Automatic water changes and peat filtration

[mak]

Hello everyone...

I'm contemplating building a self-water changing sump in my basement for a spare 55; if it works I'll do the same on my main tank. (Why? My back's getting really tired of hauling 5 gal buckets of RO water... )

My plan is to take a 30 - 55 gal plastic barrel as a filter sump and add a continuous trickle of extra water. It would then have a siphon on the drain; when the water level in the sump gets high enough, the sump drains (mostly!) and the siphon breaks. Voila! Automatic water changes! No moving parts!

So here's my main question - Will continuously running the tank water through a couple of gallons of peat (in the tank filter) allow me to use "regular" water instead of RO? My water is abt pH 8, 10 dH, 10 kH out of the tap (I'd run it through a carbon filter first to get rid of chlorine.) My fish do well with RO, but it's a lot of waste water down the drain. Besides, maybe they'll do better with more frequent water changes...

Any help or insights would be appreciated!

thanks!

mak

 

[aspen]

hi mak. water hardness is an important part of getting your fish to spawn, and also in getting good hatches. do you feel like accepting this?

i like your idea for water changes, and am curious how much water you intend on changing? is there a possibility of mixing r/o and tap in the sump, by using 2 water feeds to the sump, then using the peat?

as for whether your water will soften that much, will depend on how much peat you use, contact time, how much agitation you have and obviously how often you add more peat. i guess it will depend on how often you plan on changing water. ime, peat will soften water, but not as much as some report, with softer water supplies. my supply is gh 8, kh 4, and the water must be severely stained with peat to have much effect.

maybe a simple pump would save your back? i also consider changing water to be the worst part of fish keeping. i don't use buckets anymore, i use a pump from a 90 gal holding tank. i am upgrading to an auto change system for my new planted 90- not so simple though. i am going to use the power of the canister filter to pump out the water from the tank, and also to fill the tank from the reservoir. (maybe 2 reservoirs, 1 r/o, 1 tap, or maybe 1, just mixed the way i want it, not sure about that.) solenoids and float switches will make it all happen.

rick

 

[Randall]

Back Pain

Dear Mak,

With 10KH tap water, you'd have to use an incredible amount of peat to have an impact, due to the water's high buffering capacity. Why don't you simply run your RO water into a holding tank and use a pump or large power head attached to a long hose to do your water changes? If you like, you could even run a filter containing peat in the holding tank, to further soften and acidify the RO water. Just be careful not to overdo it. RO water has a a very low alkalinity level.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn

 

[Neil]

mak,

WELCOM TO THE FORUM

It is a safe bet that more frequent water changes will benefit your fish, but I would almost prefer (slightly) less regular water changes with a higher percentage of RO to a regular drip of tap water with the values that you described. Not that you water is all that bad, but it is not idea either. As Randall explains, virtually no (easily dealt with) amount of peat will heavily impact water with a higher hardness and pH.
I would seriously consider his suggestion of a DIY manual system. That is what I use and it is efficient and gives me control over what percentage of what I want to add during water changes.
Neil