Would there be a market for RO water for use in OWBs

I'm going to start using it in my hardy since they recommend non chlorine and hard well water leaves build up. Once our wash reservoirs are refilled, we discharge 1000s of gallons down the drain while processing sap. I wondered if there is a revenue stream there. Im sure it's a local thing , but could there be a market for it in use with other OWBs?

 

I would think so, but in reality most ppl probably don't even think of the implications of using city/well water.
Well water being the worst of the 2 usually. But I've seen pretty hard city water too and cloramine is nasty stuff.

 

I've been using rain water, but this time of year my barrels get frozen. I'll use a little well water as make up water but drain and start with all rain water in the fall. Having access to this OR stuff is nice.

 

You can buy a decent RO filter for not much money. I have one for my tropical saltwater reef tank, and it's almost used for our drinking water.

 

Hello fellow hoarder and reef keeper! I’m in full agreement.

Even a $100 or so RO unit will be cheaper than hauling anything around or even the gas to deliver and hook up a unit locally honestly.

Horkn what sort of reef(s) do you maintain? I’ve got a 66 gallon coral/frag tank, waiting on my new aquaria to arrive.

 

Ahhh, there's another here.. You've got a nice collection of sps, acans, torch, etc in your tank.

I currently have a 60g cube, just going lps and softies, a bubble tip anemone, and just a few fish. 2 clown fish, a bristletooth tomini tang, and a bangghai cardinal. I've got a thread here on FHC somewhere. Search 60g cube and you should find it. I should probably upstate the thread.

I've had reef tanks for 30 yrs. I still have my 200g in the basement, with a 40g frag tank and a 75g sump. There's just live rock in that though now. I'm taking that down though, as a reef tank on the basement wasn't a great idea.

 

I'm not thinking there's much market in this. At least around here, there aren't really that many people needing to fill OWBs. At all. And you should still do water treatment for corrosion prevention purposes regardless, which RO water won't help with. Also don't think RO does anything to PH levels? Which could be another concern (PH). Thinking acidic soils would make for acidic RO water - but that's just a guess.

 

The owner is a chemical engineer and he thinks the RO will help with scale buildup since pure water wants to have minerals in it. My Hardy does get some scale when using well water for make up. I'm taking a sample in for him to test on all the other stuff. He said a home RO would be fine with straight well water but chlorine in city water or treated well water ruins the membrane.

I loaded up a 400 gallon tank to bring home tonight for the stove. Will pull a sample vial before I drain and one after it's full. Then after it runs a few days.

I think he found a buyer for most of his waste water so it's kinda moot at this point.

 

I have thought about a lot actually. Wondered if distilled water would be better than our hard well water for our outdoor wood burner.

 

There's a pre filter that you run before the chlorinated city water through before it goes to the RO membrane. No issues then.

 

Carbon?

 

you have to run a GAC filter or you will destory your RO membrane with the chlorine and I'm not sure if GAC will filter out the chloramine, I think that requires a different filtration medium.
Farmchuck definitely distilled would be better than the well water but depending on how much you need, you probably could buy a RO machine.
A good RO setup can get you to 0 TDS and close to a neutral PH if not completely neutral which is what distilled water is.

PS: I think it's a GAC filter for chlorine, I'm on well water so I can't recall exactly if that is the correct filter but duckduckgo will point you in the right direction..

 

Yeah, activated charcoal. Or have which is granular activated carbon( cha works tiorcoal).
I'm on well water too. CTO works as well too.

 

I put 200 gallons in my boiler for the initial fill and haven't added a drop since. I've sent off 3 samples for testing since, so I might be able to squeeze in a couple quarts. Once the water is in there and treatment is added, I don't see why you'd want to mess with anything.

 

That depends if the system is open or closed. Open systems will lose more water as time goes on.

 

Mine is open.

 

Yes, my thoughts also. Draining then filling will add a whole bunch of new rust promoting oxygen to the mix.