Big Surprise

[radioman]

Well I just moved into a new house and looked under a sink and found a Kent Marina Hi-s Maxxima filter. The people who lived at this house before us left it here and I know they had a huge salt water aquarium. I was wondering if this would work with a freshwater aquarium and what is the minimum gallon requirement to use it like could it be used on a 10g tank or does it have to be much higher which is what I believe it has to be.

 

[rictheredneck]

don't quote me on this because i know jack about fw but i do remember reading some members using ro water in their fw setups. all it is, is near h2o dunno if you will need to add stuff to it like us salties add a salt mix which includes a load of other crap in it beneficial to a our lil marine ecosystem. as to the size im not really sure on what the question is or im just too tired to understand lol but when looking for an ro unit we try and match up the tanks volume to the gallons per day output ie a 50 gallon tank you would look for a 50 gpd ro unit. the lowest gpd output for an ro unit i have ever seen is a 50gpd. so whether this is suitable for your 10 g i would say yes.

 

[kkyyllee]

ur not supposed to use ro in fresh water setups because it takes out all the good stuff fish need, in sw thats replaced when u add the salt mix

 

[rictheredneck]

Freshwater Aquariums
For freshwater applications, using an R.O. unit will provide water without General Hardness (GH) or Carbonate Hardness (KH). This allows addition of trace elements and electrolytes to match the natural water conditions of the fish we keep. The removal of the KH allows use of buffers to easily set the water's pH wherever you wish. This is great for plants and soft water loving fish like Discus and Angels.

http/www.liveaquaria.com/general/general...eral_pagesid=80

 

[steelhealr]

Agree with above...you can use the RO water but you should supplement it. There ARE FW buffers to add to RO water. SH

 

[sophos9]

Just mix RO with tap water until you reach your desired parameters.... Try starting with 65%RO to 35% tap!

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, people with Discuss tanks, or others trying to replicate moderately acidic amazonian ecosystems often use RO since it doesn't have alkalinity or ground hardness as mentioned. Therefore it's much easier to maintain an acidic environment with RO. For Chiclid tanks it's probably not a good idea since they like hard water...

HTH

 

[Musho3210]

note that the very soft water has little to no buffering capacity so the decaying waste creates acid and without buffers may crash the system. Some die hard discus keepers as well as angelfish keepers and other amazon cichlid breeders do daily 100 percent water changes so the ph wont crash.

If you are a die hard breeder of discus go ahead and use pure RO water, if not mix it with tap or use seachem equiblerium or whatever its called..... Or just use it for drinking water (just the RO, dont drink the di)