Water

[Christopher Brickey]

 I am wanting to solicit opinions about what kind of water to use in an aquaponics system and also how to go about getting that water. Also, it seems that I have to fill the water back up an awful lot, is that normal?

[Michael Welber]

Hey Christopher. You and I are on the same wavelength. I have the good fortune in having a cistern so I filled my tank with rain water, which has the right pH. However, I am finding that I have to refill the fish tank quite often. I am attributing it to evaporation in the sun. Are your beds in the sun also? 

[Sheri Schmeckpeper]

Christopher, we live in the AZ desert, so we're pretty much experts in refilling systems due to evaporation. :)  Evaporation always takes place, but low humidity and wind will increase it. We keep a 55 gal drum water ready at all times. Our water is extremely hard and high in PH, so we add a about 3 Tbsp of muriatic acid to the drum when we fill it. That brings the water down from 8.3 to 6.8. Sitting out, the chlorine dissipates quickly. 

The one thing about evaporation--if you have hard water, the minerals will build up, so occasionally you need to do a water change to lower the hardness.

[TCLynx]

The amount of water that needs to be topped up will be affected by temperatures and relative humidity as well as the plants being grown.  Some plants transpire a huge amount of water, you can even see tomato plants dripping water out of their leaves.  And then there are more mundane causes of lost water, like splashing water out or leaking water out and towers can tend to drip water out if you are not careful.

[rick kennerly]

what options do you have available to you?  Well water, tap water. Perrier? 

[Sheri Schmeckpeper]

It depends on where you live, but city water and well water are usually fine. R/O water removes trace minerals, so you may have issues with that. Perrier is a bit costly unless you have a relative in the higher levels of the company. If you're willing to drink it, it should be fine for your system.Regardless, you want to make certain the PH is good for the plants.

[rick kennerly]

Water is not water.  I just tested my well.  While no fecal coliform, it did have 1.34 ppm for dissolived iron where the state limit for drinking water is 0.3 ppm max and pH of 7.47.  I'm still trying to work out what that much iron means for fish, but I think it's not good.

Attaching a chlorine filter from a city supply might give considerably better --more balanced-- water. 

[Christopher Brickey]

 No mine is in a basement. I use T5 fluorescents.

Michael Welber said:

Hey Christopher. You and I are on the same wavelength. I have the good fortune in having a cistern so I filled my tank with rain water, which has the right pH. However, I am finding that I have to refill the fish tank quite often. I am attributing it to evaporation in the sun. Are your beds in the sun also? 

[Christopher Brickey]

 lol, Perrier. I have been going to the store and filling up jugs from the machine. it has reverse osmosis, carbon filter, UV light, etc. but it obviously costs money. So I am wondering if it is worth getting a system or rain water or tap water...?

rick kennerly said:

what options do you have available to you?  Well water, tap water. Perrier? 

[Christopher Brickey]

 I try to only drink bottled or R/O water. I do not even like to drink tap water from a regular filter.

Sheri Schmeckpeper said:

It depends on where you live, but city water and well water are usually fine. R/O water removes trace minerals, so you may have issues with that. Perrier is a bit costly unless you have a relative in the higher levels of the company. If you're willing to drink it, it should be fine for your system.Regardless, you want to make certain the PH is good for the plants.

[Michael Welber]

I hope you put that R/O water into a reusable bottle, such as a metal one. I hope everyone stops using plastic water bottles. 

[rick kennerly]

There are lots of uv treatment systems available for drinking water.  We came out of the small boat cruising community and you could never be sure about the water in the Caribbean...or your own tanks, for that matter.   A lot had RO systems, too, but began to rely on them too much and reduce tankage, which seems short sighted (we had a hand powered RO for the liferaft, though).  

Anyway, my point is that if you're catching water in a cistern, then battery powered UV systems for the boat/rv markets (in reality just a special florescent light) give dual duty, since you can power water purification during an emergency.  

Of course, put it in the right place in your system, since aquaponics is a highly biological dependent system.   

[Christopher Brickey]

 I do not like plastic either, but come on my whole aquaponics system is plastic (the vermiculture one too, for that matter). Is it all right to use metal for water? I have my reservations about that. r there other options?

Michael Welber said:

I hope you put that R/O water into a reusable bottle, such as a metal one. I hope everyone stops using plastic water bottles.