Advice On Using Ro Water (To Keep Rams)

[Livewire88]

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a pair of Gold Rams, I have kept Electirc Blue Rams in the past but didnt have that much sucess I beleive this was down to the quailty of my tap water which has a high PH (8.2) and is high in Nitrate. The first 2 EBR I had lasted about six months, and the second two didnt last two months.

Therefore in order for these Gold Rams to hopefully last a while I am planning on using 100% RO water, and obviousley add some minerals back in to the water. (I am not looking for them to breed)

My question are what is the best ReMinerals to use? at the moment I am using TMC Pro Discus but will be purchasing the normal TMC ReMineral mix shortly because I beleive that using the Pro Discus may have caused a PH crash leading to the death of my Apisto Agassizi male.
For this reason I have mixed the water in my tank at the moment 50/50 RO and Tap water to keep the TDS up for the time being, but this in turn has a higher Nitrate and PH level than I would like.

Using the TMC mix it will end up costing a lot over time so can I make my own Remineral mix up to add to RO water? I guess this would save me a fair bit of £$£$£

Can anyone offer advice for me on any of the above?

 

[DrRob]

Yes, you can make your own mixes. There are a few recipies on the net. I can't link to them right now as someone's been playing with my firewall again and google has stopped working (it'll be back once I have time to play with the server).

Pretty much everything you need you can get from places like fluid sensor, as per the dry ferts purchasers. Then you'll be making it like salt water, as it can be a pain to dissolve occasionally.

Or you can just buy the dry mixes, which are still a pain to dissolve.

 

[ainsy]

I use a mix that is 3:1:1 of:

Calcium Sulphate
Calcium Chloride
Magnesium Sulphate

For adult discus I aim for about 180-250 microsiemens (but you will need a tester to measure that!)

I have seen others mention (although never tried as I have always measured!) That 3g Calcium sulphate, 1g Calcium Chloride, 1g Magnesium Sulphate per 20 USG is a suitable mix.

DrRob if you know of any other recipes I would be interested in what they are.

 

[DrRob]

I use similar with some trace mixture. It's the shrimp keepers who seems to be obsessed with RO salt replacements. Their forums are full of strange recipies.

 

[Livewire88]

Hello, some great advice thank you.

As you guys seem to know what you are taking about would you say that the TMC Pro Discuss could have caused a PH crash in my tank killing my Apisto Agassizi?

I was using RO water with the recomended dosage of TMC Pro Discuss added and nothing else.

ps; it would be great if you have the time to provide some links so I know what I need to order from Fluidsensor and also know how much I should be adding to the 25litres I change in this tank per week

 

[DrRob]

I'll take a look for some links tonight. I haven't fixed our internet here yet (too busy).

From what I can recall, pro-discus doesn't move the carbonate hardness all that much, just the general hardness. Which means that you'll get less buffering of the pH for the hardness that you get. My tap water is liquid rock, so anything I wash in that seems to add enough to keep my tank ticking over at 2kh, might be why yours crashed though. You can get these chemicals from fluid sensor online or pharmacies. I have this written down for what I'm using (this is just a ratio, not what you have to make), if you want kH then you'd have to add a carbonate or bicarb (bicarb of soda would do that, but would add a small amount of sodium), otherwise potassium carbonate instead of the sulphate, pretty much 1 for 1 (the chemical weights of carbonate and sulphate aren't all that far from each other, and won't make a huge difference if you make small quantities. Then tweak as you like.

K2SO4 260 grams
CaSO4 210 grams (gypsum, used in homebrewing)
MgSO4 150 grams (epsom salts)
Trace Mixture 3 grams

 

[ainsy]

What's in your trace mix DrRob?

 

[DrRob]

It's the one from fluid sensor online. I'm not at home at the moment and having internet issues.

 

[Livewire88]

Hello again,

I have managed to order 500g mix of re minerals for £9 from a different forum, this is what the mix will contain and I was advised that it will be suitable to use for keeping Rams, what do you guys think?

6 parts Gypsum (aka plaster of paris or Calcium sulphate) 2 parts Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulphate) 2 parts Reef salt and 1 part Limestone flour (Calcium carbonate)

I have also ordered a D-D TDS Meter & Digital Thermometer so I can make sure that I am adding the right amount to the RO water. What level of TDS should I aim for?

 

[ainsy]

I use 180-225 microsiemens for discus and have a couple of GBR in there that have been fine with this.

This converts to a TDS of about 120-150.

I am not an expert with rams but mine seem ok at these sort of levels & this is where I would start if nobody with more experience of rams comes along and gives you anything different.

HTH

 

[paul_fox]

I just mix RO with tap water to get the required TDS, makes life easy

 

[DrRob]

I just mix RO with tap water to get the required TDS, makes life easy

Aye, works for many. Often not liked by people if they are using RO as a method to remove/reduce the risk of nasties coming out of the mains water for fragile fish, or if they have fairly flucuating water quality. My tap water varies considerably in hardness, from hard to very hard, and the TDS ranges by over 100 between batches, which makes the mix more complex. Hence I found adding back chemicals actually easier.

 

[Livewire88]

I use 180-225 microsiemens for discus and have a couple of GBR in there that have been fine with this.

This converts to a TDS of about 120-150.

I am not an expert with rams but mine seem ok at these sort of levels & this is where I would start if nobody with more experience of rams comes along and gives you anything different.

HTH

Hello, thanks I will look have the TDS at around the 120-150 mark.

I just mix RO with tap water to get the required TDS, makes life easy

If only it was that easy, my tap water is high in Nitrates and also has a high PH level, hence the reason I am using RO water to keep the Nitrate and PH level lower, adding tap water back in would defeat the object.

 

[ainsy]

Mine is the same. High nitrates, high ph & hard enough that you could smash rocks on it.

My prefilters even need to have prefilters!