Effects of hot water through an RO unit?

["Kelly Beard" <kellydeanbeard at hotmail_com>]

(This is a freshwater application with a technical question involving an 
RO
unit)

I want to tell you about an experience I just had (like an hour ago).  
Last
night I had run my RO unit for today's water change.  I use the RO unit 
to
make clean, soft water for the SA dwarf cichlids and Tetras.  I 
reconstitute
with baking soda and Recon 50.  I shoot for 4dKH and 3dGH.  Last night I 
had
noticed that hot water was going through the unit (there's another story
behind that that I won't bother you with).  I quickly turned it off and
turned on the cold water instead.  I noticed that the water was coming 
out a
little more quickly than before with the hot water.

This afternoon I emptied 20 gallons out of my 75 gallon and then 
proceeded
to change with water made last night.  After the water was in, I noticed
that some of the tetras started heading for the surface.  My tetra
collection consists of neons, pristellas, and rummy noses.  All were 
showing
some effects of stress.  I looked at the pH to make sure it wasn't out 
of
wack (this is a planted tank that uses CO2 injection).  Everything was 
OK,
or so I thought.

Things started to get a little worse.  The tetras acted worse, and the
various catfishes I had (otos and corys) made repeated trips to the 
surface
to get gulps of air.  The American Flag fish I had were showing signs of
respiratory stress as was one of my A. borellii.  A false SAE was 
showing
the same stress.

In a slight-panic, I immediately put in the recommened amount of 
Seachem's
Prime, turned on an airstone and did some tests for ammonia (which was
fine).  I don't have a test kit for clorine.  To make a long story
short(er), things settled down nicely.  I lost 3 neons  :-(.  The 
pristellas
and rummy noses seemed to make a recovery, although they still look a 
little
"spooked".  The cichlids seem largely uneffected.  We'll see what 
happens by
tomorrow.

I guess my question is - could the hot water have done something to the
carbon to make it pass the clorine through and even flush some of it 
out?

I'd appreciate ANY thoughts you might have.  Thanks for reading.


Kelly Beard, Team Allanti, Cat IV (on sabbatical)
President, Allanti Cycling Club
Innovative Computing Corporation

Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

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