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RE: IRON
A little note on the iron problem. When your water comes from a ground
water source (i.e., well water) one needs to remember that conditions in the
subsurface are different than when exposed to freely exchanging air. For
starters, the distribution of gases in subsurface water is different with a
much higher percentage of carbon dioxide. This means that many metals are
in higher concentration in groundwater than surface water basically because
they are more soluble in carbonated water than less carbonated water. For
proof of this statement one only has to look at where stalagtites and
stalagmites form in a cave. This is the point where carbon dioxide
equilibrium shifts markedly. A highly mineralized solution is suddenly
exposed to an atmosphere exchanging with "outside air" low in carbon
dioxide. Carbonate equilibrium shifts to produces dissolved carbon dioxide
which readily dissipates from solution. The solution high in metal ions is
now less capable of carrying that concentration without the presence of
carbonate and the metal salts precipitate from solution forming the
stalagtites.
Secondly, the oxidation-reduction chemistry of iron is impacted by the
presence of enhanced levels of oxygen in surface water that was formerly
ground water. Iron in most groundwater is the reduced form, ferrous ion.
Exposure to the air despite the limited solubility of oxygen in surface
water is still high enough to cause the oxidation of that ferrous ion to
ferric ion. However, the hydrated ion, ferric hexahydrate [Fe(H2O)6 3+]
does not form a ready solid precipitate like many other metal hexahydrates
but rather a colloidal mass. Eventually the ferric salt that forms will
form a solid deposit as the waters of hydration are lost, that scale that is
hard to remove. It is also noteworthy that ferrous oxidation in water is
kinetically a slow process so that even crystal clear well water will slowly
precipitate iron.
Dave Koran
-----Original Message-----
From: Catherine Carney [mailto:schmidtcarney at ecr_net]
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 7:16 AM
To: killietalk at aka_org
Subject: Re: IRON
Hi Jim--
Sounds like you have the same well that I do....
I run the water from my well (with all the calcium carbonate, iron,
magnesium sulfate and other fun stuff included) into the tanks, bypassing
the softener. I don't have an orange (rust) buildup anywhere, although I do
have lime deposits like you wouldn't believe, and the plants grow great.
If I were raising soft water killies I would probably cut the hardness with
RO or rainwater, though--but Fundulopanchax, Aplocheilus lineatus,
Pachypanchax omolonotus, and Rivulus seem fine just like it is. Oh, and
sailfin mollies love it.
All the best.
Catherine
-10 today in snowy Ohio
----- Original Message -----
From: "james graham" <busterg at voyager_net>
To: <killietalk at aka_org>
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 9:47 AM
Subject: IRON
I've got .5 ppm iron in my well water. After I lived here for a while all my
sinks,tubs, toilets and such were turning orange so I had an iron removal
system put in which consists of a two tank set up, one is an aeration tank
and the other has some sort of layered mineral bed that gets back flushed
every three days, works great. I didn't have fish until a while after I had
the iron removal set-up and I am thinking of bypassing the iron gizmo for
fish water but don't know if I do will I get orange deposits in my
aquariums? The other thing I was pondering was if the iron would be good for
plants or if it's not necessarily in a form they could utilize??
Jim Graham
KVKGG*
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