R O Water

[muddybunny]

Ok last question for a bit i promise...
As i said in the other post I run my tank with RO water .now because of my recent problems this is now pure RO as apossed to part RO .......what extra minelrals ect do i need to be adding to keep my fish in tip top condition?
Thanks again sorry to be such a pain ..........

 

[Rooster]

I wouldnt use ANY ro in freshwater tanks... seems daft taking stuff out and then having to put it back again !

 

[doresy]

I used R O water in my freshwater community when I first started as the LFS (quite rightly) informed me that our tapwater was high in nitrates.

Back then I did not realise the importance of water changes so was only doing it every couple of months! However, now I do it 1-2 times a week that's an expence I can do without.

Also 40ppm nitrates I now know is perfectly acceptable so it's tap water and dechlorinator (leaving more cash for beer )

 

[NoRp]

hardness is the main issue without ro my kh would be to high and with it my fish would die
like many others 50/50 is a winner all day!

 

[muddybunny]

i have the RO machine so cost is not and issue, keeps the kids healthy to! lol i have been advised that just adding tap water in a % is sufficient would you guys say this is ok?

 

[raptorrex]

i have the RO machine so cost is not and issue, keeps the kids healthy to! lol i have been advised that just adding tap water in a % is sufficient would you guys say this is ok?

god i Hope you dont give your kids pure RO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! over any period of time the lack of minerals and such is damaging, especially to the young. the W.H.O. gives a minimum permissible mineral content of water, as well as a highest, just calcium has a minimum level of 40ppm.

there are much better ways of dealing with hard water, than using RO. but we all love our gadgets in fishkeeping, often not looking as to the effect of the gear we use.

far from keeping your kids healthy, you may well be harming them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Agreed. RO water can be very damaging as it is basically a very effective solvent that can do damage to your internal organs (there is much debate on this though and I havent seen any hard facts).

With regards to using it for the fish. You dont want to use pure RO for them either. You can get various products that you can add to RO water which will increase the KH and PH to the desired level. Ideally you need to make sure the KH is at at least 5 degrees (not PPM) or you could end up with really bad PH fluctuations and crashes which will kill the fish.

As you said though you can just mix it back in with your tap water to get the desired results. Make sure you get a good KH, GH and PH test kit and work out what ration of RO/Tap water you need.

Also be aware that if you are adding fish from a hard water source to a soft water source it needs to be done very slowly over a long period of time to avoid shock.

 

[muddybunny]

Agreed. RO water can be very damaging as it is basically a very effective solvent that can do damage to your internal organs (there is much debate on this though and I havent seen any hard facts).

With regards to using it for the fish. You dont want to use pure RO for them either. You can get various products that you can add to RO water which will increase the KH and PH to the desired level. Ideally you need to make sure the KH is at at least 5 degrees (not PPM) or you could end up with really bad PH fluctuations and crashes which will kill the fish.

As you said though you can just mix it back in with your tap water to get the desired results. Make sure you get a good KH, GH and PH test kit and work out what ration of RO/Tap water you need.

Also be aware that if you are adding fish from a hard water source to a soft water source it needs to be done very slowly over a long period of time to avoid shock.

lol.sorry guys did not mean for you all to reach for the phone to social services! NO i don't give my kids RO water to drink ...it dose not say COKE on the bottle so they would not touch it! joking! .
thanks for the advice i am going to try the 50/50 approch ...got all the RO gear as I was going to set up a marine tank but decided to get more experience first before attempting to manage that .......

 

[angelmouse]

i use 75-80% r/o to 25-20% tap to get mine right hardness and ph, only use it for more sensitive and soft water fish, rest get tap water
Angel