Ro Water Question

[OohFeeshy]

Any reason for wanting to use RO?

Me personally have only just started making RO for my marine set-up. All but one of my lfs's use RO on their marines and as thats where i will be buying my stock, the water should be virtually identical in its make up leading to less stress on the fish.

Not for you, for the OP. Presuming tap water has been fine for however long, switching to RO seems a bit of a waste of time
once you consider the 'waste'/RO output ratio and remineralising.

 

[beechey]

i want try try breading my discus on ro

 

[Bigbadbaz]

RO water is not suitable for human consumption, the minerals you remove when running it through the plant end up with the water being negativly charged. This means if you drink it the water it removes the minerals from your body to stabilise itself. (thats why you remineralise it before you add it to your tanks).

Baz (ex RO plant engineer)

 

[matchstickman47]

RO water is not suitable for human consumption, the minerals you remove when running it through the plant end up with the water being negativly charged. This means if you drink it the water it removes the minerals from your body to stabilise itself. (thats why you remineralise it before you add it to your tanks).

Baz (ex RO plant engineer)

wasapoint in taking em out in the first place?

 

[Bigbadbaz]

RO water was originally developed for the chemical and health industries, by using water with no chemicals/minerals in meant that they could not be leached into sterilizing plant/pharmacutical products. People latched onto using it for fish tanks as they could control the amounts of salts/chemicals as they were stripped from the water. RO water from fish tank units is usually only single or double pass units so do not make it as pure as pharmacutical/medical RO. You can drink it but it is not advisable as it will still strip salts and minerals from the cells in your body to neutralise itself. If you have a low immune system or health problems it can be very detrimental.
(sorry for rambling, full of beer)

 

[raptorrex]

so do you do cold water changes? i always do water changes with the water goin back in to the tank the same temp that it came out , thats why i use the shoer as i can set the water to 30 deg

my question would be why? fish, in nature, would never experience consistent temperatures (well most anyway). there seems good evedence, on here anyway, that it not only does not do any harm to use cold water, it may well be enjoyable to the fish(if not actually being beneficial.

Why heat the water? Well, when you are changing the water on small tanks, i.e. 3 gallon betta tanks, the shock of cold water wouldn't actually do them any good.

Even on bigger tanks, large water changes should be slowly if using cold water.

30-40% is 30-40%. makes no difference how big the tank is. whilst i see your point, there is no evedence to back up that comment. and experience, seems to contradict it too.

 

[petertr]

Keep your water changes to no-more-than 33% and you can use cold water with no issues whatsoever.


However, if you MUST heat your water, then run the RO system into a container and put a small heater in there overnight to bring it up to temperature

 

[beechey]

i honestly didnt know that you can use cold water for water changes ive been doing warm water for over 3 years lol, but surely the fish would prefer warm??

 

[raptorrex]

i honestly didnt know that you can use cold water for water changes ive been doing warm water for over 3 years lol, but surely the fish would prefer warm??

cant find, real, evedence either way. but my fish love it, water changes are amongst the most active times for them. sudden influxes of, cold, water would be common in a river system. and, probably, in many lakes too. one thing is sure. its now worse for them than heating the water.

 

[OohFeeshy]

i honestly didnt know that you can use cold water for water changes ive been doing warm water for over 3 years lol, but surely the fish would prefer warm??

Not particularly, the influx of colder water is a spawning trigger in many species (cories for example), plus I believe there's a bit of a concern over heavy metals in warm water due to the heating element/pipes etc.

 

[beechey]

well ive learned summit today ill try it next time when i do a small change

 

[BiorbGuy]

same question again. why heat the water?

I always understood water temperature should remain as constant as possible. Using a digital probe thermometer I use the same device to measure the aquarium and my fresh water and match it to within half a degree which is usually very easy. Admittedly I'm dealing with small quantities compared to an aquarium of 100l and upwards.

 

[bronzecat]

in nature, would never experience consistent temperatures (well most anyway). there seems good evedence, on here anyway, that it not only does not do any harm to use cold water, it may well be enjoyable to the fish(if not actually being beneficial.

In nature, any change of temperature would be gradual. i.e. night time drop, heavy rains flowing down river etc etc.

Although not absolutely accurate, i did a test. Measured out 1 gallon of water, got it to 28.1 degrees, drew off 33%, added the equivalent water back in straight from the tap. Within a few seconds (digital thermometer) i saw a 6 degree drop to 22.1.

I then repeated this with a 40% change and witnessed a drop of 8.6 degrees.

I can tell you my bettas would not be happy

I would also say that these temps are a result of the water mixing, and that any fish directly in the influx of new water may be subjected to temps a lot lower. My tap water is approx 11 degrees c, so theoretically there could be anything upto a 17 degree shock for my fish.

Also, I dont actually see any evidence to suggest it may be beneficial to the fish. Maybe thats just what people want to believe to justify the action?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Also, I dont actually see any evidence to suggest it may be beneficial to the fish. Maybe thats just what people want to believe to justify the action?

Spawning trigger for many fish? That's pretty well documented.

 

[petertr]

in nature, would never experience consistent temperatures (well most anyway). there seems good evedence, on here anyway, that it not only does not do any harm to use cold water, it may well be enjoyable to the fish(if not actually being beneficial.

In nature, any change of temperature would be gradual. i.e. night time drop, heavy rains flowing down river etc etc.

Although not absolutely accurate, i did a test. Measured out 1 gallon of water, got it to 28.1 degrees, drew off 33%, added the equivalent water back in straight from the tap. Within a few seconds (digital thermometer) i saw a 6 degree drop to 22.1.

I then repeated this with a 40% change and witnessed a drop of 8.6 degrees.

I can tell you my bettas would not be happy

I would also say that these temps are a result of the water mixing, and that any fish directly in the influx of new water may be subjected to temps a lot lower. My tap water is approx 11 degrees c, so theoretically there could be anything upto a 17 degree shock for my fish.

Also, I dont actually see any evidence to suggest it may be beneficial to the fish. Maybe thats just what people want to believe to justify the action?

So, you keep your tank at 28C and your tap runs at 11C

I assume you usually change no more than 50% of your water in one go - that means the tank temperature would drop to 19.5C and immediately start warming up.

That is an 8.5C change in temperature, not a 17C shock as you put it.

That isn't going to cause your fish any harm at all.