Using borehole water

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Hi guys, my parents farm not far from Kimberley and the water they have constantly clog their waterpipes with calcium. Do you guys think it would be worth it testing the water for purity eg nitrites, nitrates, phosphates etc as well as PH and calcium? If usable, would it still be necessary to run through a RO unit? Anything else you guys think I must also look for?
 
Have to RO it, unless the borehole water had a TDS of zero, which I would think is highly unlikely.
 
Hi MtroBoer -

It would sure be very interesting for us too, if you can do this/have this done!
You should be able to just run the water through a particle filter, no a full-on RO filter........

The important things to check for/test, but not limited to, are:
- phosphates
- copper
- nitrates
- ammonia
- silicates
- nitrites
- TDS

Perhaps some other folks can add to this list?
 
This has been tickling me for quite a while now, will fetch some water if I go visit them over the weekend. What first got me thinking was the obvious high calcium content, I dont want to completely stop dosing kalk, but it would sure be interesting. I also feel that if there's nothing wrong with the water for example high copper or phosphate content, I would rather use this in future than our city's water wich come from the very polluted Vaalriver.
 
I use borehole water :013:

I tested the TDS a few years back when I started running my fresh water set-up on it. It was like 7 or something....

I also ran a few zoa's on the borehole water to see if there are any toxins in...they grew fine.

So now all my top-ups and saltmixes are done with borehole water.

It does have some nutients since I get algae, but my algae grazers keep them in check :whistling:
 
My only concern is that it's in a heavily irrigated area, and I'm not so sure if there is any seepage of agricultural toxins from fertilization and insect control into the water...
 
My only concern is that it's in a heavily irrigated area, and I'm not so sure if there is any seepage of agricultural toxins from fertilization and insect control into the water...

Ouch, probably loads of sulphates
 
It depends on where in the water table your water comes from. If the borehole is in a strong under current as I think mine is you should be fine. But if it is from water seapage hitting a rock bottom and them forming a water column it can be contaminated with all sorts of stuff... Test test test ;)
 
It depends on where in the water table your water comes from. If the borehole is in a strong under current as I think mine is you should be fine. But if it is from water seapage hitting a rock bottom and them forming a water column it can be contaminated with all sorts of stuff... Test test test ;)

The borehole is able to sustainably feed a medium sized pivot without worries of running it dry, also got good underground waterpressure so I doubt it would be from a source dependant on seepage.:thumbup:
 
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