RO Water

[Clint Kirby]

Hello all, when buying RO water
1: is it expensive?
2: Once you have brought the first lot do you have to go back to the same retailer, or can you use another?
3: Is it worth buying the RO water pump and do it yourself?
Regards Clint

 

[Alien Anna]

I wouldn't even go there unless you've been fishkeeping successful for at least a couple of years. RO water is one of those things (like pH adjustment) that can so easily go horribly wrong if you don't know what you are doing.

Of course, you may be an experienced fish keeper just new to this forum, but I thought I'd just give that warning.

 

[Lateral Line]

1. Don't know.
2. Probably not, but it will not do any harm to check the parameters. Some RO units are more efficient then others.
3. I bought my own. You need to justify the cost of the unit/replacement membranes against your usage. Also, if you are on a metered water supply, you'll need to justify the cost of the waste water, (or keep and find a use for it).

 

[wetwetwet]

Hi clint,

What fish are you keeping? - most will be happy in treated tap.....

...though that said I'm considering investing in an RO unit for my community set-up purely because my local water is total rubbish and those that do use it swear by it.... Pure RO is unstable and will need to be buffered - often with a percentage of tap water....

How good is your local water? - if like mine its not so good and you want to go to the expense then I'm sure your fishes will appreciate it

 

[CFC]

RO water usualy costs around 12 pence a litre so with larger or multiple tanks it may be a wise investment to buy your own unit, i believe they start at around £180 and will need someone with a knowledge of plumbing to fit it.
Providing that the units are well maintained you can buy your RO from anywhere, but you will want to buy it from the nearest place, barrels of water are very heavy and put a lot of strain on your car.
I use Kent RO right to re-buffer my RO water, around £6 for a pot that will last years, all you do is follow the guide on the back of the pot to the ammount of buffer you want in the water ie 1/2tsp per 10g of water for very soft water to 2tsp per 10g for very hard water, as long as you remember to add the RO right and at the same dosage each time you cannot go wrong.I dont see the point of puting any tapwater in your RO, surely you have changed from using it to avoid the high nitrates and phosphates and other rubbish that our drinking water contains so why put them back in ?
I swear by RO and never use tapwater in any of my tanks, the tapwater where i live has a pH of 8, nitrates of 50ppm + and phosphate levels of the scale ! Using it is sure way to have dull coloured depressed fish and the algea problem from hell.

 

[Alien Anna]

I swear by RO and never use tapwater in any of my tanks, the tapwater where i live has a pH of 8, nitrates of 50ppm + and phosphate levels of the scale ! Using it is sure way to have dull coloured depressed fish and the algea problem from hell.

CFC, I'm sure you're right that RO water is great. However, I have similar tap water to yourself, if not worse, and yet my fish are far from dull. I've incredibly good coloured cardinals, rummy-nosed tetras, bettas, guppies and mollies. I also don't have high nitrate (last night in fact the nitrate in one tank was undetectable). This is because I have a lot of plants and CO2 to use up all the nutrients.

So there are ways of having healthy, brightly coloured fish and still use manky tap water.

 

[CFC]

However, I have similar tap water to yourself, if not worse, and yet my fish are far from dull. I've incredibly good coloured cardinals, rummy-nosed tetras, bettas, guppies and mollies. I also don't have high nitrate (last night in fact the nitrate in one tank was undetectable). This is because I have a lot of plants and CO2 to use up all the nutrients.

Have you ever thought that if you used RO then your fish my become even brighter ?

Also it all depends on what fish you keep, as being most of my larger fish cost between £30 and £70 each to buy there is no way in the world im going to risk their health by putting Thames water's finest into their tank, with the RO i know it is pure and free of any chemicals, diseases and other poluttants that could cost me a hell of a lot of money and upset.

 

[Alien Anna]

Have you ever thought that if you used RO then your fish my become even brighter ?

Also it all depends on what fish you keep, as being most of my larger fish cost between £30 and £70 each to buy there is no way in the world im going to risk their health by putting Thames water's finest into their tank, with the RO i know it is pure and free of any chemicals, diseases and other poluttants that could cost me a hell of a lot of money and upset.

Now I can't answer that can I? How bright is bright? All I know is that my rummy-nosed tetras have extremely rummy noses.

However, I'm not using Thames finest just as it comes out of the tap - I'm pre-filtering it through peat (reduces the nitrates and turns the peat into a decent plant compost). Then I have lots of plants, peat, bogwood and CO2 in the tank which reduce the pH and KH, nitrates and phosphates further.

I'd love an RO unit, but so far an RO unit costs more than my entire collection of fish put together. It's something I'm looking towards - I've seen a small unit for £45, but in the meantime I don't think its an essential.

However, you'd never catch me actually drinking the tap water straight out of the tap - whatever the water company likes to claim about its safety. When I phoned them (having discovered 75 ppm nitrates coming out of the tap) they admitted there is no EC legal limit on nitrates.

 

[wetwetwet]

I thought tap water contained other essential minerals/vitamins neccessary for healthy fish/plants and that many ppl/shops often mix tap water back in for this reason (and also to buffer).....

 

[CFC]

However, you'd never catch me actually drinking the tap water straight out of the tap - whatever the water company likes to claim about its safety. When I phoned them (having discovered 75 ppm nitrates coming out of the tap) they admitted there is no EC legal limit on nitrates.

And thats exactly why i dont use tapwater If im going to think twice about drinking something then i certainly dont want my fish swimming in it.

BTW if i were you id get that unit for £45, not a great deal of money really and must be easier than pre filtering all your water through peat before you can use it. The only reason i dont have my own unit is because we live in a rented flat and the landlord wont allow any additions to the plumbing system

 

[jumpman]

I know what you mean cfc. I have high nitrates out of the tap, and phosphate, and a ph of 8!! Waiting to buy a house where I can put the ro system in....then I can start collecting bigger fish. Trying to keep phospates down at the moment with on of those phospate removal bags in the filter.

If you buy fish from a local shop who keep them in the local tap water, like my lfs....what do you do then if you have ro water? Gradually acclimatise them??

Bloody Thames Water!!!!!!!

 

[Lateral Line]

The first RO I had was a cylindrical device about 200mm long and 80mm in diameter. It had a bizarre kind of coupling which enables me to connect it to an ordinary tap, the RO water emerged from a small nipple on the top of the cylinder, the bypass water squirted out of a hole in the bottom, directly into the kitchen sink. You had to be a bit careful with it as it had a habit of leaping off the tap, I used to use a couple of cable ties to make sure.

First, I used a bit of airline to collect the RO and lead it into a bucket, but as I got more confident with it, I used a 200m drum of airline to run it direct to whatever tank needed water and it dripped direct into the tank.

Only turned out 3 gallons a day, but no permenant plumbing changes necessary. Came from a firm in Kent. If I remember/find out where, I'll post.

I later bought a much better model.

 

[Alien Anna]

Lateral Line - I think that was the unit I saw for £45. I have an outside tap that it could probably fit to easily (the tap I currently use for peat filtering). Still, it had better wait till next month's pay.

What are you guys like? Before I came to this group I'd never have dreamed of having hospital tanks, adding CO2, buying fish online or any of the other crazy stuff you've got me doing. I laughed when I saw that post "Gave into the nagging - bought a Biowheel filter". I'm sure if they sold Biowheel filters in UK, I'd have one of those as well.

 

[Lateral Line]

>>> What are you guys like?

Actually, we work for VISA. There was not enough revenue being generated from your area so an orchestrated campaign to rectify this was initiated. Now, which kind of BioWheel would you like, we do international stuff as well........

(Seriously, can you not get BioWheels in England - I'm sure I'd seen them advertised in A&P, PFK etc, years ago).

 

[Alien Anna]

(Seriously, can you not get BioWheels in England - I'm sure I'd seen them advertised in A&P, PFK etc, years ago).

I've looked for them everywhere, but the nearest I found was an Eheim hang-on-the-tank filter from a Dutch online aquarists. I asked about that on the forum but no one responded. External filters are incredibly expensive in UK (you can only really get Fluval, Eheim and an Italian brand). I've now been told my Juwel filter is a rather expensive, good quality filter so I'll stick with that for now.