R/o units

[Brad Ward]

[Been having a heck of a time lately with my R/O membranes getting clogged up rapidly by calcium. My tap water is really loaded with the stuff. Anyway, I have been studying ways to keep this from happening and have found some good advice form several different sources.

The solution it seems is to either increase the brine output of the R/O unit which wastes more water, or to get a water softener that will remove the mineral salts before they get to the R/O unit. Since I make about 3-500 gallons a week of product water, the softener sounds like a better idea.

Any thoughts?

Brad]

 

[melev]

[I was only thinking that your alkalinity would probably be very close to non-existant after running a water softener. We had one when I was growing up in California, and the shower felt so soft. After lathering up, when I rinsed I still felt like I had soap on me. It was about 25 years ago, but have softeners changed that much?

I bet you have a great concoction to boost alk, but I just thought I'd put in my .02 ]

 

[Brad Ward]

[Actually besides the high calcium the water, it also has a PH of 8 and a DKH of 5! I am sure the magnesium is up there as well. This clogs the R/O membrane real quick!

Water softeners are supposed to dissolve the soap better than hard water will a sfar as I know. Sounds like you had the opposite reaction. Hmmm.

Anywho, I have found a small timed unit for about $400 that I can place inline before my R/O unit that might save me some major bucks on membranes. ]

 

[kenweekley]

[Brad, I know we are told to use R/O water for the best results in our reefs. However, I had many problems in my 300 gal 2 1/2 year old reef. Corals dying, little or no grow...I finally started doing water changes using tap water filtered through a water softner and a "whole house" carbon filter and my soft coral growth is unbelieveable in the last 6-8 months. A colt coral has quadrupled in size to a massive size of approx 24 inches across. Mushrooms are like 10" across. My finger leather has doubled in size from 6" to 12" across and I have had to move it three times to get it away from the brain coral..I'm not sure that a stict R/O diet is such a great idea...]

 

[Brad Ward]

[Hi Ken,

Funny, isn't it? I think that the problem with blanket statements like we must all use R/O is just another myth that needs a little tweaking. The reason I say that is that everyone's supply water is different. Now I get my water in Grapevine from the same place that Marc gets his from in Fort Worth, but the lines to my house are different from his in Fort Worth, so there might be more iron or even more chlorine or phosphate in mine by the time it gets here. Also, our water supply is taken from several different sources. Most of Trinity Water Authority water is pumped all the way here from the Chambers Resevoir which is about 100 miles from here. It is pumped to several different lakes in the Metroplex. Each of those lakes has unique mineral traces. Now from month to month and year to year, my water quality changes. Having been at this address now for 6 years I have seen my 1 micron sediment filter change colors from brown to green depending on where the water comes from, time of year, and the drought situation. Very wierd I know, and I can't speak for everyone, but that's what happens here at my house.

My other latest problem has been a lot of phosphate and iron in the water supply. They use phosphate to keep the pipes clean or something, and although it tests low, it does and has fueled green algae growth in my systems for the last year. The iron is from the pipes we have here in my neighborhood. TRhey are cast iron and starting to break as they age. There is not a day in the summer where the city does not have a crew fixing another break in the mains. Not sure what has been clogging the R/O membranes, but it could be calcium, magnesium or phosphate, or all three. I am so tired of buying membranes that I decided that a softner was the ticket.

Now, what you saw in the growth of your softies could be a results of a needed trace element that was being taken out of the water by your R/O unit. My guess would be iron or iodine, but who knows. Soft corals are known to grow really well on tidal mudflats subject to fresh water runoff from the land and other unpristine reef conditions and locations. Same with Mushrooms. My Softie system is doing awesome as well. I will see if there is a difference when I switch back to R/O.

Continued good luck!

Brad]