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Has anyone any experience with dionizers? I am only running 60 US gallons of softer water tropical fish at the moment and don't need a lot of output, but hauling RO by the gallon from the health food store is getting to be a drag. The unit I am looking at is by Aquarium Pharaceuticals and claims to remove minerals, heavy metals and more. I am concerned about hardness and heavy metals in my tap water.

troi

I would be concerned with hardness, but if your water comes from a commercial/communal source, it should be within certain guidelines when it comes to "harmfull" stuff, including heavy metals and pesticides, etc, etc. There's limits on hardness too, but for South American (or many other tropical regions) the water may be well hard for them.

If you need RO water for the hardness, then I'd look into buying a unit from somewhere, API or otherwise (they all do roughly the same thing, as long as they are actually RO units). Note that "water softeners" for the purpose of making soft water for washing machines, dish-washers, showers, etc aren't good for aquarium use, because they are not REMOVING the minerals, they are substituting calcium with sodium, and essentially making salt-water out of the hardness. This is fine if you use the water to clean clothes, plates or humans, but not good for sensitive fish... So it needs to be a proper RO unit. [A water distillation unit would also work, but they are more expensive to run as you need to bring the water to boiling point and then chill it back to liquid again].

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Mats

MatsP wrote: Note that "water softeners" for the purpose of making soft water for washing machines, dish-washers, showers, etc aren't good for aquarium use, because they are not REMOVING the minerals, So it needs to be a proper RO unit.
Mats

LOL--yes, the ppl here who use RO have soften the water first, I guess the softening salts are easier to clean than the calcium. We are also in uranium country and I do not trust the assurances we get from the gov. The hardness in my partially diluted tank is still 25 deg. dGH.

You don't think the deionizer will work? I want to hold off on RO units, which I will need in this neck of the woods, until I am more settled if I can.

troi

If you call the manufacturers, like Kent Marine or Coralife, they're usually more than happy to answer any questions you have. Kent Marine was particularly honest. I asked if a certain set up would work. They guy said,"No, you'd be wasting you're money. Try this set up. It's cheaper and more efficient." He was right. You can buy a smaller RO unit, say 50 gallons per day. Then, you can change out a few parts, buy a 100 gpd membrane, and you have a 100 gpd filter. You still need to make the commitment to using RO water. It's a big leap. Dow makes most of the RO membranes and they're mostly interchangable. If you decide to go ahead, make sure you purchase a unit that takes a Dow membrane. A lot of local hardware stores stock Dow membranes.

Deionization has it's uses, especially for folks with reef tanks and labs. That Aquarium Pharmaceuticals thing-don't bother. That particular unit is very small. You won't get much water out of it. How's you're water pressure, Troi? If you don't have good water pressure in your abode, an RO unit won't work well anyway. It's important to figure that out first.
Amanda

bronzefry wrote:
Deionization has it's uses, especially for folks with reef tanks and labs. That Aquarium Pharmaceuticals thing-don't bother. That particular unit is very small. You won't get much water out of it. How's you're water pressure...
Amanda

Thank, Amanda. I have good pressure and don't need alot of output right now, my set up is small and I use upto half tap water. I am mostly concerned with cutting down trips to the water store (bring your own bottle) and reducing the impossilbe mineral (and maybe uranium) content of my water while I am here. I expect to move one or two more times, so don't want to commit to a bigger system, which is why I am looking at low end, cheap systems for now.

troi

I don't know of a filter out there that will remove uranium. I'm sure there are some fly-by-night filter manufacturers that would like to think their filters can remove uranium! If you're system is small, and you know you'll be sticking with a small system, then your system will work. Are you testing the water that you purchase? If not, you can always use your aquarium kit to test that water, too. Maybe compare your tap water with what you're buying. It won't test for uranium, but...I thought I had it bad with sand coming out of the tap.