well water questions?

[superclown]

I have checked the water in the house im in the process of moving to currently. Its non chlorinated I know I can always either use bottled water from the store. The only concern I see with my water test ive done is there are some phosphates present.

I was curious if there was some type of filtration I could do assides from a 3 stage rodi? I have somewhat decent water pressure but im not really sure it would be enough for the rodi to work properly and those external booster pumps are downright expensive. wouldnt be a big deal if I was buying the place but im only renting.

what do you guys think?

 

[wbrown]

I'm on a well also, slightly different aquifer though.
Check pH of your water from the tap, use the tub faucet as it does not aerate the water like the sink faucets do. You may find pH in the 6 ish range..
This will duplicate the source water your feed for the RO/DI unit will receive, so it is a valid test.
Aerate your sample for 10-15 minutes and duplicate. Chances are good pH will end up high 7's, low 8's. If this is the case, you'll need a bubble stone and air pump in your makeup water pretty much 24/7.
I have phosphates in my well water now, did not 3 yrs ago. I use a homemade GFO and sediment prefilter upstream of my RO/DI unit. I got the filter housings from an RV supply as that was where I saw them first, however you can get a cartridge type filter @ the home center and many wal-marts. The inlet opening under the filter housing is not threaded, but you can get a rigid plastic tube that will fit from the autoparts places.
force the tubing into the housing and cut to fit short of the bottom of the cartridge housing, and fill with media. Cut a 1"x1" piece of screen fabric and place over the return side opening to keep out larger pieces.
Unthread the hose fittings and replace with appropriate size piping and terminate with a 1/4 inch compression fitting. Use a 1/4" refrigerator icemaker kit hose to connect to the inlet of the RO/DI unit and your done.
As for the booster pump, there are some other options prior to dropping the big bucks, a smaller bladder tank like the ones used for an undercounter water filter/dispenser will help even out the pressure surges when the pump cycles. (Handy but not required) You can adjust up the pressure at the well, or you can hit the local harbor freight for a $100 booster pump.
I go the cheapest route, I wait till laundry time, shower time, lawn watering time, etc. to make water. The pump cycles more frequently to keep up with demand, so you have shorter intervals of lesser pressure, making more water in the same or shorter time period.

 

[superclown]

ok thanks i actually learned something with that thanks

 

[eagle9252]

Don’t use well water.

Unless you send out samples and have tested and spend the money to correct it. We had a well that feed 5 house when growing up and the water was fine… it was a bored 8” about 60’ to the water and it was about 20’ deep. it was a little bit on the hard side. Then we dug a well years later and it was 150 feet from the other well and it was 160’ deep to get to about 15-18gpm. But when you drank this water even years later it still had a different taste. It tasted like it was stale.

Anyway back with the older well we tried several times to have a FW tank when we were growing up and the fish always died even which testing and adding chemicals. We took the LFS a sample of plan fresh water and found out that it was not fit for a tank. We starting going to the local gas station and getting city water for our fish tanks

 

[superclown]

eagle I have a test kit and all parameters are in check with the exception of phosphates being a little on the high side.

I don't understand at all what was in your water that was not fit for a tank? Was it the ph or what?

I have used well water for the past 2 years in my other tanks from my house I was at, and this water checks out fine with the exception of p04.

Also it has to do with the area and where the water is coming from just because your water was not right doesn't mean mine will not be ok.

 

[eagle9252]

you need to send out to a lab as the test kits are not good enough. we sent ours to UGA years ago. we did the normal stuff. used bullseye 7.0 and others. we came to the understanding that the water was just too hard for the fish and it had some iron in it also. we went to getting city water at the gas station and problem went away.

 

[superclown]

i use the elos test kits and they have served me very well since I have began using them but I understand wat you mean about a professional lab test.

I wouldn't mind using bottle water and I understand that safe just no stores are close by maybe I will just get a rodi and hope for the best

 

[smallblock]

Theres alot of things in water that our test kits don't test for. I wouldn't use it even for a FO tank. There could be heavy metals in it like was mentioned about iron etc etc. While all of this is in range for humans, I wouldn't use it in a SW fish tank. I would just use your ro unit. If I remember right wells already use sort of a booster pump to get the water out of the well and may even be adjustable. Not sure on that part though. I wouldn't do it especially if you already have a ro unit.

Lets say you try it and everything starts out ok. Then over time you start loosing livestock and can't figure out why because all your params are in check. You loose 3 fish and a few coral. The cost of the fish, what you have paid to feed the fish, the cost of the salt you have used over the period keeping these fish, and coral alive, and the cost of replacing what ever you have lost, would add up to a booster pump easy.

I would go with the side of caution and have clean water. Try looking at the big picture instead of the initial cost of a booster pump if you even need a booster pump and I think you will understand my point of view on it.

Hope it works out ok whichever way you decide to go buddy.

 

[wbrown]

I can't argue the trace minerals comment, especially as you are geologically downhill from ATL. At least you are south of the fall line, that may make a difference..
check here and see if a sample point is nearby; http://www.georgiaepd.org/dnr/wrdb/homePage.do">http://www.georgiaepd.org/dnr/wrdb/homePage.do</a>
This should give an idea of water quality where the municipalities are getting their water, and what's in it.
Take a sample to someone with a TDS meter, that should also reveal whether or not to pursue using the well, low readings mean you have a better chance. Ask around at the nearest city/county water dept. Someone has recent sample results of what's in the water they are distributing. Ask nice and you may get this info.
At the end of the day, wells CAN be used, even the city dweller's water comes from wells or rivers. To make it suitable may take more effort/money/time than you have resources for, but you can take any source water and clean it.

 

[eagle9252]

When we had 5 houses on one well it had some to no pressure. I guess now the well is 50 to 60 yrs old and only has 1 house on it. I'm like 1700 feet from it and they had 1/2 line ran all of the way to my grandfather&#8217;s house over the hills and thru the woods litterly!! We could have 60psi on a good day and some washing clothes or flush the toilet and now you&#8217;re down to 25 to 30 psi. it was bad. I switched or to city water about 10 yrs ago. My parents had their well dug about 30 yrs ago and pressure was 60psi all the time.
But if you have low pressure for the house you can add a booster pump and bladder tank. This is what I was going to do but I got tired of digging and repairing the old undersized line and the cost of the upgrade was about ½ of the cost to switching over to city.

 

[scruggs1]

We are on a well also...TDS reads 1ppm.

FYI - Well pressure has nothing to do with what size well you have or how deep it is. The pressure is set with the pressure control switch. I can set ours from 40-80 psi (or we could have installed one that would have given us almost 100psi...but I don't want my shower head to be a pressure washer...and the only time it will vary in the house is if multiple faucets are turned on...and when the pressure does drop, it is because the pump cannot keep up with the demand at the current pressure setting on the switch. If someone loses significant pressure it is either a faulty or low setting on the pressure switch or the pump itself needs to be replaced.

 

[superclown]

Well I don't have a rodi. as of this moment but I will pick one up. The water pressure isn't real bad but its just not strong I will see if I can turn it up at he house when I go out there tonight. Your right when you put it that way in terms of cost