100% Ro?

[Rorie]

Simple question, but strangely cannot find/get straight answer!

Everybody says do not use 100% RO water as it is missing essential minerals that fish need. But there are various salts etc on the market - Kent Discus Essential for example. If i add this to my RO water, does that mean i can add 100% RO water to my aquarium? Or is there still something else missing?

 

[StandbySetting]

Using 100% RO is fine providing you replace the minerals.

 

[CrazyCichlaMomma]

i use RO/DI water for all of the water in my tanks (i drink it myself too). and i keep crushed coral in the substrate for the mineral content. lots of folks tell me i'm wrong, but you can't argue with the results.. other than an ich outbreak that came from an LFS fish that i bought 6 years ago, i've never had any fish diseases in any of my tanks.

 

[Rorie]

Thanks for the replies folks....just the answer i was needing What is DI water?

I was thinking about getting an HMA system to dechlorinate the water i was mixing with RO, but that clearly is not needed now. So i dont need to dechlorinate any water now? Just RO the water, then add my minerals and away we go?

 

[Chris2]

DI = Dionized

Its mostly used in salt water systems where 0 TDS is desirable. After the RO membrane the water is run through another cartridge like the first sediment cartridge except it is filled with a resin that de-ionizes the remaining minerals in the water.

 

[hillmar77]

I'm currently using pretty close to 100 percent RO water. With 50 percent water change on a 90 gallon tank I add about 2 tblspoon of Seachem equilibrium and 4 teaspoon seachem alkaline buffer per water change. Usually brings up my GH/KH close to 4-5 DKH.

 

[Rorie]

I also posted on another forum - a discus specific one - and got some people quite wound up with the prospect of using 100% RO water. But i dont understand what the problem is.

MY TDS was 5 with Ro, then after adding my kent discus essential it went up to 60. Hence why i do not want to have to then add tap water which will make it higher etc.

 

[StandbySetting]

What was their problem with it?

 

[Chris2]

There seems to be a standard internet rumor that it will somehow through off the ionic balance of your fish's body, ending its life slowly.

I have yet to see this in real life, only on the internet and some older books (late 80's).

 

[StandbySetting]

That is true if it isn't remineralised, but Rorie is.

 

[Blubble37]

+1 eventually they will excrete all their minerals out and die if it has no minerals added. but they will survive for a while on ro alone if you run out of minerals

 

[Rorie]

Thanks again for the replies. Glad to hear RO is fine. That means i dont need to bother getting another bottle of de chlorinator or HMA system.

 

[Tizer]

What RO system are you running, all the ones i looked into needed a constant flow of water through the membrane or they became useless? In the end i decided my tap water was plenty good enough for my community tank.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The reason for the uproar is simple, most folks who use RO or RO/DI water use the term 100% to mean its only the water out of the unit with nothing added back. Using pure RO (or RO/DI) long term will not keep fish alive or healthy for very long.

Some importers who bring in wild fish from extremely low conductivity water (which is also normally very acid pH) will use pure ro with no additives for the initial couple of weeks, But that is about the longest of have read of it being used with 0 additives.

It is also much easier to alter the water chemistry and hold it steady when one starts with pure water.

 

[ChilliPepper]

I use pure RO for my marine tank, and my salt has the extra minerals needed included. So I get all the good stuff, with none of the baddies of tap water. I also use RO for my shrimps, and just add extra minerals to bring the gH up a bit.

My TDS going in is over 600, so I am changing over all my tropicals to 50/50 tap and RO to see if that reduces algae and makes the fish even happier. That way I don't need to add any extras.

If I notice a 100% improvement in things, I may use pure RO with added minerals for all my tanks. But this works out quite time consuming, producing so much water.