How Best To "perfect" My Water? Ro?

[juliethegr8t]

Hey all. Some of you may remember me from waaaay back. Hi, if so. I've got a new situation that is putting me an area of fishkeeping that I really don't know much about! So I figured where better to turn than good ol' TFF. You guys have grown so much and I will appreciate all the opinions, I'm sure!

I will be moving in a few months to Wichita, Kansas. I did some research ahead of time, of course, and read that in a chemical analysis of city water from 2000, the pH is 8.5. Yikes! Here is the link for those of you who understand more of these water parameters than I: http/www.wichita.gov/CityOffices/WaterAn...alysisWater.htm

Anyways, I am at about a 7.4 pH where I am now and even that has been tough to deal with some of my fish. I am a betta lover and wilds breeder. Of course they loooooove their soft, acidic brown water! And so do most of the other fish I love to keep, as I am limited on funds and space and therefore must keep smaller species. (Minus my Midas how bout that Kelly??) So unfortunately I don't think my passion (or budget) is going to change to allow me to keep the cichlids who would just love Kansas water!

I'm trying to figure out the best way to continue with my wilds and such. I want them to be as happy and comfortable as possible, and if I really do a good job I'm going to try my hand at some "special" types that I haven't wanted to risk before. I have been looking into RO units, but then I would need to have a lot of space for the water generated I suppose, plus need to keep the pH stabilized with some buffer, correct? I just don't quite understand exactly what they entail, though I have done some research on Foster & Smith. Also please remember I am on a budget!

Opinions, experiences, advice? Reviews of products? I'll take whatever info you guys can throw at me! Thanks much.


P.S. Anyone have any idea how the heck I can bring some of my fish with me? I'm not flying and it's a mighty long drive... Plus I don't have any "fishy friends" in the area who can house them for a few days. *sigh* That's a long shot, just thought I'd throw it in there!

 

[demonmagus]

are you looking to generally reduce pH? If so,you could add C02, add bogwood (also stains the water for you) - those are good ways of getting your pH down I think.

 

[juliethegr8t]

Yeah I do need to reduce pH, lowering the hardness would be a bonus as well, as I think the water there is pretty hard - I think I read somewhere that it runs down over limestone to get to us!

From what I know of CO2, that doesn't really help provide a constant pH, especially if you don't have a pH controller in an automated system. But someone correct me if I'm wrong, and that is a possible solution! I just am really looking to have a constantly low pH that stays fairly stable. I may be asking for too much.

I do use natural things like leaves to add tannins to the water, though long gave up on bogwood. Too much of a pain for me! Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[dogfood]

Get an RO unit and some big plastic trash bins to hold the filtered water. All of my betta tanks use RO water and the bettas seem to enjoy it building nice bubble nests whenever I do a water changes. I use a little aquarium salt too.

 

[SkiFletch]

I agree Julie, I'd use RO water and a teaspoon or so of aquarium salt per gallon added to the RO discharge. Big buckets will be your friends . If you do decide to grow plants you'll need to remember to get a plant mineral suppliment to dose once a week since the RO water wont have any trace elements that they love. When looking for an RO unit, try ebay. Most of those units are pretty good, just make sure you have one that has a flush valve or flush kit allready installed. And once you have it, make sure you flush it at least monthly for ~20 mins to just to keep the membrane clean and healthy . If you have questions about RO units, drop by the marine section, we all use em