Buying a house for my reef tank

Discussion in 'Water Chemistry' started by Kadoogen, Sep 3, 2014.

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  1. Kadoogen

    Kadoogen Flamingo Tongue

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    Sooo I am very excited to say I am in the process of buying my very 1st house. I have been renting and I'm ready to make the jump. I am making 100% sure my new house is reef friendly. My question.

    The house we choose has well water and the owners before us had lots of junk cars on the property. I think they might adversely effect the well water. What should I test for to make sure its safe for the people and the fish? I do have a 5 stage RODI unit I will be taking along but I want to make sure nothing crazy will be in the water ie: mercury , lead, benzine, hydro carbons, gas etc. This is a experienced homeowners questions and a reef question wrapped into one and I trust you guys will probably have the answer!
     
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  3. Billme

    Billme Eyelash Blennie

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    Somebody shine the Arizona Desert Rat signal.
     
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  4. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    So true. :lol:

    @Kadoogen - we have a resident expert on this. Stay tuned.
     
  5. Kadoogen

    Kadoogen Flamingo Tongue

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    I had a gut feeling someone would know here!
     
  6. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    I sent him a PM. He is usually pretty quick.
    (Others feel free to join in.)

    matt
     
  7. Kadoogen

    Kadoogen Flamingo Tongue

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    I will add while I wait. The previous owner had a hobby of fixing cars and at the time he left there were several dozen old cars around the property and 2 full barrels of what I assume is some mix of gas,oil, coolant and other nasty VOCs. I am worried some have leaked down into the ground and asked for a writer on my contact that if the well water is poison I would not buy the property.I live in FL so all our water is from the local aquifers. Everything else about the house and property is great for me. Have a great spot picked out so I can put in a 300ish gallon tank with an adjacent room that can be a dedicated fish room. I am excited but would not want the hassle of dealing with toxic water for the next 20 years or so.
     
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  9. mdbostwick

    mdbostwick Vlamingii Tang

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    i am no expert like the desert rat, but i am under the understanding that most contaminants won't leak down that far. And your RODI should pull 99.98% or whatever the % of impurities out of the water. I have well water and it is actually cleaner than the residential water when looking at TDS.

    However, i would still wait for AZ to address your situation. ;)
     
  10. Ballgame

    Ballgame Millepora

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    If you need help on the mortgage let me know. I'm in the mortgage industry. I help friends out all the time. I don't sell mortgages so I'm not looking to make money. Just a friendly offer from a reefer. There are lots of "junk" cost lenders can change you. I saved a buddy $500 last time by him just asking what some fees were. Let me know.
    I just try to help people with the industry I'm in. Mortgages can be complicated.
     
  11. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    @Kadoogen - I did a search on the site and found some information for you with threads azdesertrat is on...
    http://www.3reef.com/threads/well-water-cycle.153704/
    http://www.3reef.com/threads/coralife-ro-which-water-to-use.149523

    You might want to ask Saltyclown as well:
    http://www.3reef.com/threads/the-3reef-tip-win-contest.154523/page-5#post-1558326

    There are many more too.
    I discovered something about this search with the new site... with searches that are more than one word, use quotes - I found a lot by searching for "well water" - FYI.

    Hope this helps.. I realize that these are not exactly specific to your question regarding contamination, but there might be some useful information all the same.

    matt
     
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  12. SaltyClown

    SaltyClown Sea Dragon

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    It really depends on where you live if you can use well water without an RO or RO/DI unit.

    I live in Wisconsin, within a mile of Lake Michigan. I have water a softener in my house because my well water is heavy with iron. I also use a RO unit for drinking, I used to use it for my tank, but what I do now is travel 8 to 12 mile inland to my old house in the country once or twice a month, to collect it's well water for my 75 gallon mixed reef.

    I use to live in the country in an old farmhouse. The house has well water that is heavy with lime. That house has a water softener too, taking out the iron. In that house I had a mixed nano reef that was amazing with growth. So my tank right now is using that well water and the growth and health of the corals is great. Much like my 10 gal nano from the old farmhouse.
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2014
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