RO Unit test results

[Erk]

So I tested my water after going through my new RO unit, and these are the following results:

pH=6.0 (or less)
nitrates=0-5 ppm
kH=5
gH=3

These results are not too much different from the way things are now, however the Q tank for the discus is pH=6.6, nitrates=0ppm, kH=2, gH=3

Any comments or suggestions? I plan to raise the pH but is everything else gonna be ok? I dunno why the kH is so high now after using this RO unit

Thanks! :D

[ILLUSN]

Mate dont worry too much about it, some of that could be temporary hardness from the column in the RO unit, test it after a day or 2 and i think you'll find it's the same as your discus water, you've got me thinking about an ro unit now.
The tap water i have is USELESS! ph 7.8(on a good day) full of chlorine and chloroamine and i bet copper and amonia too.

the rain water i use is
ph 5-5.5
kh 0-1
gh 0

I filter through crushed coral for a week (bout 2 table spoons in an eheim 2217) in my water aging tank to get
pH 6.2-6.5
kh 0-5
gh 4

with a RO unit i could use that 4x2x2 tank for more fish!

[Erk]

Im very happy with this unit so far, made my changes a sinch this weekend :D I just let it run forever, with a heater, and then pull out how many buckets I need for the big tank, and a bucket for the discus tank, adjust the pH, and pump it on in!

I will just keep up with the changes to get both tanks the same over the next 2-3 weeks and work on the snails in the big tank, and then I will hopefully be able to switch the newbies over to the big tank :D They have been a lil picky lately, and only seem to like the bloodworms, and they huddle in the front left corner of the tank, and the red ribbon is getting more peppered....should I not be in there daily messing with leftover food and poop? Or do they just need to get used to me in there doing that daily for a few days? :? They look like they breath just fine

Thanks for your help, I never dealt with an RO unit before, but I do like it so far

[mykey01]

I just come across this subject. I use RO unit for a couple years. I think when you test the water coming out of your RO unit you should get GH and KH close to 0. The pH probaby right. In my case water out of tap has pH > 7.5 and TDS (total dissolved solid) ~200ppm (GH~11) and out of RO the TDS~3-4 (GH~0) and pH<7. Check your RO unit or may be your test kit.

[Erk]

Thanks mykey01 I thought the kH and gH should be much closer to 0 out of the RO....I will test again tonight when I get home, and see what it says, it may get a lil better as the unit is broke in, my test kit is API

Thanks again

[Merrilyn]

Im very happy with this unit so far, made my changes a sinch this weekend :D I just let it run forever, with a heater,

Erk, am I right in thinking that you have the RO unit sucking water from your storage barrel and discharging the waste water as well as the RO water back into the same barrel??

I don't have an RO unit, but I'm sure that's not how they're supposed to be set up. The waste water is just that, waste, and should be discharged onto the garden, not used in your tank. The only water you use in the tank is the pure RO water mixed with some of your tap water. RO water is absolutely neutral and contains no salts or minerals, that's why you have to add some tap water to the mix or use some RO Salts purchased from the aquarium shop.

Apologies if I've got it wrong, but it just sounds like that from your description and the readings you're getting.

[Erk]

Thanks Merrilyn, I run the unit hooked up to my tap, and the one tube is waste, which at my apartment, there is no garden, so it just goes backdown the drain in the kitchen sink, and the other tube goes into my storage bin, and I use Kent RO Right, and Discus essentials and adjust pH before it goes into the tank....sorry I was misleading with my posts. I didnt get a chance to check the kH and gH again last night, but everybody in both tanks seem very happy. I picked up some frozen beefheart last night, and the babies seem to love it :D

I will check the kH and gH tonight when I get home from work. On a side note, does anybody feed frozen mysis shrimp to their discus?

Thans a lot!

[Merrilyn]

Phew, apologies mate.

You're doing everything right :P

Yes I have used mysis shrimp. Takes them a little time to get used to it, but once they get a taste for mysis, they love it.

[Erk]

No apologies...I appreciate all feedback, I guess I should reread my post before I hit "submit" haha...make sure everything sounds good! Im glad im on the right track with all of this :)

I picked up some mysis last night, but I didnt try to feed it to them yet, I will wait for the light to be on, and see how they react to it....I have quite the variety going on in my freezer, as well as dry foods for the babies, so they def. get a good selection, so I wasnt in a hurry to feed them the mysis, but I will let you know how it went tomorrow...they def. do like the beefheart, bloodworms, and the granules, but they are still very shy of me...poop is still brown blackish, so no worries right now!

Thanks for everything....I love this forum! :D

[ozarowana]

The O-rings on your RO membrane may be distorted (due to incorrect installation), allowing waste water to mix with the product water.

I had this problem with mine when I first got it.

[Erk]

Thanks ozarowana I will check the membrane when I get home and see if the the O-rings are messed up. There is def. waste water coming out of the red waste tube, would that still happen if the o-rings were messed up during installation?

Thanks again!

[ozarowana]

Yes waste water will still come out of the waste line.

[Erk]

Thanks ozarowana, I checked it last night, and the O-ring was a lil messed up but who knows if I did that hooking it in the first place, or if I did it when taking it apart to check it, but I tried to put it better together a lil better, and not so tight, and it seemed fine, no leaks or anything, so maybe things will change a lil bit with the tests.....just stinks my faucet is all messed up....gotta call the landlord :shock: hahaha Prolly my fault there too

Thanks a lot tho :D

[ozarowana]

No problem.

You might need to get new ones though!

[Erk]

well the o-ring wasnt messed up like damaged? just not seated flush against the membrane housing or whatever you wanna call it, so hopefully I dont need a new one yet, I havent even used it that much...maybe 35 gallons or so including the first 10 you discard

Thanks again!

[Fisher]

Hi ILLUSN!



You have written about your rain water.Mine isn't as yours.
Ph is 6.7-8
Dg 2.0
Kh.1
Why is it so??

[ILLUSN]

where are you? I'm in penrith about an hour west of sydney. mine is collected in 2 10000L tanks hooked up to the gutters with a first flush of about 300L . My gutters are relitivly clean but after a while there is some tannins in the tank water from the gum leaves, twigs etc, i think these might be softening my water some what. with rain water your disolves solids should be low as should your KH and GH. What are you using to collect your water in?