Well water and PH level

Like Charles said RO is a no no unless adding additives.

Goldfish in a 4 Gallon did you say???
 >> Stay informed about: Well water and PH level 

Charles <ckraft RemoveThis @SPAMTRAPwest.net> wrote in message news:<kn4k50l1sljit3kpl8ajmms0su2ohg690b RemoveThis @4ax.com>...
> On 18 Mar 2004 13:10:59 -0800, grobelna RemoveThis @canada.com (Alexandra) wrote:

> pH of 6.5 to 8.5 is fine for goldfish. Stable pH value is important,
> more so than the absolute level.
>
> If I were you I'd use the well water before the softener, The calcium
> and magnesium are better for the fish than the sodium present in
> softened water.
>
> pure RO water is very tricky, it has no buffering capacity and is not
> stable, it is okay to dilute the well water, or to use if you add
> proper buffering salts, but not by itself.


Charles,
Thank you very much for your help with this question.
We have done more testing in meanwhile and it turned out that our TDS
(Total Dissolved Solids) is high, too (about 600 ppm). Normal rating
is below 400 ppm
Would you know by any chance if this could be harmful to GF.
Thanks again for your help.
Alexandra
 >> Stay informed about: Well water and PH level 

dr-solo.TakeThisOut@wi.rr.xx.com wrote in message news:<405c0bff.3249777.TakeThisOut@news-server.wi.rr.com>...
> pH 8 is fine, and softened water is fine as long as you use a buffer in there...
> organic dolomitic limestone ... wally world used to carry this in big bags. garden
> stores may have it, but be SURE it is NOT quick lime. it should be off white with
> gray flecks of stuff in it. and test it by putting it into the tank first, let it
> circulate for 24 hours and check the pH make sure it isnt over 8.5. Ingrid


Thank you for your help and advice.

Alexandra
 >> Stay informed about: Well water and PH level 

On 24 Mar 2004 08:24:11 -0800, grobelna.RemoveThis@canada.com (Alexandra) wrote:

>Charles <ckraft.RemoveThis@SPAMTRAPwest.net> wrote in message news:<kn4k50l1sljit3kpl8ajmms0su2ohg690b.RemoveThis@4ax.com>...
>> On 18 Mar 2004 13:10:59 -0800, grobelna.RemoveThis@canada.com (Alexandra) wrote:
>
>> pH of 6.5 to 8.5 is fine for goldfish. Stable pH value is important,
>> more so than the absolute level.
>>
>> If I were you I'd use the well water before the softener, The calcium
>> and magnesium are better for the fish than the sodium present in
>> softened water.
>>
>> pure RO water is very tricky, it has no buffering capacity and is not
>> stable, it is okay to dilute the well water, or to use if you add
>> proper buffering salts, but not by itself.
>
>
>Charles,
>Thank you very much for your help with this question.
>We have done more testing in meanwhile and it turned out that our TDS
>(Total Dissolved Solids) is high, too (about 600 ppm). Normal rating
>is below 400 ppm
>Would you know by any chance if this could be harmful to GF.
>Thanks again for your help.
>Alexandra


My city water runs from 600 to 1000 ppm and the goldfish do fine. I
wouldn't worry about it.

I tested some water from a not very good local pet shop, it read over
2000 ppm. They must have just been making up evaporation without
doing changes.
--

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others
 >> Stay informed about: Well water and PH level 

Who makes a TDS test kit?
....Kodiak

"Charles" <ckraft.RemoveThis@SPAMTRAPwest.net> wrote in message
news:boe360dk26omk0n7sj5aasite9skff00go@4ax.com...
> On 24 Mar 2004 08:24:11 -0800, grobelna.RemoveThis@canada.com (Alexandra) wrote:
>
> >Charles <ckraft.RemoveThis@SPAMTRAPwest.net> wrote in message
news:<kn4k50l1sljit3kpl8ajmms0su2ohg690b.RemoveThis@4ax.com>...
> >> On 18 Mar 2004 13:10:59 -0800, grobelna.RemoveThis@canada.com (Alexandra) wrote:
> >
> >> pH of 6.5 to 8.5 is fine for goldfish. Stable pH value is important,
> >> more so than the absolute level.
> >>
> >> If I were you I'd use the well water before the softener, The calcium
> >> and magnesium are better for the fish than the sodium present in
> >> softened water.
> >>
> >> pure RO water is very tricky, it has no buffering capacity and is not
> >> stable, it is okay to dilute the well water, or to use if you add
> >> proper buffering salts, but not by itself.
> >
> >
> >Charles,
> >Thank you very much for your help with this question.
> >We have done more testing in meanwhile and it turned out that our TDS
> >(Total Dissolved Solids) is high, too (about 600 ppm). Normal rating
> >is below 400 ppm
> >Would you know by any chance if this could be harmful to GF.
> >Thanks again for your help.
> >Alexandra
>
>
> My city water runs from 600 to 1000 ppm and the goldfish do fine. I
> wouldn't worry about it.
>
> I tested some water from a not very good local pet shop, it read over
> 2000 ppm. They must have just been making up evaporation without
> doing changes.
> --
>
> - Charles
> -
> -does not play well with others
 >> Stay informed about: Well water and PH level 

On Sat, 27 Mar 2004 04:01:37 -0500, "Kodiak" <nospam.DeleteThis@nospam.com>
wrote:

>Thanks for the links Charles.
>No cheap tester using reagent drops?
>Second link shows TDS meter measures from 0.0 to 14pH ????
>Looks like an error.
>
>Are you saying that TDS is closely related to GH? (Assuming most of the
>dissolved
>solids is Calcium and Magnesium? )
>..Kodiak
>
>

The Calcium and Magnesium is an assumption. I suppose if you took a
great number of samples of tap water and averaged them, then you would
come up with the relationship between GH, TDS, and conductivity.

If I took my standard water and added salt, TDS and conductivity would
go up, but GH would not. If I added sugar, TDS would go up, but
neither TDS nor GH would change.

from Diana Walstad's book "In nature, water hardness usually
correlates positively with pH, salinity, specific conductance, and
alkalinity."

The TDS meters listed on the sites I posted are really measuring
conductivity and using some calibration factor to estimate TDS. You
can get meters that display the conductivity measurement, usually
specified in microSeimens.

I've never found out which is the most important, the hardness (Ca and
Mg) the conductivity, or the osmotic tension due to dissolved solids.

The test kits that measure GH are good enough for most aquaria work,
if you need to get deeper into it then having water samples
professionally tested by laboratories would be needed. that gets
expensive.




--

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others
 >> Stay informed about: Well water and PH level 

We got our water softening company (Culligan) involved in the whole
water testing process. They measured the TDS for us. That is how we
learned that it was pretty high (600 ppm). Our water from RO system
is fine (in terms of TDS and PH). I guess there is not much we can do
about TDS in our water. Our fish will have to accept it. We will not
have enough water from the RO container (which is about 4 gallons)to
use it for our aquarium (46 gallons). Thank you all for your help and
your advice.
Alex
 >> Stay informed about: Well water and PH level 

On 29 Mar 2004 12:36:41 -0800, grobelna.RemoveThis@canada.com (Alexandra) wrote:

>We got our water softening company (Culligan) involved in the whole
>water testing process. They measured the TDS for us. That is how we
>learned that it was pretty high (600 ppm). Our water from RO system
>is fine (in terms of TDS and PH). I guess there is not much we can do
>about TDS in our water. Our fish will have to accept it. We will not
>have enough water from the RO container (which is about 4 gallons)to
>use it for our aquarium (46 gallons). Thank you all for your help and
>your advice.
>Alex


I played with RO water for a while, killed a few fish. The natural
buildup of waste material reduces pH, when I finally tested mine it
was below 4.5, the low end of the test kit I had.
--

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others
 >> Stay informed about: Well water and PH level 

On Sat, 27 Mar 2004 04:01:37 -0500, "Kodiak" <nospam.TakeThisOut@nospam.com>
wrote:

>Thanks for the links Charles.
>No cheap tester using reagent drops?
>Second link shows TDS meter measures from 0.0 to 14pH ????
>Looks like an error.

They fixed the error! After you posted, I sent them a note.
>
>Are you saying that TDS is closely related to GH? (Assuming most of the
>dissolved
>solids is Calcium and Magnesium? )
>..Kodiak
>
>
>"
--

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others
 >> Stay informed about: Well water and PH level 

My tap water is 7.6, and I use Neutral Regulator to lower and buff the
ph to 7.0 in all my tanks. It's supposed to also reduce the hardness
of water, but I have never really bothered to measure it's effects on
hardness. It also works well as a decholr product, but if your on a
well, you don't have this problem. Seachem also makes a product
called Acid Regulator that can be combine with Neutral Regulator to
set ph to less that 7.0, so maybe you could try some of that to get
the ph down, and then come up with a ratio of AR/NR that you could add
during water changes to keep the ph set at your desired level.

HTH...


grobelna.TakeThisOut@canada.com (Alexandra) wrote in message news:<fd51d209.0403240828.5ba69ca2.TakeThisOut@posting.google.com>...
> dr-solo.TakeThisOut@wi.rr.xx.com wrote in message news:<405c0bff.3249777.TakeThisOut@news-server.wi.rr.com>...
> > pH 8 is fine, and softened water is fine as long as you use a buffer in there...
> > organic dolomitic limestone ... wally world used to carry this in big bags. garden
> > stores may have it, but be SURE it is NOT quick lime. it should be off white with
> > gray flecks of stuff in it. and test it by putting it into the tank first, let it
> > circulate for 24 hours and check the pH make sure it isnt over 8.5. Ingrid
>
>
> Thank you for your help and advice.
>
> Alexandra
 >> Stay informed about: Well water and PH level