Preparing RO water for use in tanks

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Wills

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Hi so in the coming weeks I'm going to be getting ready to switch to RO water in both of my current tanks.

Tank 1 is a planted 100 litre and I want to keep fish that need soft to neutral water - potentially aimng for a ph of about 6.8 and a hardness of around 5GH. I inject Co2 so I would like to try and keep the KH quite high so that this does not interfere with the ph or hardness, I also have tropica aquarium soil which is known to lower both values too.

Tank 2 (still planning) is going to be a 30 litre Shell Dweller tank so I want to have that harder achieving a ph of 8.5 and a hardness of 20GH. I'll probably use substrates and rocks in the tank that are common with African Cichlids too so not too worried about the water buffering down for any reason like the other tank.

So what I need help with is, which products should I buy? Can I use the same products for both tanks or do I need certain ones for each tank? Budget isnt too much of an issue and I would prefer convenience over cost, I'd rather find all in one products than havin to mix multiple. But if I need multiple because thats how it works then thats fine :)

Thanks as ever
Wills :)
 
You can use a Rift Lake water conditioner for both. Decent brands will raise the GH, KH and pH. Use it at full dose for the shell dwellers and 1/4 strength for the other tank.
 
You can use a Rift Lake water conditioner for both. Decent brands will raise the GH, KH and pH. Use it at full dose for the shell dwellers and 1/4 strength for the other tank.
Cool thanks any brands you would or wouldn’t recommend? I’ve been looking at seachem?
 
I used Aquasonic Rift Lake conditioner but that is found in Australia. I don't know what is available in other countries.

I don't like Seachem products but if that's all you can get then that's all you can get.
 
I use Salty Shrimp or Dennerle products regularly. Salty Shrimp by choice because it fully dissolves instantly. Both brands do a GH+ and a GH/KH+ version and appear to have similar results. I don't like the Seachem because it doesn't dissolve properly and changes the water colour (and you need 2 products). I know my local MAQ uses Tropic Marin, but I can't comment as I have never tried this.

The recommended dosage of both Salty Shrimp and Dennerle products will raise your GH to 6dGH (3dKH for the GH/KH++ and 0dKH for the GH+). The results are consistent enough that I no longer bother testing. If you want harder water just add more, if 1 scoop gives you 6dGH 2 scoops will give you 12 dGH and so on. It may be more economical to use a rift lake conditioner for the hard water tank but no reason not to use the same product.
 

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