Unnecessary use of RO

[plebian]

Using RO is almost always unnecessary except for breeding purposes. Sadly, people rarely pay any attention to how much water their RO systems waste. I've mostly avoided wading into this argument because of the expected backlash, but people need to open their eyes. I suggest reading the following link and rethinking your practice:

Water scarcity

 

[Magnum Man]

Ok, we have rock hard water, here... very alkaline, over 8 ph... I can't tell you how many south American fish I killed pre RO... yes, I could skip it, if I just raised hard water fish... but wait a minute.. high nitrates ( we don't drink our well water without processing it ) our well is in the middle of a 5 mile or larger radius, of agricultural use land ( crop fields )...umm... I'm keeping the 2 RO units I run, one for my tanks, one for my drinking water...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I used an RO.DI unit for a number of years because I kept wild Altum angels. My tap is pH 7.0 and the TDS when things are normal are 83 ppm. But when we get excess rain for a while I have seen the TDS drop to 53 ppm. When the reverse is the case and things are in close to drought mode i have seen them at about 125 ppm.

When I was getting the Altums imported they were coming from 4.0 pH and about 20 ppm TDS water. I had a tank set up at TDS 30 ppm and pH 4.2. I did this with almost pure RO/DI. I would guess I was about 80/20 RO/DI to tap. Weekly water changes, once I had brought the tank parameters up to 6.0 pH and 60 ppm TDS over about 5-6 months, were done with a 50/50 mix, give or take, of RO/DI and my tap,

However, I waste little water. In addition to our own private well, we have a septic tank and leach field. So, the waste water from the RO/DI unit as well as water removed from tanks is not lost or wasted. The water coming out of tanks is either pumped out windows and it goes back into the ground or it goes down a sink or toilet and runs through the septic tank and ends up back in the ground.

My brother uses an RO/DI unit for the water he uses in his humdifiers. He batches it using my utility sink snt the water is never lost.

I also believe some people do not throw away their waste line water from RO or RO/DU systems. Tehy rerune it or actuallu runni it directly through a second unit. The decreases the amount of waste water there is.

Odly enough I amlmsot nevered used the RO/Di water for the plecos I was breeding. I started inwith the plecos befor I got the RO/Di unit for the Altums. I used a different method. I used my tap as the rainy season water. I would simulate a dry season allowing the TDS to rise to about 175 ppm by adding Epsom salt (magnesium) crushed coral for calcium and a pinch of baking soda. I did noo want to raise the pH bu a lot and baking soda will drive the pH towards an equilibrium of about pH 8.3.

When the time came to onset the rainy season my tap worked perfectly. From then omn it became all tap. I did not need to do a dry/rainy simulation very often as my tap alone seemed to do the job. But for Altums I needed the RO/DI. When I rehonmes them I no longer needed to RO/DI unit and I sold to a member in my fish club who is the master breeder. Pretty much any species he keeps, he spawns.

So what one does with DO/DI and ow they do it matters in terms of weather thre is waste water being lost or it is being recyled into the ground where it is either use by plantlife or else it works its way down deeper and into the local aquafer.

 

[GaryE]

What your water is like depends on the geology of where you live, and on the economy of where you live. I have no doubt the original post makes sense in southeast Asia. It would make sense where I live, where the water comes from lakes over ancient rock formations that no longer have any minerals to leach into them. I don't have to doctor my tapwater to breed cardinals. I would never need RO. That doesn't mean I'd agree with the post.

Travel 2 hours inland from here, and you see how this is a "regional" statement from @plebian. There, the water is rock hard, and rainforest fish live very short lives in it. Travel 35 hours west, and you hit a zone where farming practices have polluted the groundwater.

Geology, rainfall patterns - they all add up to different situations for different aquarists. I expect there are regions in southeast Asia where aquarium heaters are also unnecessary tech, and just a waste of electricity. They can be handy in Canada.

I don't keep hardwater fish because I have softwater. I think that if our hobby interest takes us past the appearances of fishes and into the natural history, that's something we all should do. Keep fish for your water. But if your water is harmful to them and you don't choose to adjust (or move!), RO is an imperfect technology that can make fishkeeping possible.

Broad statements based on local/regional conditions are usually wrong.

 

[plebian]

Push back, as expected. Anything to ignore "inconvenient truths". If your source water is of such poor quality that it cannot sustain fish, find another hobby.

 

[GaryE]

Push back, as expected. Anything to ignore "inconvenient truths". If your source water is of such poor quality that it cannot sustain fish, find another hobby.

Pushback is part of a healthy debate, unless you're an oracle. Why would a person post on a discussion forum if they weren't able to discuss? I don't find your opinion inconvenient, although I think the argument's oversimplified.

I live in a region with enormous year round water resources, and the effect of using RO wouldn't be major. I could route the waste water into irrigation of my vegetable garden. It doesn't have to be wasted down the drain. So that key point of yours doesn't hold water.

RO is a tech I don't need. I'm fortunate. If I lived in a hardwater zone I'd choose species accordingly. If I wanted to keep your linebred discus there, I'd need RO. It would be more sensible to keep wild type Mexican livebearers, as they've evolved over karst. The water that can sustain one geography's fish may not support another's, and understanding such diversity is part of our learning curve as hobbyists. Sometimes, using supporting technology can be very useful, if people so choose.

 

[Magnum Man]

I'm at the top of the water cycle... if I, and all my neighbors were to hold on to water, and not let it process, the river would dry up, before it reaches the ocean... the river I'm talking about, is the Mississippi, which in reality wouldn't dry up, but there are rivers like the Colorado, that end up as just a trickle, by the time they reach the end... water conservation, is a popular topic, just as conserving trees, ( which are a renewable resource ), that doesn't mean I'm all for cutting them all down in Brazil, or cutting down old growth forest, but tress do better with management, or they all just burn in forest fires... water also needs management... water can be filtered, and used over, and over, and over again... it does not get used up, and disappear, it may evaporate, and come back as rain... maybe my "wasted" water, ends up as rain, in your neighborhood???

 

[gimme30]

When I had reason to run RO the "waste" fed my garden, which in turn fed me. I'd agree those letting it run down the drain aren't doing us any favors, though in most municipalities those waters are recovered. No doubt we've got a problem and in the scenario where every drop counts keeping fish may become irresponsible.
Until then? Don't plant any lawns.

 

[seangee]

Push back, as expected. Anything to ignore "inconvenient truths". If your source water is of such poor quality that it cannot sustain fish, find another hobby.

Yes I use RO water because I have soft water fish and you can walk on my tap water. My tap water also contains nitrates at the legal limit for the EU (50ppm unless they slip up - which happens more than you think!), so I agree my tap water is not suitable for keeping fish.

But here is another uncomfortable truth:
In the time I have lived here (around 15 years before I switched to RO), I have lost 3 neighbours and 4 cats to stomach cancer, which suggests to me that what is being supplied is not fit for any animal life. So the RO water is for me, my family and my pets. Since I have it I may as well keep fish. Or should I rather buy drinking water from the supermarket in single use plastic containers?