Half My Tank Has Been Wiped Out

[Se7enUK]

I am really annoyed with some advice from an aquatic shop from Lincoln that has cost me a great number of fish.

I have had my tank for approx 6 weeks (stocked) I fishless cycled it first. The tank was coming along lovely and all the levels were down to where they should be.
I knew I was due to do a water change and was talking to the guy in the shop at Lincoln and I mentioned I was looking to do a water change and wanted some 25l containers.
The guy then said he could fill them with RO water for me for an extra £2 saving me having to treat them. So I took 50 litres of RO water and introduced it to my 300 litre tank.
Within a couple of days all my cardinals, green tiger barbs, glass catfish, lemon tets, 1 angel, 2 catfish died, it was carnage. My quarantine tank would only hold a few

I have since found out that RO water is not good to add to Tropical, especially a newish setup and on testing my pH had dropped through the floor. I am so pi55ed off with the shop that I will vote with my feet and never return

Anyone else suffered this?

I have now done a 50% water change back to normal tapwater and will now leave to settle again before adding anymore stock again.....

 

[Hawkins]

which shop was this? i only know of 3 in lincoln..

anyway, you know the cause so aslong as youve done a water change you shouldn't get any more deaths

its sad though, you should defo complain.

 

[jimmyringo]

I would definitely go back and complain.Why should you be out of pocket because of their incompetence?? Be polite but firm.And insist on talking to a manager.

 

[Se7enUK]

I have rang them today and explained, however they are saying that RO water is still fine to add to a Tropical tank. He said he would look into it and get back to me!

At this moment in time I will not say who the shop is, because I want to give them the opportunity to redeem themselves. If they don't I will certainly leave details.

 

[8inary]

Keep on with them, I would not let them get away with that. Get your information together, in respect of RO water and tropical tanks etc, list all the fish you have lost and present this to the shop. As the others have said, why let them get away with it and let you be out of pocket.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[ac700wildcat]

I'm confused as to what the RO could have done to the fish to kill them. I have very hard water and have been mixing 1/3 tap with 2/3 RO for months with no ill effects Adding the pure RO to the tank would have probably dropped the ph some, but unless you have very soft water, I wouldn't think that it would have made your pH drop drastically.

Its possible that their RO system isn't properly filtering chlorine and that could be a cause. Did you treat the RO with dechlor before you put it in your tank?

Edited to fix typos

 

[tyyrlym]

Simple, RO has a pH of 7.0. If your tank has a significantly different pH and you add in RO water it can lead to a massive pH shift. A huge pH swing can kill a fish quicker than ammonia could ever hope to.

If your pH is close to 7.0 to begin with that's not likely to happen. If you've been using RO from day one no problem.

 

[Hawkins]

I can only think Pets at Home would give this bad advice (in Lincoln) but not sure if they stock the RO water..

 

[Se7enUK]

I can only think Pets at Home would give this bad advice (in Lincoln) but not sure if they stock the RO water..

It was not them, try down the road a bit.

 

[Hawkins]

Hmm.. The Aquarium? Lincoln Aquatics?

they are the only ones i know of

 

[Se7enUK]

Hmm.. The Aquarium? Lincoln Aquatics?

they are the only ones i know of

Lincoln Aquatics

 

[liz2]

Pets @ Home really annoy me. They go on about what tank, is it filtered etc. etc. then sold me 5 mollies 4 of which were males. I was so busy watching my little grand daughter that I didnt notice until we got home, have added 2 more girls since, one of which died virtually straight away! Went back to the shop and they said well you had her 3 days and the others in the tank are fine. some shops

 

[Se7enUK]

Well if I don't get a satisfactory response I will be writing a press release

 

[k.o.d]

Simple, RO has a pH of 7.0. If your tank has a significantly different pH and you add in RO water it can lead to a massive pH shift. A huge pH swing can kill a fish quicker than ammonia could ever hope to.

If your pH is close to 7.0 to begin with that's not likely to happen. If you've been using RO from day one no problem.

This is not good advice.

Reverse osmosis water is as close to pure water as it can get, which in theory should be good but in practice, unless you are careful, can be bad news.
Pure water is great in theory but has no buffering capacity whatsoever, this means whatever nitrogenous waste is emptied into that water will immediately push the pH down as the water has no carbonates to stabilise and buffer the water.
RO water in theory has a pH of 7.0 but as it is unstable, the CO2 in the atmosphere dissolves into the water to make H2CO3 or carbonic acid ( so immediately your water is acidified )
The best way to use RO water is as you said, to use it from day one, but as a MIX i.e 60% RO and 40% treated tap water, this way there is still a certain amount of buffering capability but there is less liklihood ofimporting nitrates etc.

yet again, close regard has to be paid to your parameters as your water will acidify more quickly due to the lower level of buffers.

Hope I made myself reasonably clear

Steve

 

[Hawkins]

Hmm.. The Aquarium? Lincoln Aquatics?

they are the only ones i know of

Lincoln Aquatics

i thought these would do it after pets at home. they have a betta in with neon tetras and it was CLEARLY being nipped.. was it the nerdy bloke with dark hair and glasses?