Yeah I’m in white bear lake area!
pH in water is super high help needed
- Thread starter moonmist
- Start date
Too much limestone in our area...
TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
Whole house water softeners have improved over the years. They are now designed to remove the salt from the softened water. There are also other designs that do not use salt. The problem, of course, is that it is not cheap to remove one system and to install a newer one.
RO or RO/DI water will solve the problem but it also means more work and expense. I have used an RO/DI unit for a number of years. But my tap is great for most fish that prefer softish water. But when I got Altum angels I needed much softer and more acid water than my tap provided. My initial unit ws 3 stages, carbon/RO/DI and it produced pure water until the ro membrane moved closer to needing replacing and the same for the DI resin. Rather than replace the modules again, I opted to buy a new 4 stage unit which added a sediment filter.
I get the portable unit, which also comes with a garden hose sised connecter or an inline connection. I have a similar size hose connection on the faucet where I batch the water. I am also able to bring the unit with me to weekend events when I am selling. I normally mix RO/DI and hotel tap 50/50. For doing this I have all of the Python faucet adapters.
I mix the RO/DI with my tap in an 11/9 ratio. I do not add minerals to the finished water. I may have to add some muriatic acid to drop the pH a tad. I also sometimnes have to dose the acid into the tank as the water has a tendency to rise in pH between water changes.
While it is true that pH is way less of an issue than TDS or conductivity, with some species it does matter. Altum angels in the wild, where most of them originate, is very acid, think in the 4.0 range or eben a tad under 4.. It is also extremely soft.
pH does matter to the the cycling mircorganisms we all have in our tanks. They prefer to consume ammonia (NH3). But, once the pH nears 6.0 all of the Total Ammonia will be in the form of ammonium (NH4). Of course this is a benefit for the fish as NH4 is way less toxic than NH3. Fortunately, the bacteria can process NH4 but not as efficiently as NH3. This means that we need to have sufficient bacteria to deal with Total Ammonia as NH4 in acid water tanks.
So, once we begin to lower our parameters using RO or RO/DI water, we are changing the balance between NH3 and NH4. I can report one thing in this regard and it is in relation to my experiences with the Altums and RO/DI water. Because the importation of Altums is a seasonal thing, I got my early ones before I could cycle tank water at 6.0 let alone where the tank to receive them which was pH 4.2 and TDS in the 20 ppm range. But, at that pH I knew all the ammonia would be NH4. I had a plan to do a fisless cycle of the filters for the angel tank in another tank. The plan was simple, move up the angel tank pH towards 6.0 while inducing the bacteria to be able to handle 3 ppm of Total Ammonia at that pH.
It was a good plan intended to take about 6 months from start to finish. But, something did not work as expected along the way. And that was the fact that the angel tank essentially completed a fish-in cycle without my doing anything beyond weekly water changes. It was very hard to test because I was ultimately staining the water which makes color based testing difficult to impossible. I had to purchase a 3-way digital monitor which gave readings for Conductivity/TDS, Temperature and pH. Which means another expense. Over time, the pH probe tends to need replacing as do the other modules in system. The unit also needs to be recalibrated for pH a number of times over a year, which means having calibration solutions on hand.
I have gone into this much detail here because it is rarely made clear what is involved in using an RO or RO/DI system. The overall basics do not cover all of the details involved.
As an FYI, here is where I bought both of my systems and my brother bought one also because he use humidifiers and pure water prevents mineral buildup in them. https://store.afwfilters.com/
Click on the Reverse Osmosis Systems link under the Categories tab. We use 2 units from the Portable RO Systems sub-category. Both are 75 gpd. You can find them with lower and higher outputs.
My initial and my brother's current unit: https
/store.afwfilters.com/reverse-osmosis-systems/portable-ro-systems/mikro-omega-3-stage-portable-aquarium-ro-di-system-with-75-gpd-membrane/
My new unit:
https://store.afwfilters.com/revers...us-di-with-75-gpd-membrane-former-psi-system/
They sell all kinds of water purification systems. A portable one worked out best for us.
RO or RO/DI water will solve the problem but it also means more work and expense. I have used an RO/DI unit for a number of years. But my tap is great for most fish that prefer softish water. But when I got Altum angels I needed much softer and more acid water than my tap provided. My initial unit ws 3 stages, carbon/RO/DI and it produced pure water until the ro membrane moved closer to needing replacing and the same for the DI resin. Rather than replace the modules again, I opted to buy a new 4 stage unit which added a sediment filter.
I get the portable unit, which also comes with a garden hose sised connecter or an inline connection. I have a similar size hose connection on the faucet where I batch the water. I am also able to bring the unit with me to weekend events when I am selling. I normally mix RO/DI and hotel tap 50/50. For doing this I have all of the Python faucet adapters.
I mix the RO/DI with my tap in an 11/9 ratio. I do not add minerals to the finished water. I may have to add some muriatic acid to drop the pH a tad. I also sometimnes have to dose the acid into the tank as the water has a tendency to rise in pH between water changes.
While it is true that pH is way less of an issue than TDS or conductivity, with some species it does matter. Altum angels in the wild, where most of them originate, is very acid, think in the 4.0 range or eben a tad under 4.. It is also extremely soft.
pH does matter to the the cycling mircorganisms we all have in our tanks. They prefer to consume ammonia (NH3). But, once the pH nears 6.0 all of the Total Ammonia will be in the form of ammonium (NH4). Of course this is a benefit for the fish as NH4 is way less toxic than NH3. Fortunately, the bacteria can process NH4 but not as efficiently as NH3. This means that we need to have sufficient bacteria to deal with Total Ammonia as NH4 in acid water tanks.
So, once we begin to lower our parameters using RO or RO/DI water, we are changing the balance between NH3 and NH4. I can report one thing in this regard and it is in relation to my experiences with the Altums and RO/DI water. Because the importation of Altums is a seasonal thing, I got my early ones before I could cycle tank water at 6.0 let alone where the tank to receive them which was pH 4.2 and TDS in the 20 ppm range. But, at that pH I knew all the ammonia would be NH4. I had a plan to do a fisless cycle of the filters for the angel tank in another tank. The plan was simple, move up the angel tank pH towards 6.0 while inducing the bacteria to be able to handle 3 ppm of Total Ammonia at that pH.
It was a good plan intended to take about 6 months from start to finish. But, something did not work as expected along the way. And that was the fact that the angel tank essentially completed a fish-in cycle without my doing anything beyond weekly water changes. It was very hard to test because I was ultimately staining the water which makes color based testing difficult to impossible. I had to purchase a 3-way digital monitor which gave readings for Conductivity/TDS, Temperature and pH. Which means another expense. Over time, the pH probe tends to need replacing as do the other modules in system. The unit also needs to be recalibrated for pH a number of times over a year, which means having calibration solutions on hand.
I have gone into this much detail here because it is rarely made clear what is involved in using an RO or RO/DI system. The overall basics do not cover all of the details involved.
As an FYI, here is where I bought both of my systems and my brother bought one also because he use humidifiers and pure water prevents mineral buildup in them. https://store.afwfilters.com/
Click on the Reverse Osmosis Systems link under the Categories tab. We use 2 units from the Portable RO Systems sub-category. Both are 75 gpd. You can find them with lower and higher outputs.
My initial and my brother's current unit: https
/store.afwfilters.com/reverse-osmosis-systems/portable-ro-systems/mikro-omega-3-stage-portable-aquarium-ro-di-system-with-75-gpd-membrane/My new unit:
https://store.afwfilters.com/revers...us-di-with-75-gpd-membrane-former-psi-system/
They sell all kinds of water purification systems. A portable one worked out best for us.
Wow thank you for sharing your story! You put a lot of thought into your response and I really appreciate your time. I’ll honestly have to reread it a few times to understand it completelyWhole house water softeners have improved over the years. They are now designed to remove the salt from the softened water. There are also other designs that do not use salt. The problem, of course, is that it is not cheap to remove one system and to install a newer one.
RO or RO/DI water will solve the problem but it also means more work and expense. I have used an RO/DI unit for a number of years. But my tap is great for most fish that prefer softish water. But when I got Altum angels I needed much softer and more acid water than my tap provided. My initial unit ws 3 stages, carbon/RO/DI and it produced pure water until the ro membrane moved closer to needing replacing and the same for the DI resin. Rather than replace the modules again, I opted to buy a new 4 stage unit which added a sediment filter.
I get the portable unit, which also comes with a garden hose sised connecter or an inline connection. I have a similar size hose connection on the faucet where I batch the water. I am also able to bring the unit with me to weekend events when I am selling. I normally mix RO/DI and hotel tap 50/50. For doing this I have all of the Python faucet adapters.
I mix the RO/DI with my tap in an 11/9 ratio. I do not add minerals to the finished water. I may have to add some muriatic acid to drop the pH a tad. I also sometimnes have to dose the acid into the tank as the water has a tendency to rise in pH between water changes.
While it is true that pH is way less of an issue than TDS or conductivity, with some species it does matter. Altum angels in the wild, where most of them originate, is very acid, think in the 4.0 range or eben a tad under 4.. It is also extremely soft.
pH does matter to the the cycling mircorganisms we all have in our tanks. They prefer to consume ammonia (NH3). But, once the pH nears 6.0 all of the Total Ammonia will be in the form of ammonium (NH4). Of course this is a benefit for the fish as NH4 is way less toxic than NH3. Fortunately, the bacteria can process NH4 but not as efficiently as NH3. This means that we need to have sufficient bacteria to deal with Total Ammonia as NH4 in acid water tanks.
So, once we begin to lower our parameters using RO or RO/DI water, we are changing the balance between NH3 and NH4. I can report one thing in this regard and it is in relation to my experiences with the Altums and RO/DI water. Because the importation of Altums is a seasonal thing, I got my early ones before I could cycle tank water at 6.0 let alone where the tank to receive them which was pH 4.2 and TDS in the 20 ppm range. But, at that pH I knew all the ammonia would be NH4. I had a plan to do a fisless cycle of the filters for the angel tank in another tank. The plan was simple, move up the angel tank pH towards 6.0 while inducing the bacteria to be able to handle 3 ppm of Total Ammonia at that pH.
It was a good plan intended to take about 6 months from start to finish. But, something did not work as expected along the way. And that was the fact that the angel tank essentially completed a fish-in cycle without my doing anything beyond weekly water changes. It was very hard to test because I was ultimately staining the water which makes color based testing difficult to impossible. I had to purchase a 3-way digital monitor which gave readings for Conductivity/TDS, Temperature and pH. Which means another expense. Over time, the pH probe tends to need replacing as do the other modules in system. The unit also needs to be recalibrated for pH a number of times over a year, which means having calibration solutions on hand.
I have gone into this much detail here because it is rarely made clear what is involved in using an RO or RO/DI system. The overall basics do not cover all of the details involved.
As an FYI, here is where I bought both of my systems and my brother bought one also because he use humidifiers and pure water prevents mineral buildup in them. https://store.afwfilters.com/
Click on the Reverse Osmosis Systems link under the Categories tab. We use 2 units from the Portable RO Systems sub-category. Both are 75 gpd. You can find them with lower and higher outputs.
My initial and my brother's current unit: https
My new unit:
https://store.afwfilters.com/revers...us-di-with-75-gpd-membrane-former-psi-system/
They sell all kinds of water purification systems. A portable one worked out best for us.
but I really like your explanation for the RO systems. I’ll look at your recommendations and see how I can implement them. Thank you!Similar threads
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