Help - German Blue Ram Dying?

[ZoddyZod]

What exactly is RO water and what is it's PH value? I've seen an RO water system on eBay but it doesn't say that it can be used for producing aquatic water and makes no mention of water PH changing.

I know nothing about RO water basically..

RO is a mechanical purifcation process that removes 'contaminates' from the water. In theory it should produce a neutral pH (7) or just slightly lower.

There are systems specifically branded for aquarium use but to be honest I dont know if they function any differently to the ones you have found on eBay....I doubt it though.

I think in short term there is no 'quick fix' to the issue your GBR's are facing. Bogwood, peat, RO will all take a while to have an effect on your water. Maybe you could return them to the LFS if you are concerned about their health? Then you would have time to set up and stabilize the tank pH before re-introducing GBRs.

 

[mark4785]

Question:

If I placed some peat pellets in a 10 litre bucket of water with a PH of 7.4 and temperature the same as the tank water (28 degrees C), will the water PH begin to drop immediately or is it a steady drop as with bog wood? If I was able to quickly get a PH of say 6.5 - 6.8 through doing this I was thinking that I could take 20% of the tank water out and replace it with water with a PH of 6.5 from the bucket and repeat this every 2-3 days until the overall tank PH is 6.5. Then, of course, I'd put the peat pellets into the filtration system.

if the peat pellets are designed to be used in the filter then simply dropping them into a bucket will not change the pH instantly. The water will need to come in contact with the pellets and that wont occur unless the water is constantly moving across the surface of the pellets. The only 'instant' results you'd get are from the chemical additives that you can buy, but these are generally frowned upon as they are not a very stable way of changing pH. For most fish in the trade a stable pH is far more important than one that mimics their natural habitat. Unfortunately, GBR's are one of the minority that are highly sensitve to their pH conditions.

I think the only solution then is for me to purchase a reverse osmosis unit. At this stage, I understand the RO unit to remove nitrates, chlorine, viruses and even carbonate minerals? Nobody has told me directly (only impliedly) that this filtering process will also result in acidic water.

It's my understanding (I heard somebody mention it on these forums before) that because RO units remove all of the carbonate hardness, it is a necessity to mix the RO water with some tap water in order to produce a stable KH level (two thirds RO water, one third tap water), correct?

Does the RO unit simply connect to the tap via an inlet pipe and I simply put a bucket under it's outlet pipe to collect the purified water? I understand people usually collect the water by placing a massive tank under the outlet pipe

My LFS does not sell RO water, I'd have to travel many miles to find a place that actually sells it.

 

[mark4785]

What exactly is RO water and what is it's PH value? I've seen an RO water system on eBay but it doesn't say that it can be used for producing aquatic water and makes no mention of water PH changing.

I know nothing about RO water basically..

RO is a mechanical purifcation process that removes 'contaminates' from the water. In theory it should produce a neutral pH (7) or just slightly lower.

There are systems specifically branded for aquarium use but to be honest I dont know if they function any differently to the ones you have found on eBay....I doubt it though.

I think in short term there is no 'quick fix' to the issue your GBR's are facing. Bogwood, peat, RO will all take a while to have an effect on your water. Maybe you could return them to the LFS if you are concerned about their health? Then you would have time to set up and stabilize the tank pH before re-introducing GBRs.

Well, I would take them back if I thought a PH of 7.4 was inappropriate for them but they were living in water that had a PH of 7.2 at the LFS so I'm not sure i'd achieve that much in taking them back. I'm going to keep an eye on the PH level every day from now and I may start doing water changes every 2 days to ensure I maintain a PH of 7.4.

The reason I stocked the aquarium with GBR's is down to the opinion of somebody in one of my 'stocking idea' threads who believed they would cope fine in a PH of 7.4. Providing I can maintain this level I'm sure nothing can go wrong until I focus on gradually making the water more acidic.

 

[james_fish]

Well, my tap water PH is about 7.4. That's the only source of water I have. If one day I decided to do a 20-50% water change using the tap water how would I prevent a PH swing if my bogwood has changed the tank water PH to around a PH of 6.5?

and there lies the problem. It's very tricky to maintain a stable pH that is different from your water supply by using peat, bogwood or even chemicals. You could invest in an reverse osmosis kit but those are costly and consumer a lot of water to proudce the quantity you need. Does your LFS offer RO water? That might be a possible alternative.

You got your quote wrong Zoddy! Wasn't me who said that about the pH at source being 7.4 It was Mark.

Just thought i'd let you know

James.

 

[mark4785]

I'd appreciate it if someone could verify the validity of the statement below (quote stated earlier in this thread):

I think the only solution then is for me to purchase a reverse osmosis unit. At this stage, I understand the RO unit to remove nitrates, chlorine, viruses and even carbonate minerals? Nobody has told me directly (only impliedly) that this filtering process will also result in acidic water.

It's my understanding (I heard somebody mention it on these forums before) that because RO units remove all of the carbonate hardness, it is a necessity to mix the RO water with some tap water in order to produce a stable KH level (two thirds RO water, one third tap water), correct?

Does the RO unit simply connect to the tap via an inlet pipe and I simply put a bucket under it's outlet pipe to collect the purified water? I understand people usually collect the water by placing a massive tank under the outlet pipe

My LFS does not sell RO water, I'd have to travel many miles to find a place that actually sells it.

Thank you.

 

[mark4785]

I did a search for the mineral 'sodalite' which is a blue mineral that I had in my aquarium and it returned the following information 'Sodalite is a member of the feldspathoid group. These minerals are chemically similar to the feldspars but have considerably less silica, forming from alkali-rich silica-poor melts'.

So it appears that they are formed from substances containing alkaline and would explain why yet again the aquarium water PH raised from 7.4 to 7.8 again within a matter of hours.

I've taken 6-7 large sodalite rocks out of the tank and I i'm going to do 1-2 20% water changes today to bring the PH down to a more suitable level. My tap water PH is actually 7.2 so without any substances like sodalite contaminating the water I should be able to provide a stress-free environment for the GBR's without needing a RO unit or RO water.

edit: I bought the sodalite rocks from Dobbies Garden World aquatic department based on information given to me from an employee that the sodalite does NOT change water PH values.

 

[ZoddyZod]

I think the only solution then is for me to purchase a reverse osmosis unit. At this stage, I understand the RO unit to remove nitrates, chlorine, viruses and even carbonate minerals? Nobody has told me directly (only impliedly) that this filtering process will also result in acidic water.

It's my understanding (I heard somebody mention it on these forums before) that because RO units remove all of the carbonate hardness, it is a necessity to mix the RO water with some tap water in order to produce a stable KH level (two thirds RO water, one third tap water), correct?

Does the RO unit simply connect to the tap via an inlet pipe and I simply put a bucket under it's outlet pipe to collect the purified water? I understand people usually collect the water by placing a massive tank under the outlet pipe

My LFS does not sell RO water, I'd have to travel many miles to find a place that actually sells it.

I'm really no expert on RO or the process, but I believe you touch on most of the main points. I've also read that mineral content will need to be added to the RO water, but dont know who you do that.

I think most RO units are designed to be directly fitted to the main water supply as they need a considerable amount of tap water to produce the RO. I think I've read it can take 8 parts tap to produce 1 part RO. So something else to consider is if you are on a water meter it could be quite expensive to run.

I did a search for the mineral 'sodalite' which is a blue mineral that I had in my aquarium and it returned the following information 'Sodalite is a member of the feldspathoid group. These minerals are chemically similar to the feldspars but have considerably less silica, forming from alkali-rich silica-poor melts'.

So it appears that they are formed from substances containing alkaline and would explain why yet again the aquarium water PH raised from 7.4 to 7.8 again within a matter of hours.

I've taken 6-7 large sodalite rocks out of the tank and I i'm going to do 1-2 20% water changes today to bring the PH down to a more suitable level. My tap water PH is actually 7.2 so without any substances like sodalite contaminating the water I should be able to provide a stress-free environment for the GBR's without needing a RO unit or RO water.

great, sounds like you've found your issue. If a pH of 7.2 is ok for GBR then no need to change a thing.