How you guys getting along with your RO systems.Ie how long are your membranes lasting and what is the TDS of your source water
Has there been any developments onplumbing configeration and what parmeters your keepng your pond at regarding GH KH and tds. Just wondered as it has been a while now sinse I turned mine off as my source water has a low tds 65ppm. However most of this is G.H and phosphate. Stuff I don,t really want. Once again I am considering RO but woory about the cost of membrane replacment as well as regular replacement of prefilters. However I tend to do the latter anyway. Your thoughts are much apprciated. best regards dave
How you guys getting along with your RO systems
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Re: How you guys getting along with your RO systems
Dave,
Honestly I am getting on with it ace. Upgraded to a larger system last year and this gives me the ability to change 20% daily if needed this has had massive effects on the parameters over winter and I'm now back on the food and still running sub 90ppm TDS. My aim in 2012 is to run sub 100ppm TDS all year if possible as this seems to be tip effect point for my koi. Activity and interest in food lifts around that point and is at its best around 70-80ppm i observe.
Things have moved on again with little improvements in equipment levels - autoflush systems, PH controllers, Bi-Carb dosing pumps, Bigger membranes, Even now emerging is re-cycling pond water through an RO unit although the guy who has broken ground with it is still nervous about putting it out there till he's tested it ALL YEAR.
I was coming from a terrible place water wise PH 8.5-8.8, KH 11, GH 16 TDS 440ppm - I now run in the pond PH 7-7.1, KH 1, GH 1-2, TDS sub 90ppm
That said....
If I had the basic source water you do then I would be looking at whether you would be better with a Phosphate removal cartridge in a standard purifier as its a constant job running RO - checking, checking, checking and making sure you get no equipment failures. I wouldn't dream of running my pond without it now - but - you should be able too.
Honestly I am getting on with it ace. Upgraded to a larger system last year and this gives me the ability to change 20% daily if needed this has had massive effects on the parameters over winter and I'm now back on the food and still running sub 90ppm TDS. My aim in 2012 is to run sub 100ppm TDS all year if possible as this seems to be tip effect point for my koi. Activity and interest in food lifts around that point and is at its best around 70-80ppm i observe.
Things have moved on again with little improvements in equipment levels - autoflush systems, PH controllers, Bi-Carb dosing pumps, Bigger membranes, Even now emerging is re-cycling pond water through an RO unit although the guy who has broken ground with it is still nervous about putting it out there till he's tested it ALL YEAR.
I was coming from a terrible place water wise PH 8.5-8.8, KH 11, GH 16 TDS 440ppm - I now run in the pond PH 7-7.1, KH 1, GH 1-2, TDS sub 90ppm
That said....
If I had the basic source water you do then I would be looking at whether you would be better with a Phosphate removal cartridge in a standard purifier as its a constant job running RO - checking, checking, checking and making sure you get no equipment failures. I wouldn't dream of running my pond without it now - but - you should be able too.
Re: How you guys getting along with your RO systems
Thanks Greg Glad to hear that you think it was a good investment. I have thought about phosphate removal pod, can you suggest a supplyer.Not sure if the pods last long though. I did used to run a water sofening pod which only changed the G.H ions for salt and did not help the TDS. Eventually I tried the ROwater. But was limited to how much I could make
Re: How you guys getting along with your RO systems
Dave,
Honestly at 65ppm you don't need to worry about the TDS as it less than 90% of RO users are at anyway. In your case its about removing the couple of things that you think are causing you an issue
GH - What's your gdh reading? (sorry might have missed it)
Phosphate - how much of your 65ppm is phosphate?
In truth if you can find a simple way to alter these to more desirable things than what you have then I see no issue. Lower the phosphate levels, alter the GH and retain the 65ppm with your nice KH of around 1gdh and I'd take that all day long!
My ideal figures are:-
PH - 7
KH - 1
GH - 1
TDS sub 80ppm
of course this is using RO to ensure I control the exact make up of the water. Some people in the koi club I'm now a member of looked at me like I was "odd" when I told them at the last meeting that if I was prevented from running RO then I would likely jack the hobby in as it wouldn't be the hobby I wanted. I would however love your water - find a simple way to fix the minor issues and run it in as fast as the purifiers can handle.
Suppliers i use are:- Purewater Products and Aquakoi Aquatics. There are plenty of aquarium based products out there that adsorb the phosphate so these guys might know if you can use one in a canister for adsorbtion and then "re-charge" it in salt or something - just a thought?????? Almost as simple as have two canisters - one on the pond water supply working - the other charging / regenerating and you simply switch them on a pre determined time lapse.
Honestly at 65ppm you don't need to worry about the TDS as it less than 90% of RO users are at anyway. In your case its about removing the couple of things that you think are causing you an issue
GH - What's your gdh reading? (sorry might have missed it)
Phosphate - how much of your 65ppm is phosphate?
In truth if you can find a simple way to alter these to more desirable things than what you have then I see no issue. Lower the phosphate levels, alter the GH and retain the 65ppm with your nice KH of around 1gdh and I'd take that all day long!
My ideal figures are:-
PH - 7
KH - 1
GH - 1
TDS sub 80ppm
of course this is using RO to ensure I control the exact make up of the water. Some people in the koi club I'm now a member of looked at me like I was "odd" when I told them at the last meeting that if I was prevented from running RO then I would likely jack the hobby in as it wouldn't be the hobby I wanted. I would however love your water - find a simple way to fix the minor issues and run it in as fast as the purifiers can handle.
Suppliers i use are:- Purewater Products and Aquakoi Aquatics. There are plenty of aquarium based products out there that adsorb the phosphate so these guys might know if you can use one in a canister for adsorbtion and then "re-charge" it in salt or something - just a thought?????? Almost as simple as have two canisters - one on the pond water supply working - the other charging / regenerating and you simply switch them on a pre determined time lapse.
Re: How you guys getting along with your RO systems
Creg. Here are my pond & Tap water parameterswater parameters.
Pond Tap
P.H 7.4 7.2
G.H 3.5 d.h 3.5 d.h
K.H 1.5 d.h 1.5 d.h
TDS 78 ppm 67ppm
Phos 1ppm(mg/l) 1ppm(mg/l)
At the moment the phosphate level in the Tap is quite low and due to water changes I can keep the pond the same, however It has been higher than 5.0ppm ( off the scale) when feeding heavier and the Tap water has been higher as well. I think it is really dificult to get phosphate removal filters of any size that is practical for pond but could be wrong. However if the tap water phosphate would remain low then I would be in with a chance of keeping the pond low with water changes. Regards The G.H. Whenever I ask on forums about G.H. I always get different answers to whether a G.H of 3.5dh is ideal or not ie is it soft, relatively soft or what? Again this can be maintained at this level with waterchanges and does not get higher as well as the K.H of 1.5d.h. I do not have any buffer of any kind in the system as stuff like liquatha oystershell just traps dirt which cannot be cleaned regularly and does nowt after a while anyway.
I too am beginning to think just change the water as it is free and I could change as much as 10% per day if needed. Best Regards Dave
Pond Tap
P.H 7.4 7.2
G.H 3.5 d.h 3.5 d.h
K.H 1.5 d.h 1.5 d.h
TDS 78 ppm 67ppm
Phos 1ppm(mg/l) 1ppm(mg/l)
At the moment the phosphate level in the Tap is quite low and due to water changes I can keep the pond the same, however It has been higher than 5.0ppm ( off the scale) when feeding heavier and the Tap water has been higher as well. I think it is really dificult to get phosphate removal filters of any size that is practical for pond but could be wrong. However if the tap water phosphate would remain low then I would be in with a chance of keeping the pond low with water changes. Regards The G.H. Whenever I ask on forums about G.H. I always get different answers to whether a G.H of 3.5dh is ideal or not ie is it soft, relatively soft or what? Again this can be maintained at this level with waterchanges and does not get higher as well as the K.H of 1.5d.h. I do not have any buffer of any kind in the system as stuff like liquatha oystershell just traps dirt which cannot be cleaned regularly and does nowt after a while anyway.
I too am beginning to think just change the water as it is free and I could change as much as 10% per day if needed. Best Regards Dave
Re: How you guys getting along with your RO systems
Dave,
Sorry been away for the weekend.
I would say most people would call your readings soft - in fact many hobbyists would be trying to raise them above the readings you have. To be honest if there isn't a easy solution to issue you have with phosphate then I myself would question if it was worth running RO to lower it. It really does depend on how far you want to go with it and what you want from the hobby.
Maybe worth a look into the Ionic water Purifiers - Going back PRE my RO days around 2007/2008 the company that used to supply EA with their water purifiers (Ionic Water Systems) used to do a DI water filter for koi ponds in the same format as the EA one running off hozelock connections. I used to run a 30" DI one followed by a 30" carbon and this worked quite well for a while till my source water went really bad - maybe worth a bit of research??
http://www.ionicsystems.com/english/index.html
Sorry been away for the weekend.
I would say most people would call your readings soft - in fact many hobbyists would be trying to raise them above the readings you have. To be honest if there isn't a easy solution to issue you have with phosphate then I myself would question if it was worth running RO to lower it. It really does depend on how far you want to go with it and what you want from the hobby.
Maybe worth a look into the Ionic water Purifiers - Going back PRE my RO days around 2007/2008 the company that used to supply EA with their water purifiers (Ionic Water Systems) used to do a DI water filter for koi ponds in the same format as the EA one running off hozelock connections. I used to run a 30" DI one followed by a 30" carbon and this worked quite well for a while till my source water went really bad - maybe worth a bit of research??
http://www.ionicsystems.com/english/index.html