water

[FishKeeper]

would discus suffer any ill effects from 100% RO water? only my water is very hard (I haven't got a kit to test it at the moment), but I know it is, and i'm worried that using tap in my RO water will completely screw it up. any thoughts?

[FishLover]

You will kill any fish with 100% RO water, unless you add back some of the trace elements.

Discus enssentail is one of them.

Or, you can try a small % of tap water with RO water. 5 to 10% seems work for some people. You will have to find it out by yourself because each tap water is different.

Try to sart with RO water, add 5% of tap water to it and mesure the pH and hardness of water. If it is too soft, add some more tap water to it. Remeber to treat it with Prime if you are adding tap water to RO water. Once you find the righ balance, you can use that ratio for your WCs.

[FishKeeper]

I've been keeping marine for the last couple of years so have got used to using RO water ...

I assume Prime is a tap water dechlorinator, can I not just add about 5-10% water from the RO output (so it will have only had the chlorine and some metals and contaminants removed), or just run it through carbon?

TIA :)

[FishLover]

When using RO water for marine tanks, you add marine salt, which contains all the trace elements I assume. Since I have never kept marine tanks before, I think you know more than I do on this.

For freshwater, you need to add back the trace elements after RO removed everything from the water. There are only two ways of doing this, adding pre-made trace elements or adding some tap water.

Yes, Prime is a water dechlo. that is used to treat tap water. You can use it to treat the tap water before mixing it with RO water.

Hope this helps

[FishKeeper]

thanks,


When using RO water for marine tanks, you add marine salt, which contains all the trace elements I assume

true, I didn't think that through,

anyway, can I use water from the output tube on the RO (or just run the water through carbon) instead of using dechlorinator as is seems pointless spending money on conditioner if this would work?

[UK Discus]

Hi FishKeeper


anyway, can I use water from the output tube on the RO (or just run the water through carbon) instead of using dechlorinator as is seems pointless spending money on conditioner if this would work?

Yes and No
you will have to test the output water first.
Check it for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Phosphate if all these levels are OK then you will be ok mixing it with the RO water to get it at the levels you want

Mark

[FishKeeper]

Yes and No
you will have to test the output water first.
Check it for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Phosphate if all these levels are OK then you will be ok mixing it with the RO water to get it at the levels you want


I will do, although It can only be the same as tap water (assuming I use it combined with the good water from the RO) except it will have been though a pre-filter and carbon, so will have chlorine and the really bad contaminants removed, assuming i'm right in thinking the membrane removes the important trace elements?

Thanks, I think It should work