# $$7,000 Water Filter



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

I just bought a $7,000 water purification system. What am I going to have to do to my water to make it plant ready? Will I have to use buffers of some kind? Any help would be sweet! It is worth it
because I didnt pay a fraction of that. My brother works for the company so installation was my only expense


----------



## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

That depends on what type of PURIFICATION system you got. Is it standard RO, or a WATER SOFTENER, or DISTILLER, or DI.

Basically if it is a unit that strips the water of all solilds and impurity's, then you should use some Seachem Equillibrium, or KENT RO right, or the GH booster from greg watson ferts, (what ever it is called now), or simply use calcium and mag.

However if it is a water softener or distiller, you might have to do some other stuff.


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Its this..http://www.greatsouthernwater.com/


----------



## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

Looks like a water softener, not a purification system (RO, etc). Your best bet is to use the hard water before it gets to the system and then dilute with RO if you want softer water. There are plenty of discussions around on different types of water. You've also got a number of folks in Florida on APC (Art? ) that can give you more regional help.


----------



## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Couldn't find too much info other then it uses silver inpregnated activated carbon. This was just a quick browse, I would have to takt a longer closer look, and I have a friend who I could run it by, this is his line of work, unfortunatly he is on vacation this week. Hopefully somebody else here has knowledge of this and speaks up before then.


----------



## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

I didn't read the PDF on the IQ system. It looks to use the same technology my hot tub uses (Silver ion mentioned in first paragraph here).

But based on the second system (GSWT) I think the silver ion setup may be in addition to the salt...


----------



## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

That fresh start pre filter, if not very expensive, looks like a good thing to run for tank filling.
If you were to have a large tank and need to do large water changes weekly, to hook that baby on the end of your hose and fill er up, then add some of the equillibrium, or gh booster and ferts, might be something for me to look into, especially if it is striping the water of TDS while removing harmful chemicals.

Back to your question here, I beleive that you are getting pure water from this, with basically zero TDS, so you will probably need to use the methods mentioned above to get your GH / KH to the desired levels, for me that would be in the 3 to 4 range.

I don't know if system acts like a water softner which replaces certain elements with others, but doesn't really remove the Dissolved solids, so I don't know if you are left with pure water minus the chemicals and solid matter.

I hope somebody else will chime in here, as I am no expert in this and I have heard some sound reasoning, explainations from users of this forum that will give more specific details where mine are more general.


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

No salt in this system, it uses pottasium along with silver ion carbon filtration


----------



## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

Ummm... have you checked what the source of potassium is? I'm betting it's a potassium based salt (like KCl is a salt substitute for sodium based table salt).

Also, the first question in the FAQ talks about water softener systems.


----------



## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

Potassium based water softeners work better for planted tanks than sodium based softeners. But you will still have high TDS unless there is a second stage to remove them. And I doubt there is. Why go to the trouble and expense of ion exchange when you will just remove the ions?


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

It has silver ion super active carbon to remove TDS


----------



## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

orlando,
the silver ion has nothing to do with TDS. It is there solely to kill bacteria in the tank the potassium is in. 

I'll take this statement back if you can link to a diagram of water flow through the system that shows an honest to goodness filter.


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Water flows through a distributer tube to a gravel bed, then through ion exchange resin, hygene bacteriostatic filter media at its end.


----------



## ianmoede (Jan 17, 2005)

I guess the SOLE advantage of a system this expensive is throughput volume. Oi man. I live in austin, where i can guarantee the water is just as hard as yours, and keep my tanks in straight tap with zero issues. What is the reasoning behind getting a system this expensive?


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Its better for your health, cut back on most household chemicals that are no longer needed like most soaps and detergents. Better resale value on your property. Saves you money in the long run if you own a home. The benefits are endless of conditioned water.


----------



## ianmoede (Jan 17, 2005)

Did you read that straight off the brochure? The only one of those that i even marginally believe is the soaps and detergent use. But how much of that do you have to have to justify a 7000 dollar water "treatment" system? Resale value? Seriously? I think that if anything, this will make your aquarium situation even more difficult than if you just used tap.


----------



## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

I would agree with the resale value, and the health value and the soap value, but I don't think it worth $7000 to me, but I can see some reasons a person would do this beyond those 3.
You can get Tax breaks for upgrades to your house and possibly others for what this system does for the environment and other things the local GOV. may give.

Now that it might not be best for the plant tank he keeps is really the reason for this thread, to find out how to get the water back to being suitable.


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

ianmoede said:


> Did you read that straight off the brochure? The only one of those that i even marginally believe is the soaps and detergent use. But how much of that do you have to have to justify a 7000 dollar water "treatment" system? Resale value? Seriously? I think that if anything, this will make your aquarium situation even more difficult than if you just used tap.


First off my aquarium situation is the least of my worries, This system is for use for the whole property. Hard water never hurt anything except your body and plumbing in long term use.
Soft water is not going to hurt anything if you adjust your parameters for the species of plants your trying to grow. So what makes you think its going to be more difficult? Resale value, yes Ive sold many of homes with these types of conditioners where people here actually think about what they drink or put back into the environment. So it does help me when selling property. I think if you know what your doing its not an issue, if you don't then keep reading.


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

goalcreas said:


> I would agree with the resale value, and the health value and the soap value, but I don't think it worth $7000 to me, but I can see some reasons a person would do this beyond those 3.
> You can get Tax breaks for upgrades to your house and possibly others for what this system does for the environment and other things the local GOV. may give.
> 
> Now that it might not be best for the plant tank he keeps is really the reason for this thread, to find out how to get the water back to being suitable.


Thanks goalcreas, that is my angle on this issue, However I do have a simple bypass on this unit
that allows me to use regular hard water or an RO system


----------



## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Well, as long as your system isn't leaving anything bad in the water, and is striping everything away, then I don't wee why you can't use this water and mix about 30% to 50% tap back in thru your bypass.
If it does charge the water or leave some other soaps and salts in it, then you can run a simple RO set up off your bypass and then do the same ratio mix with tap.


----------



## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

> It has silver ion super active carbon to remove TDS


No offense, but this sounds like a PR comment, more than anything.  Ions are a soluble entity, so if you have silver ions, then you will have toxicity because Ag (silver) is a heavy metal. Therefore, 'Ag ion' must be a misnomer. I am curious just what that means.

Orlando, since your brother works for the company, it should be easy to find out just how the system works. If it is an ion exchanger, what ions are being exchanged for what? Tech support folks at the company should be able to answer those questions.

I would be curious to hear what you discover if you do ask.


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

That's what Im looking into now, Im looking for a an RO system with the max amount of flow. Basically
the biggest one I can find. Id like DI water if I can


----------



## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Yep, some of those claims make me think of the ECO-Aqualizer and Rex's site about "Bad Science"
http://www.rexgrigg.com/debunked.htm

Hopefully nothing bad is being done in that system.
Probably harmless to Humans and Homes, but might not be great for Tanks.


----------



## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Bert H said:


> No offense, but this sounds like a PR comment, more than anything.  Ions are a soluble entity, so if you have silver ions, then you will have toxicity because Ag (silver) is a heavy metal. Therefore, 'Ag ion' must be a misnomer. I am curious just what that means.
> 
> Orlando, since your brother works for the company, it should be easy to find out just how the system works. If it is an ion exchanger, what ions are being exchanged for what? Tech support folks at the company should be able to answer those questions.
> 
> I would be curious to hear what you discover if you do ask.


Hi Bert, There is no release of silver in the water its mianly a carbon source. However it does have
pottasium in place of salt.


----------



## ianmoede (Jan 17, 2005)

orlando said:


> Hard water never hurt anything except your body and plumbing in long term use.


Show me how hard water hurts your body. Plumbing, yes, minimally. Body, absolutely, unequivocally not.



orlando said:


> Hi Bert, There is no release of silver in the water its mianly a carbon source. However it does have
> pottasium in place of salt.


This statement makes no chemical sense. Silver is not a source of carbon. Carbon is not a source of silver. The silver is impregnated in the carbon. If you want to see the negative benefits of silver in the aquarium, check out the death of big kahuna by scolley on planted tank. The potassium is not in place of salt. I'm 99% sure that the potassium IS a salt in the form that they give you for ion exchange (Kcl).


----------



## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

Hard water is actually GOOD for you. Calcium and magnesium are good for bones and teeth.


----------



## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Kelley said:


> Hard water is actually GOOD for you. Calcium and magnesium are good for bones and teeth.


If Ca and Mg were the only things in my drinking water I would save a bunch of money monthly on not having to drink bottled water.
However there is a whold slew of other stuff in there that I don't care to put in my body.


----------

