Reverse Osmosis Water

[Freshfishlove]

I started buying water from the local grocery store in 5 gallon jugs for my freshwater planted aquarium because my water at home seems to really promote algae. Should I still be using some water from home or just the RO water? Do I need to add decolonization to the water? Is there anything I should add to the water? Is it safe as is? I’m a little lost.

General hardness 25ppm
Free chlorine 0ppm
Total alkalinity 0-40ppm
Carbonate 40ppm
PH approx 6

For the most part I’d rather get fish that can adjust to my conditions than try to play the balancing act of changing them and having to constantly keep them stable- but I do really want golden dojo loaches and neon tetras.

Also what is carbonate and what levels should it be at?

 

[Sgooosh]

I started buying water from the local grocery store in 5 gallon jugs for my freshwater planted aquarium because my water at home seems to really promote algae. Should I still be using some water from home or just the RO water? Do I need to add decolonization to the water? Is there anything I should add to the water? Is it safe as is? I’m a little lost.

General hardness 25ppm
Free chlorine 0ppm
Total alkalinity 0-40ppm
Carbonate 40ppm
PH approx 6

For the most part I’d rather get fish that can adjust to my conditions than try to play the balancing act of changing them and having to constantly keep them stable- but I do really want golden dojo loaches and neon tetras.

Also what is carbonate and what levels should it be at?

i dont know about all this RO water stuff
maybe your normal water has a lot of nitrogen in it, i reccomend just getting an RO filter that will pay off later lol
i think it has some chlorine so to play it safe i would

KH stabilizes gh it makes your fish less stressed
it's good to have some because the gh will have a buffer!

 

[itiwhetu]

What is your biggest concern with your water supply? Remember RO was never designed to keep living organisms in it, it is void of everything.

 

[Byron]

My first comment is that using RO permanently is a lot of work and expense. You need to be mixing the water outside the tank before adding it at water changes (unless you use straight RO obviously, but this can get expensive--dojo loaches need a 4-foot tank and weekly 50-60% water changes will not be inexpensive). Is it really necessary? The test results in post #1, are those for the tank water using RO, or for the tap water? Providing us with the GH, KH and pH of just the tap water on its own will give us a starting point.

I will assume you want soft water fish species.

Re the algae, this is not likely to be solely due to the tap water, unless you are on a private well (are you?). We can look at this later, let's first sort out the water parameter issue.

 

[Freshfishlove]

Here is the tap water:
PH 6.5
KH 40
GH 100
Thank you for your help.

I live in an apartment so don’t know where water comes from. I will only be here a few more months and have no problem buying 100% RO or mixing some RO some tap
Before switching to RO I had major brown algae issues.
The first water parameters was just the RO before putting it in tank
Picture below is tap

 

[Byron]

From just the perspective of GH/pH there is no problem using the tp water. GH of 100ppm is 5 dH, and pH is on the acidic side. So soft water fish should have no issues.

The GH of the RO is interesting, it should be zero. No idea what is going on here, if it is bottled water...is it actually "RO" or some other form of bottled water?

I obviously can't offer much on the algae. It is possible there is something in the building's water supply I suppose.

 

[Freshfishlove]

From just the perspective of GH/pH there is no problem using the tp water. GH of 100ppm is 5 dH, and pH is on the acidic side. So soft water fish should have no issues.

The GH of the RO is interesting, it should be zero. No idea what is going on here, if it is bottled water...is it actually "RO" or some other form of bottled water?

I obviously can't offer much on the algae. It is possible there is something in the building's water supply I suppose.

It’s RO from the water machine in local grocery store

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Your tap water looks ok for Dojo Loaches and Neon Tetras.
You can check the website of your water agency for their water analysis report if you want to find out what is inside the tap water.
By the way, take note high power/intensity light and with long duration will promote much algae growth.

Next, you should be looking at General hardness(GH) first, then the Carbonate hardness(KH) for your fish health.
You can check the GH requirements from the websites that I posted below.
A very low KH may cause pH swing and is bad for any fish.

As Byron mentioned, the GH of your RO water should be 0 if the filter is really a RO filter.
I guess probably the grocery shop hasn't been changing their RO filter for a long time or they are using a low quality filter.... LOL
If based on the photo that you attached above, the filter was last serviced on 07/14? Is it 14 July or July 2014?
Also, a good RO filter will remove all Chlorine.

Your RO water GH is too low for Dojo Loaches.
By the way, most people who used RO water will mix them with GH minerals to increase the GH and these minerals are also useful for the fish health.

You can take a look at some Seachem American Cichlid Salt(minerals) if you really want to use RO water for soft water fish.
For hardwater fish, you can look at Seachem African Cichlid salt.

Seachem - American Cichlid Salt

www.seachem.com

Seachem - Cichlid Lake Salt

www.seachem.com

Neon Tetras, Dojo Loaches requirements:

Paracheirodon simulans – Green Neon Tetra (Hyphessobrycon simulans) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

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The Dojo Loach is a true curiosity with their habit of becoming very active when there is a weather change! The Dojo Loach Misgurnus anguillicaudatus is a remarkable fish. It is quite hardy and adaptable. It is commonly referred to as a Weather Loach or Weatherfish, derived from their habit of...

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