tank stocking question

[racer]

Thats interesting. Whys that

[Flutter]

Because it removes too many of the dissolved solids in the water. RO is great for marine tanks because you're replacing all of those molecules with the salt. However you don't do that with a low-end brackish tank. As a result there aren't enough dissolved solids in the water and so all of that water tries to go into the fish and it's hard on your fish to remove all of that water from their system. Think of osmosis

[racer]

That makes sence. But let me ask you this, could you add you own specific tds to the ro water so you have better control over it? Not tryin to be argumentive just trying to fully understand. Thanks for all the help!

[Pufferpunk]

You can add a powder for reconstituting the minerals removed by RO but it's a PITA.

[Flutter]

Yep, you can. There's products for that. For F8's we believe that a very high TDS is important for them to live long and healthy lives. Using RO water after adding back in dissolved solids may not be very economically feasible in the long run. Unless your tap water is very poor I can't see it being worth the time and money to use RO.

[RTR]

+1 to all of PP's comments above.

Low-end BW (specific gravity 1.003 -1.005) may well lack needed minerals if RO is used. The KH especially may be dangerously low. That is why I suggest the use of aragonite sand in F-8 tanks.

Algae is the direct result of excess light without sufficient live plants and the nutrient balance to support them.

Mollies are great algae grazers. But genders do matter. They should have an balance widely favoring females by a significant margin.