ok, i really need some help

[dohboy35]

i have a 75 gl, that has been up and running for 3 months, i have a ramora aqua c pro skimmer 4 power heads and about 110lbs of live rock. my test results are:
ph 8.6
ca 650
alk 2.5
no3 <10
sg 1.026
i bought 2 sumatrin's and a pepermint shrip, the shrip died with 10 mins, the fish not long after. after spending some time at the lfs the determination was made that when i first set up my tank i used water from my ro unit, which is fed by my water softner,(after speaking to the ro unit company it removes 88% of the potasium chloride, im lost) and that there is a high content of potasium chloride which is killing the fish. from the initial set up i have only used bought water that all the other hobbist use in the area for my water changes and top off's, is there any thing i can do to fix or filter potasium chloride from the water? or am i stuck with dumping the whole thing and starting over? thanks for any help or advise.

 

[b bauer]

alot of you readings are high,what is your ammonia reading?

 

[nycbob]

ur ph and sg r kinda high. what r u using for substrate? do u hv any corals? r u running a fuge? gv is more info.

 

[geridoc]

Potassium is not your issue - RODI water, assuming that the membrane and DI filters are working, will remove all of the potassium. Get a tds meter to verify the function of your unit. This sounds like another lfs saying whatever it needs to in order to make a dissatisfied customer accept a responsibility that may not be theirs after all.

 

[dohboy35]

im not running a fuge (yet), and no corals, though we plan to have them, the ammonia is at 0. as far as the sg they are saying 26-27 is good for here, i dont know.

 

[b bauer]

how are you acclimating the fish

 

[dohboy35]

the drip method

 

[b bauer]

Originally Posted by GeriDoc
Potassium is not your issue - RODI water, assuming that the membrane and DI filters are working, will remove all of the potassium. Get a tds meter to verify the function of your unit. This sounds like another lfs saying whatever it needs to in order to make a dissatisfied customer accept a responsibility that may not be theirs after all.
i agree was the ro unit new when you bought it?

 

[dohboy35]

ya, the ro unit was bought new and installed in the home, when we bought the house, the ro unit was not bought from a FS. its a residentail unit.

 

[b bauer]

its not a whole house filter is it?

 

[dohboy35]

theres a whole house water softene, and a ro unit, the whole house feeds the ro

 

[b bauer]

is this a 5 or 10 micron filter and a carbon filter?

 

[dohboy35]

i really dont know

 

[saltyshogun]

I would have your home filtered water tested, you may want to bypass the water softner since it is most likely run through salt pelets for "soft water" and test your water "hard" when it is not run through the softner. I had a similar problem at a house with running a softner, and found that the hardwater tested better.

 

[dohboy35]

my hard water test almost toxic for arsenic

 

[b bauer]

imo you have a whole house filter not a ro filter and your filters are in need of change.