Ro Water

[m00ms]

hi all,

i have been offered a ro water filter made by tmc by a friend at work.i have a choice of either a 50 or a 70 as he has both.

just wondering if anyone has any experiance of making ro water and could give any advice as to if i should go for one or just stick with using seachem prime and tap water.

i used to buy ro water when i ran my first tank a 30lt tank.when i brought the water the shop used to put a scoop of minerals into the water also.could anyone tell me what the minerals were they added/where i could buy it from?

my current tank is a 130 lt and i do 25lt weekly change so not sure if its worth making ro due to costs and waste water used to make it.

any help be most helpful.

 

[Livewire88]

Hello, Before buying the RO unit think about weather you actually need it?

What fish do you keep? Will the fish you keep live a healthy life in your tap water? taking into account how good/bad your tap water quality is. You may get away with a mix of RO and tap water if you just want to soften it up a little? but if your tap water is like mine it may be best to use full RO water with a re mineral mix added back in.

I use RO water for my Golden Ram tank because my tap water is not suitable for keeping Rams, (high PH/Nitrate)
When using RO water I add a home made mineral mix back in so that the water has the necessary mineral content to keep the fish alive and well, because as you are aware fish don't do to well in straight RO water because it has almost no mineral content.

I was using TMC Re-mineral but was advised by a experienced fish keeper that to save money I could use a mix containing the following; 6 parts Gypsum (aka plaster of paris or Calcium sulphate) 2 parts Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulphate) 2 parts Reef salt and 1 part Limestone flour (Calcium carbonate) this will save a fair bit of cash over buying the TMC mix. Also I was advised that the Calcium carbonate means that it is similar to TMC Tropical, but you get a more stable pH. I was advised to add 3 heaped teaspoons per 100l which I have been doing and my fish have been fine, the PH level has stayed stable and the water I now use is suitable for keeping Rams.

In my community tank I use straight tap water because the fish I keep in there do well in my tap water and they are not as sensitive as the Rams, in my Betta tank I use a mix of TAP/RO water so the water is slightly softer to keep the Bettas tail in better condition.

I hope this info is of help to you

 

[cornclose]

First a question - how much is the RO unit you're buying ? You can get a brand new one that does almost 200 litres a day for £85.

A lot depends on whether you actually need RO water. Usual reasons are that your tap water is harder than you want or the pH is too high for your needs, or both.

RO water is as 'pure' as you're likely to get, that means no minerals or dissolved solids, so the need to add back in these minerals is important. Why add them back in if you've just filtered them out ? Well, for one, it means you have control over what water you're 'making' rather than accepting what the tap gives you. Most RO water you buy ready made from your LFS will be around pH 7 (neutral) with a general hardness of about 3 degrees (German). Carbonate hardness will be similarly low. You need to add these minerals to buffer the water - that is, to prevent external factors in the aquarium from causing pH swings. The dissolved minerals in the water limit this, and the more there are (the higher the GH/KH) the more it will be limited.

RO Conditioner can be purchased from most LFS, the one I use occasionally is called 'R/O Water Conditioner' by 'Microbe-Lift'. I only use it occasionally because I tend to mix RO and tap water the vast majority of the time to get the water parameters I need - this is perfectly acceptable. My tap water is GH 10, KH 8, pH 8, so it's useful to buffer RO water.

 

[m00ms]

thanks for your replies they both helped my make my mind up which was to pass on the ro maker.

i have been using tap/seachem for the last 3 years or so and all has been well,my fish seam happy and well and its quick,cheap and easy to make my water.

think the benefits get out weighted by the costs and extra time so i shall stay as i am.

thanks again for your help.