Im starting to use ro water and i was wondering how much tap water to ro water should be used in a planted tank any help would be appreciated. thanks in advance.
RO water with plants
- Thread starter Aras118119
- Start date
For the planted tank, I wouldn't use the RO water because you won't have any nutrients coming in from the tap. If you do, you are going to need to add ferts and stuff.
RadleyMiller;618885; said:
hmmmmm i understand where your coming from ..but what about in reef tanks i have see many that use ro and still have great plant life ...must come from the live rock i bet the nutrients thats is
im using ro water b/c my water is real hard and the ph is high and im keeping alot of south american fish in it.
What are your tap parameters? What params are you aiming for in the tank? I use exclusively RO water in my tank. I have a dKH of 8 out of the tap, and pH of 7.6. Make sure you are supplementing with good ferts for the tank if you go to purely RO water. Nitrate, phosphorus, potassium and iron are all very important to monitor. Many tanks now aim to have pH 5.0-6.0 and KH below 3dKH for planted tanks, and the results are stunning.
I would not recommend on using pure RO water, mix it with Tap water
My recommended Range:
CO2 range 25-30 ppm
NO3 range 5-15 ppm
K+ range 10-15 ppm
PO4 range 1.0-2.0 ppm
Fe 0.2-0.5ppm or higher
GH range 3-5 degrees ~ 50ppm or higher
KH range 3-5
Ph 6.4 - 6.8
My recommended Range:
CO2 range 25-30 ppm
NO3 range 5-15 ppm
K+ range 10-15 ppm
PO4 range 1.0-2.0 ppm
Fe 0.2-0.5ppm or higher
GH range 3-5 degrees ~ 50ppm or higher
KH range 3-5
Ph 6.4 - 6.8
I have been using RO water in my planted tanks for over five years now. I do not do a tap water mix. I add seachem's equilibrium to regulate the GH, and was (until recently), using baking soda for Kh. Baking soda is now bonding with other micronutrients in the tanks to cause some form of slime algae. I switched off the baking soda and am now using seachem's alkaline buffer. This week, I have decided to use Tropical Science's Amazon Rain as a gh/kh buffer. As for ferts, I use the seachem line except nitrogen and phosphorus. -Andrew
Thanks for all the help i guess i'll try to use all ro water and use the supplements and see how it all turns out.
dont forget the Equilibreum and Buffer thing you need those stuff especially when you are injecting Co2. Gh and Kh should not be 0