Ro Unit
- Thread starter Lorna
- Start date
and I know that deionised water will fix it. Does anyone use RO units in their tropical tanks? Can you please tell me about them?
angelmouse
Fish Herder
i use one, my ph is about 8 from the tap, it takes it down to 7.1 and when i add it to the tank because of low hardness(kh/dh) it drops to 6.7, great if you keep very soft water fish and you have very hard water, but a bit of an overkill if not. it needs to be mixed with some tap water or an additive mix to remineralise it. Work very slowly, need to get a unit that says it produces more than you need as they tend to produce 50% or less than they say they do.They are easily plumbed in to your water supply
You could try adding bogwood or peat to the filter this will lower it, i don't like the chemical ph adjusters, not stable enough for me. Is their anything in your tank that could be raising the ph like certain rocks or substrates. I also use diy co2 for my plants this lowers the ph too.
What is your ph and what fish do you keep?
Angel
You could try adding bogwood or peat to the filter this will lower it, i don't like the chemical ph adjusters, not stable enough for me. Is their anything in your tank that could be raising the ph like certain rocks or substrates. I also use diy co2 for my plants this lowers the ph too.
What is your ph and what fish do you keep?
Angel
Hi angelmouse,
Your reply is much appreciated. I am having trouble with the PH the PH out of the tap is 7.6 but as soon as it stays in the tank for 24hrs it rises to 8.0+ I was silly not to cycle the tank beforehand as I didnt know it was suppose to be done, so the tank is cycling with fish in at the mo. I have got 3 clown loaches, 5 tetra and 2 platys. ONe of the loaches is not happy but the other 2 seem OK. I have put bogwood in the tank but that hasn't done anything. I have used PH down that will reduce but it will be back up to 8.0 by the morning. I have tested everything in the tank and nothing is causing it to rise. The funny thing is that it is happening too in my other tank which has got just 1 goldfish in it. Can you please help and maybe explain why the water is doing this? thnx
Your reply is much appreciated. I am having trouble with the PH the PH out of the tap is 7.6 but as soon as it stays in the tank for 24hrs it rises to 8.0+ I was silly not to cycle the tank beforehand as I didnt know it was suppose to be done, so the tank is cycling with fish in at the mo. I have got 3 clown loaches, 5 tetra and 2 platys. ONe of the loaches is not happy but the other 2 seem OK. I have put bogwood in the tank but that hasn't done anything. I have used PH down that will reduce but it will be back up to 8.0 by the morning. I have tested everything in the tank and nothing is causing it to rise. The funny thing is that it is happening too in my other tank which has got just 1 goldfish in it. Can you please help and maybe explain why the water is doing this? thnx
andywg
Bored into leaving
There is nothing wrong with your tap water, it is something in the tank.
You most likely have some rocks in there that are buffering the tank up to a pH of 8.
you haven't, perchance, used a crushed coral, or aragonite sand substrate have you?
I use RO in my tanks - this was mostly because we seem to have high nitrates in this area and because I had one slightly overstocked tank.
The pH does come out rather low which is not too bad for two of my tanks (I had a bit of a panic when I realised it had dropped to about 6 but quickly added some more buffer) but is a struggle with the cichlid tank to get the pH up to the level they like it. I am intending to add a crushed coral substrate soon to help with this.
The second reason I started using RO was because of high phosphates, although this does not seem to have made a difference.
The pH does come out rather low which is not too bad for two of my tanks (I had a bit of a panic when I realised it had dropped to about 6 but quickly added some more buffer) but is a struggle with the cichlid tank to get the pH up to the level they like it. I am intending to add a crushed coral substrate soon to help with this.
The second reason I started using RO was because of high phosphates, although this does not seem to have made a difference.
andywg
Bored into leaving
Phosphates is only a problem to prevent algae in high light planted tanks or if you are growing corals in Marine tanks.
Thnx for that yes I have checked everything. Substrate is silica aggregates. I have taken everything out of the tank and applied vinegar to it. No reaction. I have also taken one object out at a time and left it out over night to see if the PH would rise again (process of elimination) still the PH would rise. And if it was something in the tank then why is the PH rising in the other tank. This is why I think there is a problem with the water.
andywg
Bored into leaving
Try just getting some water out of the tap and then leaving it overnigh in a bowl and see if the pH rises then.
I am unaware of water changing its pH without some external influence on it.
will try that and see what happens. the only things in there that is organic are the fish, the bogwood and some big pebbles. I only tested one of the pebbles thinking that they were made of the same mineral. what types of rock minerals can increase PH?
Tap water can have a lot of Co2 dissolved in it making carbonic acid, when it goes in the tank and the Co2 gasses off the ph rises. As Andy said take a sample leave it out for 24 hours and test it again, my tap water can have a rise of almost one full point when its left out for a day. The ph difference doesn’t cause a problem for the fish because the amount of dissolved solids remains stable.
The ph change won’t be causing a problem for the fish if it’s caused by Co2, it’s the uncycled tank which would make them ill. Ammonia and nitrite are the problem so you need to be checking the levels and doing extra water changes.
The ph change won’t be causing a problem for the fish if it’s caused by Co2, it’s the uncycled tank which would make them ill. Ammonia and nitrite are the problem so you need to be checking the levels and doing extra water changes.
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