R.o. Water

[Scotty001]

Im looking at using ro water instead of tap water when i do partial water changes on my 165ltr FW Tropical comunity tank, as where i live the water is v hard and chalky. From what i understand R.O waer has all the nasties taken out of it.

Before i use the R.O water would i need to add anything back to the water or am i able to put it strait in the tank ???

Many thanks Scott

 

[k.o.d]

If you use RO water only for water changes the fish will soon lose their health, unfortunately the downside of RO water is that by itself it cannot maintain life for any length of time
You have to buffer the water ( RO water has nothing to stop pH crashes as it has no natural buffering agents ) and remineralise it Kent RO rite and other brands do a perfectly good job.

I use my waste water ( it has been filtered and dechlorinated by the effect of the prefilters ) and mix in a ration of 90/10 or 75/25 dependent on the fish in the tank

Steve

 

[backtotropical]

An alternative which many people use is to use half RO water and half tap water. It makes your tap water half as hard and also means you dont have to buy buffers and minerals for the RO water.