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Horrible city water and Reverse Osmosis

TsukikoMythos

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Feb 4, 2013
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I live in a city with water so bad, you could call it notorious. Articles have been written about varying amounts of arsenic and chromium. Also, the PH standard is around 8.8.

I own a reverse osmosis and have heard of the dangers of sapping too many minerals from the water. My question is; should I use city water and add dechlorinators/conditioners or RO and try to find some way to return the minerals?

As this will be a school tank, the city option would be easiest (as I'd be transferring water from home in giant jugs) but I'm more concerned with which is safest.

Tank stats: (not set up yet, but in the works this weekend)
Will be for two juvies (with divider)
29 gallons, 30 inches long, 12 inches wide
Plastic hood with LED lights
Leslie's Pool Supply filter sand substrate
large resin mangrove root hide with ramp for climbing
aquarium grade plastic plants
Live Java moss, banana plant, java fern and water sprite
Submerged corner filter box with charcoal and floss media. Air pump
small cloth bag of gravel from established tank to speed cycle process (to be removed after cycle is complete).
a few cherry shrimp
 

Mark

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Oct 14, 2004
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Bristol
If you go the RO route you will need a commercial re-mineraliser. This would probably be the best way to ensure safe water but will be an enormous hassle, especially in the long term as regular water changes will be required.

I'm not sure if aquarium water conditioners will remove arsenic or chromium but there are brands that claim to remove toxins and heavy metals so its definately worth researching those. An active carbon filter may also help remove dissolved contaminants but I doubt it will touch the chromium.

The high ph is less of a problem for axolotls since they can tolerated quite a broad range. Over time a mature tank will become more acidic so this should balance out nicely.

Not a huge amount of help I'm afraid but I think you should investigate the claims of water conditioners before resorting to lugging tonnes of RO water around.
 
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