Ro Water

[john starkey]

hi all, my bro inlaw has just installed a 100g a day ro unit at his biz unit (bless him) he says i can use it for my weekly water changes (42g a week) if i wish, do i have to add anything back to the water before i use it ? regards john

 

[JamesC]

Yes. Having tried products like Seachem Equilibrium I still find the best is to mix in tap water to get the GH you want. I find plants seem to prefer it as well.

James

 

[Themuleous]

Yes, as james says the easiest and cheapest (by far, especially if you doing 42g a week!) is to 'cut' the RO water with tap. Its easy to do. Say your tap is GH20 and KH16, using 3 parts RO to 1 part tap would give you GH5 and KH4, simple

Sam

 

[john starkey]

Yes, as james says the easiest and cheapest (by far, especially if you doing 42g a week!) is to 'cut' the RO water with tap. Its easy to do. Say your tap is GH20 and KH16, using 3 parts RO to 1 part tap would give you GH5 and KH4, simple

Sam

thanks you guys i will give it a try when i am up and running, regards john

 

[George Farmer]

Or just add tap water to RO to acheive your desired GH/KH i.e. your tap is GH 16 and you want GH 8, simple mix 50:50 tap/RO.

That's what I used to do. Now I use 100% tap that is hard and loaded with NP.

I will be using 100% RO and HMA + additives in my discus set up though.

 

[JamesC]

I will be using 100% RO and HMA + additives in my discus set up though.

Just curious what the additives are.

James

 

[George Farmer]

I will be using 100% RO and HMA + additives in my discus set up though.

Just curious what the additives are.

James

Seachem Equilibrium probably, or a DIY version. I need to work out cost vs. effort.....

 

[Aeropars]

George,

Whats your KH/GH normally out of the tap? I've got hard water as well and was thinking of going RO to give better plant growing results.

Lee

 

[JamesC]

Seachem Equilibrium probably, or a DIY version. I need to work out cost vs. effort.....

I'd stick with using tap water. I tried using Seachem Equilibrium to reconstitute RO water to bring the GH up to about 5. Plants were not happy and showed sign's of stunting. The TDS went through the roof, probably with the amount of sulphates and high levels of potassium that these products contain. Switched back to blending with tap water and plants perked up straight away.

Food for thought
James

 

[George Farmer]

Hi Lee,

To be honest I haven't tested my water for KH/GH in over two years and I've moved house (locally) recently. I'm guessing it's about KH 7, GH 14 or so, as I get pH 6.8 with approx. 30ppm CO2.

For me most plants grow well in most water chemistry as long as there's enough light, CO2 and other nutrients. Softer water may be required for particularly sensitive species, and obviously it's a consideration for acidophile fish.

I understand algae in harder water can be more stubborn but have no personal experience of this (aren't I lucky!?)

 

[George Farmer]

Seachem Equilibrium probably, or a DIY version. I need to work out cost vs. effort.....

I'd stick with using tap water. I tried using Seachem Equilibrium to reconstitute RO water to bring the GH up to about 5. Plants were not happy and showed sign's of stunting. The TDS went through the roof, probably with the amount of sulphates and high levels of potassium that these products contain. Switched back to blending with tap water and plants perked up straight away.

Food for thought
James

I'll probably stick with RO and HMA/CBR filtered tap then. Cheaper too. I'm getting Stendker discus from Germany so the water will be relatively hard anyway.

Thanks James.

 

[Aeropars]

Cheers for that George.

I have something really odd going on in my tank. So much so that I have given up trying to understand it.

I have a KH of about 9 on my last measure from the tap. I had a stable PH of around 7.6 according to my test kit.
I have a PH node in my tank as a failsafe incase i OD on CO2 but to get the required 30ppm showing on my drop checker (with 4kh reference solution) the PH node has to register a PH of about 6.0. I thought my node was dodgy but i've re-calibrated it and it shows the correct readings.

Head... going... to... explode...

 

[George Farmer]

Remember that pH is affected by other acids i.e. nitric and humic acids, as well as carbonic acid from CO2 . So your pH may be lower than what is indicated purely by relying on pH/KH/CO2 tables.

 

[Aeropars]

Yeah i understand. The thing thats bugging me is that i'm going by the readings on the PH node to try and get an idea of whats going on. This is obviously reading the actual PH. Generally were talking a 1.0ph drop to reach 30ppm but thats out the window in my tank where i'm having to get as low as 6.0 on the PH node to get the drop checker the right colour. I've not relied on the ph/kh table for over a year now. That was the cause of a lot of problems in my early days.

 

[john starkey]

Seachem Equilibrium probably, or a DIY version. I need to work out cost vs. effort.....

I'd stick with using tap water. I tried using Seachem Equilibrium to reconstitute RO water to bring the GH up to about 5. Plants were not happy and showed sign's of stunting. The TDS went through the roof, probably with the amount of sulphates and high levels of potassium that these products contain. Switched back to blending with tap water and plants perked up straight away.

Food for thought
James

I'll probably stick with RO and HMA/CBR filtered tap then. Cheaper too. I'm getting Stendker discus from Germany so the water will be relatively hard anyway.

Thanks James.

Hi George are buying your discus in the uk or are you getting them flown over? regards john