That is a good point about the test kit being old. I would estimate that it is around 1-1.5 years old. Is that too old for the API nitrate test to still be acurate?
On the tap water there was no filter.
Freshwater RO System buffering and PH guidance needed
- Thread starter bigphil001
- Start date
On the tap water there was no filter.
Personally I don't use any chemicals or buffers on any tanks. I'm using a 5 stage RODI that consists of 1 micron sediment, 5 micron coconut carbon block, 1 micron coconut carbon block, 2 75 gpd membranes and a DI final stage. this yields me only 1-4ppm water, from ~300ppm tap. I have Discus, tiger loaches and apisto's in one tank, a 55gal african cichlid tank that I use argonite based sand and limestone to correct water hardness the natural way. tiger oscar and jade goby in another tank, JD and green terror in another tank. Things have been this way for over a year.
Discus and african cichlids request very different water conditions but yet I add the same water to both tanks just pre-heated to their respected temperatures.
the only thing I do to my RODI water is aerate and temp match for 24 hrs.
My thinking is fish are creatures of habit, if you're constantly adding synthetic chemicals to alter water parameters then the fish's habitat is constantly changing. Its like if you were in a room with a constant variation of temp, humidity, air quality, etc you would become very irritable.
Discus and african cichlids request very different water conditions but yet I add the same water to both tanks just pre-heated to their respected temperatures.
the only thing I do to my RODI water is aerate and temp match for 24 hrs.
My thinking is fish are creatures of habit, if you're constantly adding synthetic chemicals to alter water parameters then the fish's habitat is constantly changing. Its like if you were in a room with a constant variation of temp, humidity, air quality, etc you would become very irritable.
I contacted SeaChem and this was their response:
Hello Phil,
Thank you for your email. For buffering RO water to a 7.0 pH in a fish only tank, I would recommend using Neutral Regulator (Seachem. Neutral Regulator). If you wish to set up a planted aquarium, I would instead recommend using Acid Buffer (Seachem. Acid Buffer) and Alkaline Buffer (Seachem. Alkaline Buffer) in a proper ratio by volume as listed on the website and packaging. You can also achieve the proper KH using these buffers.
For GH, I would recommend using Replenish (Seachem. Replenish) in a fish only system, or Equilibrium (Seachem. Equilibrium) in a planted system. These products will allow you to to target and add back only the beneficial nutrients to your RO water prior to adding it to the aquarium.
I hope this helps. Have a nice day!
Hello Phil,
Thank you for your email. For buffering RO water to a 7.0 pH in a fish only tank, I would recommend using Neutral Regulator (Seachem. Neutral Regulator). If you wish to set up a planted aquarium, I would instead recommend using Acid Buffer (Seachem. Acid Buffer) and Alkaline Buffer (Seachem. Alkaline Buffer) in a proper ratio by volume as listed on the website and packaging. You can also achieve the proper KH using these buffers.
For GH, I would recommend using Replenish (Seachem. Replenish) in a fish only system, or Equilibrium (Seachem. Equilibrium) in a planted system. These products will allow you to to target and add back only the beneficial nutrients to your RO water prior to adding it to the aquarium.
I hope this helps. Have a nice day!
When i used strictly RO/DI i would add seachem replenish and mix the acid and alkaline buffers. From time to time i would also add their trace. The problem is that its very hard to maintain constant parameters. Id spend way too much time trying to get it right. Id say its not worth the effort. Id suggest going like 70% RO and the remaining tap water. Maybe use a reactor within your filtration with a resin to help lower nitrate levels. Magnivore pura has great products for this.
Best of luck.
Best of luck.
I just checked the Lake in the Hills water quality report, and their reading out of the treatment plant for nitrate is 0.41 ppm.
The EPA MCL violation is 10ppm, and the report they submitted shows no violation.
Unless you are on your own private well, under the influence of agricultural runoff, I suspect you tap water test kit is off.
The EPA MCL violation is 10ppm, and the report they submitted shows no violation.
Unless you are on your own private well, under the influence of agricultural runoff, I suspect you tap water test kit is off.
Thanks for all the replies and help!!
Here is what i have found and come up with:
Incoming tap water results:
GH was off the scale
KH 250 ppm or 14 dKH
nitrate was around 5 ppm
PH is 7.2
- My nitrate test was bad for some reason. I got a new one and re tested my tap water. It still had some nitrate, 5 ppm MAYBE, but definetely not what the test was reading before
-The GH was off the scale for my tap water, very very hard. I stopped putting drops in at 30 drops with no color change. So I am still happy I have the RO system in place so I can control this parameter
Treatment of my RO water
100 ml of SeaChem Replenish into 60 gallons to get roughly 100 ppm GH
30 ml of SeaChem Neutral regulator for buffering capacity
I had many conversations with the guys over at SeaChem while I was doing this. Initially I added neutral regulator in first to acquire roughly 100 ppm for KH. Then I added in the replenish to establish around 100 ppm GH. Shortly after adding in the replenish I would get lots of white powder on the bottom of the tank and really cloudy water. It turns out that if you put too much neutral regulator in the replenish will precipitate the neutral regulator back out! Seachem then told me that it isn't neccessary to get KH that high when using the neutral regulator, add in the recommended dose on the bottle and it will maintain the PH around 7.0 without raising the KH level.
Overall I was very impressed with SeaChem's customer support!
My only question left over now is:
Can someone recommend what I should target for my GH level being that I have a mixed freshwater tank?
Here is what i have found and come up with:
Incoming tap water results:
GH was off the scale
KH 250 ppm or 14 dKH
nitrate was around 5 ppm
PH is 7.2
- My nitrate test was bad for some reason. I got a new one and re tested my tap water. It still had some nitrate, 5 ppm MAYBE, but definetely not what the test was reading before
-The GH was off the scale for my tap water, very very hard. I stopped putting drops in at 30 drops with no color change. So I am still happy I have the RO system in place so I can control this parameter
Treatment of my RO water
100 ml of SeaChem Replenish into 60 gallons to get roughly 100 ppm GH
30 ml of SeaChem Neutral regulator for buffering capacity
I had many conversations with the guys over at SeaChem while I was doing this. Initially I added neutral regulator in first to acquire roughly 100 ppm for KH. Then I added in the replenish to establish around 100 ppm GH. Shortly after adding in the replenish I would get lots of white powder on the bottom of the tank and really cloudy water. It turns out that if you put too much neutral regulator in the replenish will precipitate the neutral regulator back out! Seachem then told me that it isn't neccessary to get KH that high when using the neutral regulator, add in the recommended dose on the bottle and it will maintain the PH around 7.0 without raising the KH level.
Overall I was very impressed with SeaChem's customer support!
My only question left over now is:
Can someone recommend what I should target for my GH level being that I have a mixed freshwater tank?
