hi chi
many thanks for the help and advice.
i am thinking of ordering the unit from r/o man tomorrow,so i will speak to him about it also.once i reach my target water with the r/o system it maybe that using the water on a auto top up system using one of the auto shut of valves that r/o man supplies will work on my pond,it maybe that a trickle to waste not run 24hrs works on my pond as you say every pond will be different,so i will have to see what works best for me to maintain my desired tds and KH.
thanks again
Dave.
RO system query - mechanical
Moderators: B.Scott, vippymini, Gazza, Manky Sanke
OK Gazza, same here
The UV appears to reduce the bacterial count in the water for starters, not a revolutionary amount but obvious from scope observations. I should clarify that I have a very good scope, with upto 2000 x magnification, with colour cctv kit viewing on a quality 19" monitor, I will not bore you with the plethora of attachements etc.! I also have access to water tests at £2.50 a shot locally!
The UV of course also kills off single cell algae, and before you say you don't have any, virtually every pond has some, visible or not. Both of these first two factors improve the ORP / REDOX reading, and your 10 point rise or so is commensurate with my own experience. It takes a few days at least for the rise to show, as the dead algae needs that time to be filtered out of the system mechanically.
Unfortunately due to the lack of competition, the BW grows a little, but that in turn also improves the water by removing unwanted minerals and nutrients. This adds a little more over the next week or so to the ORP / REDOX reading, I'm now waiting to see whether the BW grows any more. I'm quite happy with small amounts of BW, it acts a little like a vegetable filter and the fish appear to graze on it also.
In my own setup I have a number of integrated solutions for the easy removal of BW in reasonable quantities. If it stays within those limits I'm happy, my idea of those limits are as follows.
I have a 1750 gph pump sat on the bottom at one end, simply taking in water and pushing it out the other side. This creates additional currents and also pushes crap towards the filter intakes. In this pumps outflow zone I have a V shaped lawn of BW. This forms a V shaped patch on the pond bottom, the V being some 2m in length and 1m wide at the wide end away from the pump, with strand growth around 6" to 9" long .
Apart from this I have just a few odd strands from 6" to 12" long around returns etc., which can be removed in a minute. I hope to contain growth despite the gains from turning on the UV, due to the low nutrient content of my water. I'm just on a waiting brief for a few weeks now but it seems to have settled as described, which is around 25% more BW than with the UV off.
I am more than willing to trade this for the raised ORP / REDOX value, though if the BW increased to say 50% more than it's current level I would rethink the situation.
Chi
The UV appears to reduce the bacterial count in the water for starters, not a revolutionary amount but obvious from scope observations. I should clarify that I have a very good scope, with upto 2000 x magnification, with colour cctv kit viewing on a quality 19" monitor, I will not bore you with the plethora of attachements etc.! I also have access to water tests at £2.50 a shot locally!
The UV of course also kills off single cell algae, and before you say you don't have any, virtually every pond has some, visible or not. Both of these first two factors improve the ORP / REDOX reading, and your 10 point rise or so is commensurate with my own experience. It takes a few days at least for the rise to show, as the dead algae needs that time to be filtered out of the system mechanically.
Unfortunately due to the lack of competition, the BW grows a little, but that in turn also improves the water by removing unwanted minerals and nutrients. This adds a little more over the next week or so to the ORP / REDOX reading, I'm now waiting to see whether the BW grows any more. I'm quite happy with small amounts of BW, it acts a little like a vegetable filter and the fish appear to graze on it also.
In my own setup I have a number of integrated solutions for the easy removal of BW in reasonable quantities. If it stays within those limits I'm happy, my idea of those limits are as follows.
I have a 1750 gph pump sat on the bottom at one end, simply taking in water and pushing it out the other side. This creates additional currents and also pushes crap towards the filter intakes. In this pumps outflow zone I have a V shaped lawn of BW. This forms a V shaped patch on the pond bottom, the V being some 2m in length and 1m wide at the wide end away from the pump, with strand growth around 6" to 9" long .
Apart from this I have just a few odd strands from 6" to 12" long around returns etc., which can be removed in a minute. I hope to contain growth despite the gains from turning on the UV, due to the low nutrient content of my water. I'm just on a waiting brief for a few weeks now but it seems to have settled as described, which is around 25% more BW than with the UV off.
I am more than willing to trade this for the raised ORP / REDOX value, though if the BW increased to say 50% more than it's current level I would rethink the situation.
Chi
Hello Maurice, long time no hear, I hope life has been kind to you of late.
I think I can answer for Gazza, as we have discussed our readings recently. His RO product is around 1 or 2 tds I believe, though I'd have to check previous notes to be sure, it may have been as high as 5 at times.
His pond TDS is around 120, PH approx' 7.2 ish, KH around 3 to 4 and GH probably 5 to 6. I'm sure when he's recovered from the Saturday syndrome he'll pop in and update. My own are 100 TDS, KH2, GH3 to 4 and PH7.2.
I do however recall Gazza saying he'd had a hiccup after adding the wrong water or similar, so his readings I believe went up a little, don't know if he's got them back down yet. It might be best to wait for his input, but you have some background now.
Needless to say Maurice, whilst I have learned much of these matters of late your input on the subject is valued.
Chi
I think I can answer for Gazza, as we have discussed our readings recently. His RO product is around 1 or 2 tds I believe, though I'd have to check previous notes to be sure, it may have been as high as 5 at times.
His pond TDS is around 120, PH approx' 7.2 ish, KH around 3 to 4 and GH probably 5 to 6. I'm sure when he's recovered from the Saturday syndrome he'll pop in and update. My own are 100 TDS, KH2, GH3 to 4 and PH7.2.
I do however recall Gazza saying he'd had a hiccup after adding the wrong water or similar, so his readings I believe went up a little, don't know if he's got them back down yet. It might be best to wait for his input, but you have some background now.
Needless to say Maurice, whilst I have learned much of these matters of late your input on the subject is valued.
Chi
.hi Bob
i think i pay 80p a meter for water with Severn Trent water.we have been in the house for just over two and a half years now the first year we moved in the water bill was 13 pounds a month which i figured was the same as the previous owner where paying,i thought not bad cheaper than water rates at the last place
now with the pond the water has just gone up this year to 35 pounds a month,so still around the same as we used to pay on water rates at the old place,the wife had a new dishwasher earlier in the year so the water increase when on that
,lol.
what it will cost with r/o on the pond?
cheers Dave.
i think i pay 80p a meter for water with Severn Trent water.we have been in the house for just over two and a half years now the first year we moved in the water bill was 13 pounds a month which i figured was the same as the previous owner where paying,i thought not bad cheaper than water rates at the last place
now with the pond the water has just gone up this year to 35 pounds a month,so still around the same as we used to pay on water rates at the old place,the wife had a new dishwasher earlier in the year so the water increase when on that
,lol.what it will cost with r/o on the pond?
cheers Dave.