Problems after switching to well water

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blackflme

blackflme

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I would get a hardness test and see if you need a water softener in the first place. If you have hard water it will wreak havoc on Fridge water/ice maker, Dishwasher, washing machine, etc over time. Hard water will also leave hard water stains and spots on EVERYTHING!! That's what did it for us (pre-tank setup) the wife was going crazy so I bit the bullet and had a Kinetico installed.

I use the Inline TDS meter on my RO/DI unit. It reads before membrane, after membrane, before Di, after Di.
I know they are not super accurate but it's a reading nonetheless and good baseline to use for changing out cartriges.
I'll look into it. Surprisingly this water doesn't seem like the other houses I've lived in with well water and a softener. No crazy stains and our washing machine is super old so its held on for a long time haha.
 

josephxsxn

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I'll look into it. Surprisingly this water doesn't seem like the other houses I've lived in with well water and a softener. No crazy stains and our washing machine is super old so its held on for a long time haha.

Are you running a carbon block on your RO system? Just imagining if there are things not removed by the membrane perhaps carbon would suck it up.
 

vetteguy53081

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In December I moved to a new house with well water. Corals were happy until I started doing water changes. I use a 4 stage rodi system. My corals were roughly 3-4years old and all of them have died or been closed up and nothing i do has changed that. The only thing that has changed is my water source. I took an ICP test and everything came back good except for 200ppm silicon.

Has anyone had this experience before? The problem must be the water but idk how. My mushroom is about gone, zoas have been closed for a long time, and my GSP which was doing amazing has died. The tank had 2 clowns and a shrimp and one clown also died and the other isn't doing well. I think it has a parasite. Im lost and looking for some kind of answers.
I have well and have a whole house filter, Water softener and then RODI unit.
On zoas and shrooms, Zoas must have iodide, not iodine in their water and under moderate light and water flow. They seem to do best in the lower half to third of the tank in an area of low-medium to medium-high flow. Too much flow may make it hard for the polyps to open. You will know your zoanthids are ‘happy’ if they open up and are fully extended without seeming to stretch so far upright.. The majority of zoanthids have symbiotic photosynthetic zooxanthellae (I dare you to try and say that three times quickly) and are therefore best kept with at least moderate aquarium lighting as mentioned for production of zooxanthele.
Zoanthids require the standard water parameters that are good for keeping just about any of your corals healthy. You’re aiming for water temperature about 78 F, salinity somewhere around 1.025 specific gravity) and normal hardness 8-11 dKH) and a pH around 8.1-8.3.
However, if your polyps were previously open and have recently closed up, this should be taken as a serious sign of a water parameters issue. The first things I would check are ph and salinity. In my experience, zoas will close up if there are swings in salinity.
One disease that seems to disproportionately impacts these corals is something called zoa pox or zoanthid pox. Zoa pox is the name given to the zoanthid disease characterized by tiny growths on the side of the affected zoas. I’m not sure whether the growths/pustules themselves irritate the polyps and cause them to close up, or if the coral is otherwise sickly and closed up (therefore showing the zoa pox), but the bottom line is that if you see zoa pox, you have a sick coral.
Lastly, check for Super tiny spiders or nudibranchs which will take them down in No time. If you see these pests, start looking for eggs which are future pests to cause further problems. Hope this Helps !!!
 

josephxsxn

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Just thinking way outside the box but here in Michigan we have Radon issues. RO will not remove Radon from my knowledge along with a few other things you can Google for. Do you live around farms or any other suspicious things like chem plants?

it will not remove some pesticides, solvents and volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) including:

*Ions and metals such as Chlorine and Radon
*Organic chemicals such as Benzene, Carbon tetrachloride, Dichlorobenzene, Toluene and *Trihalomethanes (THMs)*
*Pesticides such as 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, 2,4-D and Atrazine.

 

SteveMM62Reef

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My Numbers dropped when I added a RO/DI Booster Pump. If you add a Booster Pump, make sure you add a RO/DI strainer before the pump, the little pumps don’t like sand. How deep is your well? Hand dug wells here are no longer legal, must have a bored deep well.
 

jsker

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Some good information here.
 

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