Help! New Tank And Ro

[Boothros]

Hi. So sorry, this is a bit urgent so no time even for the introductions forum!
Having considered what I want for a little while now and studying hard such subjects as cycling, water changes and everything pre-fish, I had just got to the stage of buying some of the important stuff like test kits and so on. I wanted to be as prepared as I could be before I even bought the tank. HOWEVER!! Today on Ebay, I saw my dream tank, fully planted and complete with small fish (mainly tetras and minnows.) There was no way I could not have it, it was local, the right price and just the set up I was after doing for myself (heavily planted) and hopefully I should be able to collect in the next few days. However, as I wasnt planning on getting fish this side of Christmas even, this has left me woefully unprepared! If I collect in the next few days, it will be in the back of my car as my van is currently hospitalised. The tank should fit ok and I am thinking about providing a large plastic lidded box to transport the fish. Now the man currently has the tank filled with RO water to minimise algae and because he considers it better for the plants. I can get hold of RO pretty quickly from my LFS and so could have some ready and waiting for when I get the tank home. However, I'm wondering if I should take a container with me and take some of the mans supply (Obviously I would bring the fishes back in his RO). I have NO knowledge of using RO with tropicals though I must admit the idea is starting to appeal. I would much rather go down the route of filtering my own rather than constantly having to buy in every time I wanted to do a water change, but I have no real idea what I should be putting back into the water. My immediate concern, is what I need to have ready and waiting for my new incumbants next week. Also, I am presuming that when using RO you still need some some sort of bio media going on so any tips on how I can transport this successfully. I would imagine that changing from RO to tap will be a living nightmare so I would like to put that off for at least a short while (if indeed I do it at all) but what do I need to be buying now please with a view to keeping the RO for at least the time being. MANY THANKS, Sharon.

 

[toshapetriji]

Somebody with experience of RO may come along at some point, however to be brutaly honest I think you are making the job harder than it needs to be. I should think 99.9% of people here keeping freshwater tropical fish are using dechlorinated tap water and I would suggest you go that route. Good luck though which ever route you go it really is a wonderful hobby to be involved in. Welcome to TFF as well you found a great resource.

 

[fluttermoth]

I don't think you need to be using RO water. However, the fish will be used to it now, so you'll want to change over gradually.

Take as many containers as you can and bring as much of the water they're in now home with you. Then you can top up the tank and do your water changes with your tap water, dechlorinated. As long as you keep the changes to 25% or less for the first week or two, you shouldn't shock the fish at all.

Keep everything from inside the filter wet, and don't let any tap water touch it, and the bacteria should survive the move very easily. Do feed sparingly and test frequently in the first few days, in case of a 'mini-cycle'.

Fish are best transported in fish bags (most LFS will give or sell you some) in a cool box or cardboard box wrapped in a towel or duvet.

 

[DrRob]

Practical question, what's your tap water like? Soft acidic tap water will be an easier shift from the liquid chalk that comes out of my tap, but it's generally doable.

Well done on getting a fully set up tank though, it's a good way of getting a head start, although occasionally you inherit some interesting decisions.

 

[brian1]

requirement parameters of your fish. only what I have searched on the internet...........


Eliminates possible toxins and other unwanted compounds from your water.


R.O./D.I. units remove any phosphate or nitrate that passes through the R.O. unit, reducing algae.


R.O. water is perfect for topping off the aquarium's evaporated water.


R.O. units easily connect to most faucets, and with the available Float Valve Kit can be automated to stop once your collection reservoir is filled.


Replacement of the Sediment Pre-Filter and Carbon Block is easy, making maintenance and operation a snap.

 

[Boothros]

Wow, you lot are wonderful, such swift replies! Dr, my water is probably much the same as yours (I'm in Portsmouth) though I havn't tested it yet but it is very hard. Fluttermoth, if you say not to add any tap water to the media, how will the media react when I intoduce tap water during water changes? Must I add dechloriator to the tap water before I add to the tank? I'm assuming that dechorinator should have no effect on the RO whatsoever? Also (and I do realise how dim this makes me sound!) what do I wrap in the duvet, the bagged fish or the whole coolbox? Thanks so much for the advise especially about collecting the water, I will get containers tomorrow. Thanks also for the welcome everyone, Ive been meaning to post but there is so much to read on here, Ive not had the chance to!

 

[DrRob]

The harder your water, the gentler the change will need to be. Maybe 10% twice a week for a few weeks.

All new water needs dechlorinator, the options are to dose the water that is being added, or dose the tank (for it's whole volume) then add the water. Just don't put chlorinated water anywhere near your filter, the chlorine is there to kill things like filter bacteria.

Duvet goes around anything you can get it around.

 

[Boothros]

Excellent thankyou. I'm clear on it now. Therefore, I suppose, I can consider that I have a fully cycled tank and just need to do water changes as I would anyway. Thanks so much for your help everyone.

 

[Boothros]

requirement parameters of your fish. only what I have searched on the internet...........


Eliminates possible toxins and other unwanted compounds from your water.


R.O./D.I. units remove any phosphate or nitrate that passes through the R.O. unit, reducing algae.


R.O. water is perfect for topping off the aquarium's evaporated water.


R.O. units easily connect to most faucets, and with the available Float Valve Kit can be automated to stop once your collection reservoir is filled.


Replacement of the Sediment Pre-Filter and Carbon Block is easy, making maintenance and operation a snap.

Oops sorry Brian, I missed your post. For a while, I toyed with the idea of marine and did a bit of study into RO and indeed its nitrate reducing qualities do attract me. However I then got a bit confused about all the minerals which needed to put back IN. I know I'm a newbie and that many of you have been fishkeeping for years, but I work in a laboratory and thought I knew a bit about chemistry before embarking on all this! Having said that, until I did (embark on all this), I thought chemistry was boring!

 

[Boothros]

Well the move went surprisingly well. I retained all the water and had the tank up and running again within an hour of getting home. Due to a powerful external filter and a small air filter I installed the water was clear within the hour. I also posted this topic on another forum and some of the replies suggested that keeping the fish and plants in 100% RO was a very bad thing which would quickly lead to fish and plant death. HOWEVER, the tank has been set up for 4 years and the fish look extremely healthy, very vibrant and considering their monumental move not at all stressed and are feeding well. The plants (although admittedly fed with a plant food additive) are positively thriving - almost to the point of becoming a pain and there is zero algae (the mans reason for using the RO) He was until recently when the canister ran out using CO2 as well though I have yet to set this up. I have also still yet to test the water as I am awaiting a kit to come through the post but I know that the man did not perform water changes nearly as often as I have seen recommended in many posts. Therefore with a tank that looks as healthy as this one appears to be, I am wondering if I should adopt the attitude 'if it aint broke dont fix it'. Using RO wouldnt really be that much of a problem for me, even if I do have to add thing back into it. More opinions would be welcomed thankyou.

 

[MBOU]

I have changed my planted tank to cut down on the nutrients, I dont have co2 running and I no longer feed plants (have got plant substrate and root tabs though) and the algae just slowly built up so have changed over to RO, makes everything so much cleaner!

You can buy RO remineraliser in most decent fish shops