Iron in my water makes water yellow

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jpphillips

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Aug 5, 2003
Messages
15
Location
Saukville WI
I have a 75 Gallon tank and am having a problem with Iron.

the water is clear, and my fish are healthy, but I have a yellow tint to the water. I know It's not anything with the tank, because my grandmother has a Well on a hobby farm, and since the pipes are Iron, the water will yellow if left for a few hours.

My problem isn't as bad as this.

I have some 5 gallon jugs that i age my water in, and after 2 days, the water in the jug is yellow.

Does anyone have a successfull method of removing Iron? any help is appreciated.
 
you may want to take a trip to the lfs alot of the time they have RO/DI water that you can buy pretty cheap. Goto you local grocery store you can buy gallons of it there. and last but the cheapest and best plan goto ebay and find a RO water purifier they are around $100 but if you want to keep this tank going it's your cheapest way of doing so. plus it makes really good drinking water!
 
TheNewGuy said:
you may want to take a trip to the lfs alot of the time they have RO/DI water that you can buy pretty cheap. Goto you local grocery store you can buy gallons of it there. and last but the cheapest and best plan goto ebay and find a RO water purifier they are around $100 but if you want to keep this tank going it's your cheapest way of doing so. plus it makes really good drinking water!

I'm not a fan of "buying" water, and as i've said in my first post, my fish are healthy, I havn't had any die on me in 4 months, I just have alot of iron.

I got the tank for free, and I have a fairly tight budget ($100 is groceries for me and my cats) and was hoping I could get away with something like a brita filter that could attatch to a waterbed filler.

I have taken a look at some Reverse Osmosis filters, and none of them (that i've seen, at least) remove iron. if anyone can prove me wrong, I'd be gratefull. (would help if they were less than $50) I suppose I could save up and splurge, but I would have to be sure it removes Iron.

Thanks again.
 
RO filters remove everything from what I know. That's why you have to add products like equalibrium to get the trace elements back into the water for the fish.

as far as getting the tinge out of the water you may also want to try planting your tank with a plant that needs lots of iron
 
Hi there,
Your iron problem can be solved by a product called Polyfilter by underwaterworld. The only thing is can you get it where you live, here in the UK it has been out quite a while and is very popular. Cost wise it retails over here for £13.95 ish.
It works on the same princible as carbon, it removes unwanted eliments from you water. The good thing about this product is that it changes colour depending on what it take out of the water, for instance it turns Orange if it removes Iron. The product last about 3 months and then it has to be replaced.
If this product is not available where you live, let me know.
 
Have you already tried activated carbon

I was going to suggest the same thing. Activated carbon will remove iron from the water and get rid of the yellowish color of the water as well. Can you put carbon in your filter? That would be your cheapest solution.

Don't buy that Britta stuff. The ones that attach to the faucet are a simple sponge pre-filter and then an activated carbon bed underneath. This would accomplish the same thing an aquarium filter would do with activated carbon inside of it but with a much lower GPH rate.
 
Well, I have 4 filtration cards in my filter (A penguin emperor filter system) and they've been in there for a while, so I can try replacing them.

Unfortunetaly, none of the local stores sell refillable carbon packs for my filter, and I have to buy the toss away type.

I do have some reusable bags and a box of activated carbon from a old 55 gallon filter that broke, could I just place a bag in the filter area, or does it need to be a snug fit?
 
I would either replace those filtration cards that contain new carbon, or simple use a Bio-bag and put the carbon in that and place it in the filter. Would work just as well.
 
the Filter Cards I have have 4 chambers in them, and are glued to a cardboard backer, so I can't just slit them open.

I just went to the LFS and bought a wisper cartridge. (too big and too wide at the bottom, but i just bowed it and it fits.)
 
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