At my wit's end with water quality... any suggestions?

[Aquanero]

"The State has determined
that ten of our forty-seven wells have a low to moderate susceptibility
to contamination based on their proximity to the eight potential
sources of contamination that were last evaluated in 2011. For additional
information, please visit the DEP website"

That ^ was an interesting statement. Have you called City of Palm Coast Utility
Representative at 386-986-2360 to talk about what has happened? I wonder what they have to say about it. I realize there responsabilty st to deliver water safe for human consumption not water that's "fish safe" but they should be able to give you some insight as to what the issue might be and what has changed. It is a little odd the 2012 report isn't available. The DEP might have some info as well.

 

[petspoiler]

"The State has determined
that ten of our forty-seven wells have a low to moderate susceptibility
to contamination based on their proximity to the eight potential
sources of contamination ........."

yeah, wonder what kind of contaminates?
I hope you can get useful info from the public water information sources, however, I'm not feeling real confident about the overlapping applicability between human concerns vs yours.
things that are of absolutely NO worry to humans & our treatment plants will wreak mayhem on fish. That's why I suggested knocking on some fish biologists' doors. Just consider that any large public aquarium must use public water. they can't afford to lose everything, so must have Lab testing resources which are truly applicable to your situation. and solutions, as well.

 

[Siddons11]

My water softener used to do this to my water a couple years ago. The water would come out of the faucet all yellow and tasted salty. We had to get a new one and we havent had any problems since.

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[ryansmith83]

"The State has determined
that ten of our forty-seven wells have a low to moderate susceptibility
to contamination based on their proximity to the eight potential
sources of contamination that were last evaluated in 2011. For additional
information, please visit the DEP website"

Yeah, that's not comforting at all.

Have you called City of Palm Coast Utility Representative at 386-986-2360 to talk about what has happened? I wonder what they have to say about it. I realize there responsabilty st to deliver water safe for human consumption not water that's "fish safe" but they should be able to give you some insight as to what the issue might be and what has changed. It is a little odd the 2012 report isn't available. The DEP might have some info as well.

If you call the city they'll tell you discoloration is normal, it's remnants of organic matter from the source water and is within safe levels according to all federal standards, blah blah. Basically the same thing their website FAQ says. I've asked why some days it'll be clean and clear and then the next day it'll be dark yellow, and they tell me they may be flushing the lines in my area with anti-corrosive agents to maintain the water mains. I think it's all a bunch of BS, to be honest.

 

[Bderick67]

I'd wonder first what his ammonia levels are if any. I didnt see him mention ammonia.

Do you know what chloramine is? Prime does not remove it.

 

[dogofwar]

The issue is with your water source (tap water).

I think that you could add a filtration unit for less than you think.

So sorry to hear about this, Ryan!

Matt

Erin Brockovich was actually here a few months ago! There was an issue with well water in Deland, about 30 miles away, and she came to speak at a town hall meeting about the water.

In the meantime, I don't drink my tap water and most people I've spoken to on a local message board just use bottled water for drinking/cooking. Everyone says the water quality is terrible but the city claims it's fine so no one really does anything about it.

 

[wednesday13]

Ryansmith i feel your pain lol...had my house for 3 years now and it seems like during the winter especially i struggle with alot of the same issues your talking about. I have 26 tanks running, all are extremly over filtered and understocked and nitrates are through the roof no matter what i do. I waterchange atleast 3-6 tanks a day so some are getting it almost twice a week or every day sometimes. Cleaning filters and scrubbing sumps is also a daily occurence. I also have golden photos growing outta 80percent of the tanks and have seen no results of using them in 2 months. Plants r growing like weeds and my tanks are always crystal clear but nitrates still stay between 40 and red ur dead lol... ive gone back and forth to using carbon many times over the years with no results, tried prime, seachem stability, amquel, and assorted other gimic nitrate removers and dechlorinators. I have wanted to give up aswell as nitrates make fish "melt". Ive had super healthy established fish of 2-8yrs drop like flies for reasons unknown while other fish in the same tanks seem to live through anything. Doesnt make any sense at all. Hopefully someone can help us hah...im very certain my area puts chemicals in the water to remove algea during the winter, years past its been toxic to drink and had to be boiled for use. This may be our problem, ive suspected and tried everything else aswell. Maybe its time for rodi water? I need 500gal or more a day tho.

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[wednesday13]

Alot of people have water change ponds set up, anyone think there is an advantage of letting your water sit out for a couple days before using it or is some kind of rodi filter necessary for our problems?

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[wednesday13]

Im also thinking automated drips are the only "true" way to keep nitrates down permenatly. May not be out tap water at all. Def. A mess to set up on 26 running tanks tho, especially when they all do not have sumps or can be drilled.

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[ryansmith83]

I have a few people riled up about it on my local neighborhood's forum. I pointed out that our city hasn't posted a 2012 water report and that I can't get answers from calling them. It turns out there's a town hall meeting on the 19th because the city plans to raise our water rates 22%. It's funny, isn't it? They want to charge us more money for poorer quality water. I don't know this for sure but I remember hearing last year that the city was privatizing the water. They'd planned to contract out to a private company to run the treatment plants. If that's true, I wonder how many of these problems are due to cost cutting measures in order to increase their profits?

I really am fed up with this. If the city isn't going to tell me what they're doing, maybe I need to use some funds from my tax return to have the water tested by an independent company. There are a few water labs in the area who are responsible for groundwater/well testing. Do you think this is something that would get me answers or should I not waste the money? I'm not entirely sure what I'd be asking them to check for and most things on a water report are Greek to me...