Water Filters

[Wendy]

I'm in the process of setting up a small fish room. Water changes will be done from 2 x 23,000 litre rainwater tanks that are just outside the shed where the room is. This is the only water supply close by and we have no scheme water. I plan on setting up a 250 litre drum to get the change water right as regards heat and whatever else may be necessary before adding it to the tanks. There is no chlorine etc in the water supply but I am concerned about anything that may enter the supply via the shed roof etc. Can anyone recommend a filter that I can use to filter the water prior to adding it to the drum? Also any other suggestions as to what I should do to prepare the water would be very welcome.

[ILLUSN]

A single cartrige (1 stage) carbon filter should do the trick just install it in your feed in line and replace the carbon once every 2-3 months

[Ghoti]

I will always defer to ILLUSN on such matters given his wealth of knowledge and would be interested to know whether the carbon is sufficient to remove contaminents from zincalume roofing.

I have a two satge filter connected to my rainwater tank (5 micron sediment then 1 micron carbon) but still treat my water with Superchlor to remove any traces of Zinc, Copper, Ferric Oxide, Aluminium, Fluoride, Iron, Chlorine and Chloramine - pretty impressive lisrt I reckon!!

Jothy - Is a cabon filter alone sufficient?

Cheers,
Scott

[ILLUSN]

a propper high grade ceramic/carbon filter should remove all heavy metals including zinc, the 2 stage you use has a sediment chamber that extends the life of the carbon filter but 5 micron is too corse to have any real effect on ions and TDS, as a result it wont be increasing the absorptive capacity of the carbon module.

The carbon alone should be enough so long as you dont let it get depleated, manufacturers recomend 3-6 months of use i'd personally go 2-3 months MAX.

a bit of supacholr or prime wont hurt but i dont think it would really be needed.

[Wendy]

Thanks for your advise. I ended up getting a Waterco Gemini that has 2 chambers. The first is a 5 micron sediment cartridge that they recommend replacing every 6 - 12 mths. Second chamber is a 1 micron Extruded Carbon block, I think there is an option to use a Fine Ceramic Cartridge in this chamber instead of the block if I want/need to change to a better one. Recommended replacement for the block is 8 - 12 months.

I also got a 36w Pond One UV Clarifier as I'm a little worried about the possibilities of bacteria lurking in the main water supply as it sits in the tanks for anything up to a year depending on the rainfall.

I'm a bit of a noob with all this gadgetry, will this stuff be enough to do the job??

[jalinajack]

An appropriate note high ceramic / carbon filters should remove all heavy metals such as zinc, step 2 you are using has a room of sediment that extends the life of the carbon filter, 5 micron but is too of corse have a real effect on the ions and TDS, as a result, it will not increase the absorption capacity of carbon module.