if she ever wants one.   Her unit dropped the hardness from 300 down to  25  ppm.  That is soft enough for the fish you want but if you want plants, shrimp, or snails  you will need to fertilize the with trace nutrients.  Otherwise they will all die.  

 

[sawickib]

Alright i assume you live in Florida because I have the same water. I would recommend if you do use RO water then why not do 100%? If you only do 50/50, whenever you do water changes the Ph and hardness will fluctuate as you won't be able to do exact water changes.
 
Also most of those fish (if you're getting them from a pet store / segrest farms) are captive bred i believe, so it would be best to just leave them in what they're used to IMO

 

[StevenF]

 
 
Also most of those fish (if you're getting them from a pet store / segrest farms) are captive bred i believe, so it would be best to just leave them in what they're used to IMO

That is true but you don't know what the water conditions were at the fish farm. Some stores may get fish from multiple suppliers. Segrest isn't the only fish farm.  You might even end up buying a wild caught fish without even knowing it. The only thing you do know is where the fish was found in the wild.  Whith that you can figure out what the original water conditions were.

 

[JeffreyThornton]

Alright i assume you live in Florida because I have the same water. I would recommend if you do use RO water then why not do 100%? If you only do 50/50, whenever you do water changes the Ph and hardness will fluctuate as you won't be able to do exact water changes.
 
Also most of those fish (if you're getting them from a pet store / segrest farms) are captive bred i believe, so it would be best to just leave them in what they're used to IMO

I live on the north side of the country, in Michigan. It probably makes more sense to go 100% R/O since I would then have control over what goes in the tank. I haven't looked into how to add nutrients back into the water. Should I get the big R/O unit then? I'm just not sure what the differences are or epwhat I am gaining/losing between the two systems.

I am not a big fan of that type of design.  To change the filters you have to depressurize the system, disconnect the hoses. and pop off the filter.  For the RO filter you also have to unscrew a cap and pull the old filter out.  However if the filter has been installed for some time it can be difficult to unscrew the cap and pull out the filter.  I had my GE unit break last time I changed the Ro filter and it took a week to  the replacement parts.  Also push to connect fitting do occasionally scratch the tube and when that happens you will get a leak.  Also the unit you linked to apparently comes in 2 capacities a 50  or 100 gallons per day output volume.  That is very high  Even with frequent 50% water changes you will only need about 20 gallons a day capacity.  You can get larger pressurized storage tanks at extra cost or use a barrel to store water.   A 30 gallon pressurized storage tank will likely cost double to tripple t the RO unit cost.  You also need to check you house water pressure.  If the pressure is too low water will only trickel out and you would need a boster pump.  Normally RO unitl cost about $130 to $300.  $68 makes me wonder about the quality of it.  Check on the replacement part costs and replacement filter cost.  Also verify that you can get replacment filters.    I recoomend looking over the reviews and quesitons people post about these units on amazon.com
 
http/www.amazon.com/Aquatic-Life-Reverse-Osmosis-50-Gallon/dp/B00DOG63OY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461373919&sr=8-1&keywords=ro+buddie
 
My sister has very hard water (no aquarium) at her place and I installed a whirlpool under sink unit.  It produces 18 gallons a day.  to replace the filters you turn off the water supply and twist each filter about a half turn.  the filters occupy an area of 6"X12"X12" It would in two days produce enough water to almost fill your tank.  Unfortunately it only comes with a small 3 gallon tank.  However the entire unit easily fit under her kitchen sink.  There is enough space left for a 20 gallon tank if she ever wants one.   Her unit dropped the hardness from 300 down to  25  ppm.  That is soft enough for the fish you want but if you want plants, shrimp, or snails  you will need to fertilize the with trace nutrients.  Otherwise they will all die.

I am not looking forward to dealing with an R/O unit, but it would beat having to chase problems around with fish getting sick/stressed/dying, algae problems, water fluctuations, etc. In the end, this may be easier than trying to make my water somethings it's not. Does that make sense? I'm new to well water so I'm using my best guesses at times. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Jeff

 

[StevenF]

 
 
I haven't looked into how to add nutrients back into the water. 

Add Seachem Flourish Comprehensive to RO water is what I do.  I has all the mineral plants need.  The fish will get most of their minerals from the food they eat.