How high is too high?

[jackcarp]

I have a friend who lives in a nearby town who is just setting up a new 75 gallon reef tank and is asking me lots of questions about water parameters. The towns water supply comes from an artesian well and has no chlorine or chloramines added to it. I tested the water and this is what I got:

Calcium- over 500- I estimate at about 550
Magnesium- 1600
Alkalinity- 5.0 meq/L (14 dKH)
pH-8.21

What do you think? Too high or should I consider trucking water from his house to my tank? :-)

[outssider]

put that water through a ro/di unit. You can't use it out of the tap, if that's what your thinking. what is the tds of the water ??? it's got to be super high. If he's got all that coming out of the tap, God knows what other nasty stuff is in there you can't test for.

[jackcarp]

put that water through a ro/di unit. You can't use it out of the tap, if that's what your thinking. what is the tds of the water ??? it's got to be super high. If he's got all that coming out of the tap, God knows what other nasty stuff is in there you can't test for.

I agree that he probably has other stuff in his water that we haven't tested, however he has kept a 55 gallon for years that he has just used the tap water and has done very few water changes. I just kind of laughed at him and told him and said it was just a matter of time before his tank crashed. After testing his water I'm not so sure who is right. If the alkalinity and calcium stay that high in his water after going through an ro/di system will it be bad? How high is too high?

[stk731]

at least he wont have to dose

[bertoni]

Those numbers can't be after a working RO/DI system. I'd look elsewhere for water, but it probably is safe to use, at least until the town decides to add some sort of anti-corrosive or other ingredient.

[Timfish]

You should be able to get a water analysis if it's a municipal water supply. Personally I'd use as is. You could use ammo detox or prime if you wanted to be extra safe. This system has been using tapwater for 6 years now that comes from a local reservoir and is treated with chloramines. Ammo detox is used to neutralize it.

http://youtu.be/-eCQSVdqBQA

[outssider]

ok...something is just not making sense here !

If you take tape water that already has over 500 ppm calcium and a dkh of 14 then add to this water (without going through ro/di ) our salt mix (pick one) you must have precipitation as soon as you try to mix in the salt mix with this water .....