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PC Regular Poster on IAH

Joined: Feb 24, 2005 Posts: 861 Location: Madras
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:00 am Post subject: Info on Reverse Osmosis plants |
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Couple of questions -
How do they soften the water?
How complex are they to install?
How much do they cost? |
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retro_gk Committed Member of IAH

Joined: Jul 09, 2003 Posts: 3496 Location: Trivandrum, Kerala
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:20 am Post subject: |
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They soften water by forcing it through a very fine membrane, which traps the salts responsible for hardening the water... a drawback is that several times the volume of filtered water is converted to super hard, waste water.
Installation is the same as for a houshold water filtration unit (Eureka Forbes or whatever).
Cost is about $200 (or less) for a 10 Gallon Per Day (GPD) unit. Plus cost of replacement membranes etc. |
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Atanu Regular Poster on IAH

Joined: Feb 17, 2005 Posts: 366 Location: Bangalore
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:35 am Post subject: |
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Plus it will lack all the necessary elements. So water is not good for dirinking in the long run or for growing plants effectively if used directly. You need to mix it up with normal water again so that the plant gets the benificiary nutrients. The ratio of the mix will depend upon the contents of your tap water and you need to figure out yourselves with test kits. |
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rgg Committed Member of IAH

Joined: May 02, 2006 Posts: 1742 Location: Bangalore
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:48 am Post subject: |
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The only cheap option to culture good water from permamanent hard water is to boil the water remove the permanent hardness in water, I would use this if and only if i have no other go but to use the permanent hard water.
Then aireate the water for close to 3 days with open lid and then use it. Also using a filter which has the sponge which is used in the main tank also helps, May be i would think of alternating this between my main tank and my storage tank.
Note that temparary hardness can be removed by chemicals. but to remove the permanent hardness, I would preder this cheap method.
-Raghu |
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sandeepraghuvanshi Moderator

Joined: Aug 19, 2005 Posts: 4895 Location: Mathura, UP
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:26 am Post subject: |
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Hi
This is my two bit
RO water is not considered good for aquariums due to two main reasons
(1) It does not have minerals of any kind and palnts etc. will not have anything to absorb.
(2) Because it does not have minerals of any kind this water has no buffering capacity. In pure distilled water when a small amount of acid is added the ph changes. Even a .1 swing in ph is dangerous as the ph scale is logrthramic in nature. In ordinary water there are some minerals and they nutrelise the acid added and ph does not swing. This is known as buffering capacity of water.
This is why if RO units are used it is suggsted to add some normal water to give some minerals & have some buffering capacity in water. |
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PC Regular Poster on IAH

Joined: Feb 24, 2005 Posts: 861 Location: Madras
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:01 pm Post subject: |
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Quote:
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RO water is not considered good for aquariums
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Ooops! I thought they softened the water. So in a place like Madras where what ever little water we get is hard, whats the best way to soften the water? |
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sandeepraghuvanshi Moderator

Joined: Aug 19, 2005 Posts: 4895 Location: Mathura, UP
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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PC wrote:
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Ooops! I thought they softened the water. So in a place like Madras where what ever little water we get is hard, whats the best way to soften the water?
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Why do you soften water?
Kindly note that if you fiddle with your source water, at every water change you will have to match the water parameters.
If you can elobrate on the intended use of water, i am sure we have lots of folks from chennai who can help |
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PC Regular Poster on IAH

Joined: Feb 24, 2005 Posts: 861 Location: Madras
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:09 pm Post subject: |
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Quote:
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Why do you soften water?
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To encourage my Puntius to breed... The rosy barbs are doing it but they are tank bred anyway but i hope to get a few wild caught ones this weekend, they maynot be so forgiving. |
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psimhan Committed Member of IAH

Joined: Jan 06, 2006 Posts: 2053 Location: Bangalore
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:26 pm Post subject: |
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Quote:
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Why do you soften water?
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RO/DI water is generally the norm nowadays in reef keeping. From a marine point of view, RO/DI water is used so that there are no nitrates, phosphates and silicates introduced into the tank, which prevents algae growth.
Of course the minerals present in the water are removed but then we add salt and trace elements which again ups the pH.
The sandbed also acts as a pH buffer which is again good for a marine tank.
I am not completely sure on this but for places which have absurdly high TDS levels *cough*Chennai *cough* , it could be a good idea to mix RO water with tap water to bring down the levels.
It still is more work though. Like Sandeep said you will have to match parameters everytime.
But then again you could be the next Tim Dooling.
Edit : forgot to add that Kent RO is in India. Supposedly one of the best RO systems around. Check their website www.kent.co.in for details and prices. |
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sandeepraghuvanshi Moderator

Joined: Aug 19, 2005 Posts: 4895 Location: Mathura, UP
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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PC wrote:
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To encourage my Puntius to breed... The rosy barbs are doing it but they are tank bred anyway but i hope to get a few wild caught ones this weekend, they maynot be so forgiving.
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I think peat moss is also used to soften water. Although I have never used it, check it with others |
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