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R/O Question!!!To add staight or not add straight?

1K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  tomncassie 
#1 ·
Hello,I was thinking about getting a r/o system for my tank.My lfs said to use straight r/o water no need to add anything,but everywhere I read they suggest that I use some water conitioners to the water for fish to survive like Replenish for example and is there anything you guys would recommend to add to the water if I need to?Thanks
 
#2 ·
I just got an API Tap Water (DI) filter. It comes with Electro-Right and pH Adjuster to make aquarium water. It's my understanding that RO, RO/DI and DI water is actually too pure with all that is removed so we must add elements for proper gill function and overall health. An exception is when using sea salt for SW as the sea salt contains those elements.
I would not use any of these filtered waters straight for anything other than [evaporation] make up water.
 
#3 ·
Agree, pure RO water is like pure distilled water: it contains nothing. This type of water does not exist in natural habitats and in a sense it cannot support life. Water in which fish live in nature contains substances dissolved into the water from various sources, depending where it is. The fish in that water are adapted to that water for those specific parameters.

Rather than using only RO water and then adding substances to make it more suited for the fish, it is usually easier and less bother to mix tap/RO water. The mix depends upon the fish species, though plants have some need for this too.

We might be able to offer more if we knew the state of the tap water and the fish species.

Byron.
 
#4 ·
I have seven koi angelfish,five lemon tetras,ten penguin tetras.Ammonia .25 ,nitrite 0,ph 7.4,nitrate 5.0.I believe that I have very hard water.I plan on getting a test kit for the hardness.I have slowly lost some fish one by one moslty after a my monthly gravel cleaning and close to a 50% water change.I also do about 1/3 water changes a week.
 
#5 ·
On the fish loss, do you mean one dies after every water change when the gravel (substrate) is dug into? This suggest something is amiss down there. And the ammonia above zero might be connected.

Are there live plants in this tank?

On the hardness, before spending money on a kit you may never use again, check with your water supply people, they may have a website with data posted, or be able to tell you. A pH of 7.4 does not suggest overly hard water, but that can vary. I would not expect the GH to be causing the deaths, given the timing issue, though too hard water can damage fish organs and weaken them, so other issues have more impact.
 
#6 ·
My ammonia has always read .25 from the tap and in the tank.The fishes dont die after every water change.I havent had any die lately the past maybe three months.Oh and I have no plants.I forgot to mention I also have five silver dollars.I plan on getting some plants but only when I can find a good home for the SD.Iam comfused because the all look healthy,swimming all about and the anglefish aint shy at all espesually around feeding time.
 
#7 ·
Ammonia in the tap water should dissappear after a couple days in the aquarium. By then the bacteria should have handled it. [ Live plants would even faster, if you had them.] So this is a bit of a concern. Nitrates at 5 is fine.

I'm assuming this is the 100g tank in your log, with 7 angelfish, 5 silver dollar, 5 lemon tetra and 10 penguin tetra. Certainly not overstocked, even if mature size.
 
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