Reverse Osmosis/ Deionization water change Question

[Gobrian44]

if you have a RO or DI system in your house could you then add that water directly into you tank while doing water changes? i was looking it up online and was curious what you would have to add if anything to make it safe for your fish.

Thanks!!!!

 

[Err]

yea you gotta re mineralize the water. The reason for this is that fish/plants/inverts need minerals just like we do, well they get them from the water via osmosis. Due to the nature of osmosis if your TDS varies widly from water change to water change it can cause a lot of shock/stress and even kill your livestock. If you just drain and re fill with RO/DI water you run the risk of damageing the live stock by either depriveing them of essential minerals and/or a dramatic drop in TDS content. Topping off with RO/DI is ok b/c when the water evaporates it leaves behind all the minerals unlike when you do a WC which actually removes the minerals along with the water. There are a bunch of diffrent methods to accomplish the re mineralization of RO/DI water. Most people store their RO/DI water in a barrel and when time for a WC comes they mix it with R O Rite or other similar product, test it to make sure the TDS is consistant and then use a pump to fill their tank back up. Hope this helped.

 

[Gobrian44]

so installing an RO/DI system in an attempt to help save time and efficiency in a fish house would be very unproductive?

 

[Err]

not nessicaraly, it wouldnt could make things pretty streamlined. With your RO/DI water being stored and pumped you could just rig plumbing so that after you re-mineralize it and siphon your tank/tanks out all you have to do is hang a hose on the side of your tank and flip a switch to turn your pump on. And all you have to do to top off your tanks evap loss is just turn on the water untill its full. The set up will be kinda of a PITA but once thats done it should be quite easy, like filling it up with a garden hose. Given that all things are done properly it will allow you to offer your fish top notch water quality.