Rodi Water

craig shipley

New Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Location
cambridge
hey all,
i brought a rodi unit and my alk from my tap water went from 14 to 0. now i sit with my tank bringing the ro water into it. i was thinking doing just top offs with my ato for next week or two to slowly lower alk and such before doing a large water change. any thoughts, suggestions or ideas would be welcome please.

thank you,
craig
 

EricTMah

Aquariums by Design
Joined
Mar 2, 2014
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
Website
www.aquariumsbydesign.ca
Use soda ash to buffer the ro water.
If you're topping up with straight ro water and not using anything to keep your Alk up, then you will see a quick decline in your Alk levels. Which will throw your ballance of Alk CA and mag off.

Sony Xperia Z3
 

shamous113

Active Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2015
Location
Stratford
Use soda ash to buffer the ro water.
If you're topping up with straight ro water and not using anything to keep your Alk up, then you will see a quick decline in your Alk levels. Which will throw your ballance of Alk CA and mag off.

Sony Xperia Z3
I'm curious why you would add alkalinity in top off water, none is removed by evaporation, so why should replacement have it? I understand that you want to replace what is consumed by the tank but don't you run the risk of over shooting the alk and throwing every thing else off by adding it to the top off water?
 

EricTMah

Aquariums by Design
Joined
Mar 2, 2014
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
Website
www.aquariumsbydesign.ca
I'm curious why you would add alkalinity in top off water, none is removed by evaporation, so why should replacement have it? I understand that you want to replace what is consumed by the tank but don't you run the risk of over shooting the alk and throwing every thing else off by adding it to the top off water?
In the op's case. I would highly recommend buffering the ato water. Since he is coming from
Treated tap water. The sudden change in the Alk level in the ato water will greatly disrupt the ballance of his system. With him already used to his dosing regiment with high Alk in ato.
Switching so abruptly will definitely cause a decline in his Alk on the system.

My recommendation is(if original ato water was 14dkh) to buffer the ro water to about 10-12 dkh for two to three weeks while he can test and dial in the dosing required to keep his parameters the same. Then gradually lower the dkh of the ato water by about 1-2 points. This will allow him to test and adjust dosing according.

By jumping from a ato water source of 14 down to zero right away will cause a big headache in trying to level out parameters in his system.

Sony Xperia Z3
 

Nonuser

Distinguished Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2015
Location
Brantford
Would not most have the same issues with treated water , Doesn't every city treat their water ?
 

EricTMah

Aquariums by Design
Joined
Mar 2, 2014
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
Website
www.aquariumsbydesign.ca
Would not most have the same issues with treated water , Doesn't every city treat their water ?
Don't understand what you're asking.

Yes every city is different. But he's using city water that already has high Alk. Switch to water with none will most definitely cause a drop in Alk in his system if dosing was not adjusted to compensate.

The reason I say to buffer is to allow craig to have a slower decline in the Alk and allow time for him to test and adjust dosing accordingly

Sony Xperia Z3
 

shamous113

Active Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2015
Location
Stratford
In the op's case. I would highly recommend buffering the ato water. Since he is coming from
Treated tap water. The sudden change in the Alk level in the ato water will greatly disrupt the ballance of his system. With him already used to his dosing regiment with high Alk in ato.
Switching so abruptly will definitely cause a decline in his Alk on the system.

My recommendation is(if original ato water was 14dkh) to buffer the ro water to about 10-12 dkh for two to three weeks while he can test and dial in the dosing required to keep his parameters the same. Then gradually lower the dkh of the ato water by about 1-2 points. This will allow him to test and adjust dosing according.

By jumping from a ato water source of 14 down to zero right away will cause a big headache in trying to level out parameters in his system.

Sony Xperia Z3
Makes sense, I didn't think of it that way. thanks for the explanation.
 

Nighthawk26

Active Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2015
Location
Waterloo
I was confused at first with Erics post as it sounded like he was saying to buffer ATO water in general, but I think this is specific to the case Eric is addressing with Craig specifically. It does raise the point for others I suppose to know what your alk is if you are making changes. Once Craig better acclimates his now 0 Alk and adjust his dosing to compensate for the inevitable 0 Alk, he would no longer treat the ATO water.
 

EricTMah

Aquariums by Design
Joined
Mar 2, 2014
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
Website
www.aquariumsbydesign.ca
I was confused at first with Erics post as it sounded like he was saying to buffer ATO water in general, but I think this is specific to the case Eric is addressing with Craig specifically. It does raise the point for others I suppose to know what your alk is if you are making changes. Once Craig better acclimates his now 0 Alk and adjust his dosing to compensate for the inevitable 0 Alk, he would no longer treat the ATO water.
Winner winner chicken dinner!

Sony Xperia Z3
 
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