Well Water?

[sco999]

I am starting a 38 gallon reef tank with a 29gallon sump/fuge, 70 lbs of LR and a 4in LS bed in fuge. I have well water and had it tested at LFS. PH=7.6 , trace phospahtes, no nitrites, no nitrates. Another LFS did a test on hardness and alkalinity but I don't trust there test's(hole in the wall store). There readings were alkalinity=120ppm, hardness=120ppm. Is there anything else I should test for before starting up reef? I don't want to get a RO unit if my water is fine. Would a local water supply company like culligan be able to test my water for everything?

 

[dburr]

Yes test for everything. You may have high iron or magnesium or what ever. An RO/DI will be the building block of a reef. Or maybe a DI unit for the time being. They are cheaper and have no waste water.

 

[mwbilous]

I live in the country and we have hard water out here, purified water is so cheap, do you really think its worth the risk

 

[paulcoates]

go buy Distilled Water at Walmart...58 cents per gallon by me

 

[bseth90]

I have community well water...culligan will test it for you thinking they'll make a sale. My water works fine...its high in iron and calcium, but no problems. 90 gallon reef

 

[mwbilous]

i've never even bothered to test the water out here.....i just think for about $2 for 4 gals its not worth it

 

[orucco]

I am on a 425' well and use Red Sea salt. I use a RO/DI filter and before I mix in salt it has a ph of about 7. Once it is mixed it is 8.1 - 8.3. If I just use the pure well water after mixing it is about 8.8. My TDS for the well water is 146 and after the RO/DI it is 0.