Alk too high with well water and RO unit

[gwilcom]

I'm thinking that someone around here has had or is having the same problem I am so i thought I would reachout and see if someone can assist me. I live in a rural area and have a well. Because the water is hard to begin with I have a water softener. My RO unit pulls water after the softener but the dkh is 11-12 from the RO unit and that's the water I use for water changes and topping off the tank. Should the RO unit remove the remaining hardness and produce water that's less alkaline and in the range that a tank should be of 8 - 11? What can I do about this?

 

[Whitebird1]

Raise your calcium to balance with the alk.
use this http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html
Greg

 

[gwilcom]

Interesting. Does matching the calc to the alk offset the ill effects of high alk?

 

[ken6217]

I think I heard that it is not a good idea to use a water softener with a RO unit. The salt hurts the membrane.
Ken

 

[Whitebird1]

Does matching the calc to the alk offset the ill effects of high alk?

Works for me, my alk always runs high, usually have to raise my cal 20-40 ppm

I think I heard that it is not a good idea to use a water softener with a RO unit. The salt hurts the membrane.

I can not confirm that but I believe that I heard that too, call the filter manufacturer.

 

[gwilcom]

I up'd my calc as suggested to match the alk. I will benchmark my parameters tomorrow in the am and see what is consumed in a 24 hour period so I know what to add via my calc reactor on a daily basis. I checked with Kent today regarding the RO unit being after the water softener and they said it was ok.

 

[Whitebird1]

What did your Alk/Cal balance at and was their any visible affects on the tank, best done in stages and check PH.