Ro Water

[pinkdolphin_113]

Well on friday, I found out my Kh levels in my tap water are at like 9 which is too high to be buffered down to a pH of 6.5... it's like pH 8 at the moment.
My lfs suggested reverse osmosis water in a few water changes so lower the Kh level so my buffer would eventually kick in.

A few questions;
1) He explained how it work but I've totally forgotten it all due to confusion lol so how does it work?
2) How should I add it to my tank?
3) Once I start using it, would I need to use it all the time?

thanks

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

RO water has practically all of it's minerals removed, so yes you would have to continue to use it if you wanted to keep a lower gh/kh in the long run.

 

[angelmouse]

Hi pinkdolphin
1. an r/o unit is plumbed into your water suply and takes most of the tds (total dissolved solids) out of the water leaving you with pure water of ph 7 and no kh/gh,once put in tank because the water has no hardness the ph will drop and be unstable so the r/o water then has to be buffered by adding minnerals or a cheaper alternative is to add tapwater till you get the hardness required, you can also buy r/o water from lfs.
2. do it gradually over waterchanges till fish get use to change in water then just use the r/o-tap mix at each water change. r/o water needs to be airated before adding to tank because of low oxygen content.
3. you will need to keep using it to keep water stats stable otherwise ph and gh/khwill go up again when you start using just tapwater

i have tapwater ph/8, kh/12 wich is fine for most of my fish. I use r/o tap mix to get 3-4 kh for breeding and keeping discus, but r/o is not needed for many fish as they can acept a higher ph, so unless it is really need can be a waste of time and money
filtering through peat is good for lowering ph
what fish do you want the r/o for?

 

[pinkdolphin_113]

right, got that. i was gonna buy some from my lfs but i'm not sure if i want to any more.
however, all i want the r/o water for is to lower my kh so i can then buffer my pH.
the pH for my tap water is 8(.something) at the moment and my kH level is too high (9) for the buffer to change it. so i thought, if i add the r/o water, my kH value will drop, allowing me to lower my pH to 6.5.
but i've been thinking about it and once i add tap water again, the kH and pH will rise again so i thought there was no point unless i continue to use r/o water which, to be frank, is abit of an inconvenience and i don't have the time or money to be that dedicated to keeping fish due to my college life, work, etc.

i was thinking, however, about my little tank for raising fry. this is a couple of gallons and was wondering if it would be easier to control the pH and kH levels in something this small.
I figured i wouldn't need to buy as much r/o water and thought it may have been better for my corydoras eggs and fry, if i get any, or am i wrong here? i here the smaller the tank, the harder it is to keep. does this apply here?

i'm keeping all amazonian fish (hence the desired pH of 6.5) apart from a hillstream loach and a pair of kribensis, which i also hope to breed.

 

[stormy78]

Have you tried adding some Bogwood to your tank? My tap water is about 7.6PH and fairly hard but it drops to a steady 6.8 in my tank due, I believe, to the large peice of bogwood I have in there. It might be worth loking at?!? I'm sure someone iwll correct me if I'm wrong!

 

[codeajohnson]

I have also heard of driftwood helping lower pH in a tank, as well as using peat moss. I have not actually used either of these methods to see if they work, but it is worth a try if you don't want to put all the money into using RO water.

 

[pinkdolphin_113]

yerav got wood in my tank already and have done since its been set up. i don't know if wood has a maximim capacity of absorbing alkaline or whatever but if it does, mine's full! lol my pH level is exactly the same as my tap water
however, i do have some limestone or granite which may be putting it back up.

i was thinking about using peat when doing water changes, and have tried using it in the past... it just fell apart lol so i gave up.

i do have an idea though!

if i were to put soil (ordinary garden soil or something) in a 60cm tall plant pot, covered the soil in gravel and then carefully added water, would the soil lower the pH level of the water?

 

[angelmouse]

i add a bag filled with peat moss inside my filter, and plenty of bogwood works well
regards Angel

 

[pinkdolphin_113]

i was also thinking about the peat in the filter idea but thought it may change the pH too suddenly. i don't want my fish to die just because i want to change the pH level. i think i'll leave it until i have fry lol

 

[mrgtb]

Just keep one thing in mind if you decide to buy an RO Unit (which I use here that goes through a 3 pod CBR2) system first before it hits the RO Unit itself. RO water should be mixed at about 1 parts RO to about 9 Part CBR2 Pod water (which you can collect from your RO waste pipe. As, even though it's called "waste water". It's still good water that has all the heavy metals and chemicals removed. The reason why I say only mix about 1 part RO to 9 parts CBR2 water. Is because the last thing you want to happen is a PH crash. Which can happen very easy if you lower your PH to low using to much RO water. I used to breed Discus, and as a rule of thumb. If I used a 10 litre bucket for a water change. I would use 9 litres CBR2 water, 1 litre RO.

You can use garden centre PEAT from Scotland. I think it was called Scottish peat. But to be honest, it invoves way to much messing around. You much better just investing in an RO unit for breeding, but if you just want to grow discus on. Just buy a CBR2 Heavy metal pod system instead. As you'll have no use for an RO unless your want to breed Discus fish