Adding distilled water to planted tank

[TheFishNerd]

I have three beautiful imbellus bettas on the way. One wild caught male along with two females. I am trying to find the perfect ratio to lower my 8.2 ph down to around 6.5 and dilute the extremely hard water because I am going to try and breed them. One 10 gallon will be planted and as close to their natural habitat as possible with live plants, driftwood, and leaves for the wild caught male and hopefully, fry. I am still gathering more information on the plant's needs and was wondering if the distilled water will also dilute the nutrients and hurt the plant's growth. This is my first time keeping a planted aquarium and just picked up a bunch of plants from Petsmart. I have 4 ribbon plants anubias frazeri, and an el nino fern. I have no supplements but could get some if they are required.

 

[Crispii]

RO water + botanicals will help lower the pH.

 

[kno4te]

Will need to get a rodi unit to make RO water and mix with ur tap water. It’ll lower both the hardness and ph.

 

[TheFishNerd]

Will need to get a rodi unit to make RO water and mix with ur tap water. It’ll lower both the hardness and ph.

I am far from being able to afford an RODI unit. I know I can get them as low as 150 to 200 but that's almost 2 months of savings for me. What about peat moss? I've heard it helps bring down the ph of water and softens water slowly. My water does drop from 8.2 to 7.2 If I mix with some distilled water. It is weird because it comes out of the tap at 7.2 but I have to let it sit with a bubbler for an hour or so because it jumps up to 8.2 very fast as soon as I add it to my aquariums. I am worried that adding distilled water to dilute the KH and keep the ph from spiking up will cause the ph to become unstable even though I've left it with a bubbler in a bucket for 24 hours and it stayed at a stable 7.2. After I get my botanicals on tuesday I can slowly bring it down to a more comfortable ph for my bettas but I was wondering if peat moss will permanently keep the ph down or if it will go back up as soon as I remove it.

 

[duanes]

Distilledwater (usually nutrient free) will work to dilute the minerals, rain water can also be used, if you live in a pollution free area..
What dilution you will need, needs to be experimented with by you, no one can tell you how water your water components will react.
Peat moss can help.
I used it , and fallen leaf littler when I had spawning bettas, and killifish.
( I never used pesticides or herbicides in the yard where it was collected)
With Bettas, because they need small amounts of water change water, you may probably not need to get an RO unit, unless you raise lots of fry.
But to keep fry alive you will need to be consistent.

These are wild Betta edithae spawning.

For bubble nesters it might help to have floating plants like water sprite or Salvinia, these help the male in nest construction.
If by ribbon plants, you mean Vallisneria, if the tops of leaves sort of float on the water surface it might help.
Below killifish fry in leaf litter, the littler also helped cultivate the microscopic food the fry need.

Below Valisnera, Hydrilla and a few others floating in my tank.

 

[Rocksor]

Get a GH/KH liquid test as well as a TDS meter if you will be playing with the hardness (GH) of your water.

 

[duanes]

House plant roots hanging in your tank (do not submerge the leaves or majority of the stems)can also help, besides adding nesting sights for breeding betta's, they help maintain high water quality needed to raise healthy fry. Many people use Pothos, but most tropical house plants are equally as effective.

The roots of the plant above are from this.

 

[TheFishNerd]

Thanks for the information. I'll definitely add some live floating plants for the bettas and work with my water a bit to see what keeps both the fish and plants healthy.