How to prepare RO Water?

[RTR]

If the RO is to be used for SW/ or mid-to high BW, that will bring the pH into line with what it should be. If the RO is to be used for FW or light BW (F-8 levels), then additions of RO Right and Equilibrium will correct the issues with materials normally present in and part of water in the wild.

HTH

[~reefchik~]

Thanks, RTR. Those would be the Kent and Seachem products, respectively? I've seen the Kent, but was not familiar with Equilibrium. Just googling and reading about it, it sounds like a good product.

I used to buffer with calcium chloride or baking soda, then one day I saw this stuff on sale and thought, there's an easy solution I guess I should have saved my money.





Anyone want a barely used jar of API Proper pH 7.0 CHEEP?

[Pufferpunk]

http://www.kentmarine.com/products/kent-ro-right.htm

[Puff it up]

I have a few more questions. I really want to get this right because I dont want my fish to suffer. What hardness level measured in ppm is good for gsp's? I kept my discus tank at about 150ppm. And doesnt adding instant ocean sea salt to r/o water bring back some dissolved solids? The reason im asking is, I thought most people that keep marine tanks prefer r/o water and just add the sea salt to buffer it?

[Pufferpunk]

Correct, at marine levels, everything is added back by the salt.

[Pufferpunk]

Correct--at marine levels, everything is added back by the salt.

[RTR]

+1 to PP's comments on full marine - or even high brackish water at and above about 2//3 to 3/4 strength full marine).

It is only in low brackish water densities that there are non-trivial issues for me with the KH, especially at F-8 levels. There just is not enough marine mix added to provide the alkaline reserve that high bioload fish such as puffers really need.

I have not worked with mid-level BW enough to have any seat-of-the pants feeling for its stability. That may be all that GSPs really need, but full marine is so much easier to manage than mid-level BW is just a brief period for me in bringing up to full SW levels where you can use foam fractionators, FOLR, macro alga refugia, DSB or plenum, etc. The bells and whistles do make tank stability easier to manage and cheaper in the long run for me. Besides, I am a sump/refugium addict.

[~reefchik~]

I tested my BW yesterday and whoa...way off on the dKh. About 80. I ordered some of that Equilibrium last night.
And I'm embarrassed to add, I found my big canister of Kent Superbuffer last night while rummaging around for some tank parts





Chemo brain...that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

[RTR]

I really should change my signature line to "Don't fix the symptom, fix the problem", but since I do seem to specialize in invisible fish, I'll keep my old one.

[SammyDee]

i Havent heard of R/O right.... so yall r sayng in Sw it is NOT needed right? just wanna make sure im not missing something. BC Ive been just adding reef crystals to my R/O water, and nothing else...

[~reefchik~]

After spending the last hour browsing Big Als and a couple other sites, and reading about all the additives and water conditioners, I wondered what you would recommend, if anything, in addition to RO Right and Equilibrium. I saw a couple interesting products I was not aware of (it's amazing how many new things come on the market for fish owners). Namely, Replenish. I thought it sounded like a good product. Or Seachem's Trace Elements for FW.

[~reefchik~]

i Havent heard of R/O right.... so yall r sayng in Sw it is NOT needed right? just wanna make sure im not missing something. BC Ive been just adding reef crystals to my R/O water, and nothing else...

I think so, SammyDee. I don't add anything to my RO water but my salt mix.

But I know you really shouldn't just dump RO water (especially freshly made) into a FW or BW tank. That's something I learned relatively recently, because I never used RO for my FW tanks, only for my SW tanks. So what's missing from RO wasn't an issue until I began setting up new FW tanks and getting all involved with these puffer people

[RTR]

I haven't used RO for FW in ages - and that was to play with breeding some blackwater fish where the GH ions damage the egg membranes. All of my FW fish are adapted to my tap water (aged of course - one of my neuroses). Neons may only live ~8 years for me versus the 10 they should do in blackwater, but that is good enough for me. Going to all the work of supplementing all the goodies without much Ca/Mg, especially with planted tanks, is just too much work for me.

You are correct that all those supplements are not needed if you are using RO or RODI for SW or high BW. The marine mix has what is needed.

I have not used either Replenish or anybody's trace element preps other than the ones in the Flourish line. I believe that my 50% weekly partials are doing all the minor ion replenishing that I need. I have not seen any mineral deficiencies in the plants or fish, but I do not do high light tank anymore either - there you are more likely to need more supplements in heavily planted tanks.

Life is easier with moderate light and large partials - water is (relatively) cheap and partials are as near to mindless work as tank care gets. That is just my sort of thing. First, last, and always, I am lazy. The most accomplished with the least demanding work is definitely me. My tanks would not have survived the last year and a half of major health issues if I had to do very demanding work on them routinely. As it is, I lost only a few green-eyed Rasboras, and they are in their eight year and so are likely near the end of their road anyway.

Part of good tank-keeping for me is deciding what this, that, or the other tank requires, and then making the decision as to whether or not I am willing to do what is necessary. Right now, I am definitely in a low-maintenance mode. But the rainbows keep breeding, as do the tangs, and other fish just keep on swimming. Eventually I may start up something else more challenging - but I will still look at it closely before I do. One of the best things about long experience with a lot of different types of fish and tanks is that you have some decent ideas on what is really needed.

[Pufferpunk]

+1 to mindless work!!!

[~reefchik~]

99% of the time, I bow to real life expertise over marketing. Which is why having your posts here is so valuable, RTR, and Pufferpunk and the rest with some puffer experience under your belts. I love online forums for that reason!

Our Greater Miami aquifer is known to be somewhat contaminated. We live in SW Ohio surrounded by mega farms, meaning of course agricultural run-off, not to mention near a couple larger cities meaning industrial pollutants and acid rain (although I guess that's everywhere now). A bunch of us have had long detailed discussions on our reef forum about our tap water and what we locals do about it. I myself, along with several people I know in the hobby, have tested TDS and nitrates in tapwater far in excess of the published municipal water reports Everyone I know in SW now in this area uses RO or RODI - it's simply a necessity. Link http://tinyurl.com/357thq7 if you're interested.

I've always had algae issues with FW tanks. Always. I've tried everything under the sun to rid my tanks of various nuisance algaes, learning a lot of hard lessons along the way. Still learning. You have to get back into the hobby to begin to learn again I guess, and I too have had some serious health challenges in the past few years including cancer. I'm just finding so much enjoyment in these fish, but like everything else I've ever done I tend to attack it with a passion for a while. I'm sort of making up for lost time, as last year was all about my health and nearly everything was put on the back burner.