Salt To Fresh?

[CluelessScot]

Hey guys, I have set up my salt water tank and has been set up for the past 3 months, when i say set-up i mean salt water, sand and skimmer but no live rock... The reason that i have not gone further is that i work away from home, 3weeks away and a week at home and i dont really trust my family to keep on top of tings so im thinking about going back to fresh water.

Can i use this tank as a fresh water tank or has the salt ment that i cant use this now?

Kev

 

[Betta5]

Empty it, wash it and your off. Its fine, and a good decision if there is no-one to take care of it.

 

[SkiFletch]

Agreed, no problems going back to fresh

 

[CluelessScot]

there are people to look after it but i dont trust them with a marine set-up.

So just fill with tap water and away i go? Another question... Can i use my ro unit for fresh water rather than tap water with dechlorinater? I think i heard somewhere i couldnt due to oxydisation or something?

Cheers

Kev

 

[SkiFletch]

Of course you can. You can use RO water and just dump it right in. If you had a cichlid tank whose occupants prefer hard water, I wouldnt do it but for most livebearers, tetras, or south american fishes, RO water would be fine to use.

 

[boshank23]

Of course you can. You can use RO water and just dump it right in. If you had a cichlid tank whose occupants prefer hard water, I wouldnt do it but for most livebearers, tetras, or south american fishes, RO water would be fine to use.

does it need to be re-mineralised for FW? just curious as every time i buy RO the guy always asks if i want pure or re-mineralised. to be fair i have no idea what the diffrence is as i only buy pure for my SW tank.

 

[SkiFletch]

Not for freshwater it doesnt.

 

[three-fingers]

Re-mineralized is if you want to grow any plants in the water. If you used RO water and wanted to grow plants, you would have to use ferts or go EI .

 

[andywg]

Using pure RO water in a FW tank is not a good idea for two reasons:

1) Fish obtain a number of minerals and elements from FW. This became heated when discussed further up the board, but no fish lives in water any where near as pure as RO. There are elements and minerals and it appears (from research) that FW fish obtain most of their calcium from the water via osmosis and not from consumption of food. By using pure RO water you will deprive the fish of the ability to absorb the calcium this way.

2) Stability. RO water has almost no KH and as such is succeptible to huge pH swings that can cause all sorts of problems for the fish.

You can use RO with FW but you need to either buy a bottle of the elements and minerals (such as Kent Ro-Rite) or "cut" the RO water with tap water (say 50:50) so that there the essential minerals are present.

 

[raptorrex]

Using pure RO water in a FW tank is not a good idea for two reasons:

1) Fish obtain a number of minerals and elements from FW. This became heated when discussed further up the board, but no fish lives in water any where near as pure as RO. There are elements and minerals and it appears (from research) that FW fish obtain most of their calcium from the water via osmosis and not from consumption of food. By using pure RO water you will deprive the fish of the ability to absorb the calcium this way.

2) Stability. RO water has almost no KH and as such is succeptible to huge pH swings that can cause all sorts of problems for the fish.

You can use RO with FW but you need to either buy a bottle of the elements and minerals (such as Kent Ro-Rite) or "cut" the RO water with tap water (say 50:50) so that there the essential minerals are present.

i must fully agree here. RO is not much use for freshwater. indeed reading this thread, it may well be doing harm. ask yourself a question, could you live if you drank only Ro water, and food grown in it? answer is no. adding nitrates to a tank, will not make up the lack of trace elements. i keep Cray, they get all their calcium from the water! and that's ignoring all the other things that water carries which are needed for life.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

also environmentally RO units are bad cos they waste a huge amount of water..... so you shouldn't use them if you don't have to.

 

[raptorrex]

also environmentally RO units are bad cos they waste a huge amount of water..... so you shouldn't use them if you don't have to.

an oft forgotten but very important point.

 

[Ter]

I don't agree, in my case I have discus. I use RO water and treat it with RO Right, then with discus essentials for trace minerals. My discus outgrow my friends counterpart discus by a lot, and seem to be a lot more healthy overall using the same feed.

I really think it depends what type of fish you are keeping....
Ter
XXX haah