hey everyone so i want to start using R/O water since i can easily access it in my house. if i use R/O water, do i have still have to add prime? or do i just add it straight to the tank. thanks everyone.
using R/O water for WC?
- Thread starter iloveoscars702
- Start date
is there chlorine in your water? I have well water so I don't have to worry about adding anything to my water. I have been doing that for almost 2 years now and not a problem. The only other thing would be is if your R/O system is set to remove chlorine from the water.
I thuoght all R/O systems removed the chlorine?... I may be wrong on that one...
Also keep in mind that R/O systems are designed to basically remove everything from the water. So your DH, KH, TDS, etc will all be very low or zero...
I don't see any benefits in using R/O water for freshwater water changes unless there is a known problem with the local tap water...
Also keep in mind that R/O systems are designed to basically remove everything from the water. So your DH, KH, TDS, etc will all be very low or zero...
I don't see any benefits in using R/O water for freshwater water changes unless there is a known problem with the local tap water...
Matter of fact, it depends on what fish you keep. If you want to breed neon tetras then using mostly R/O is great. If you want to keep African Cichlids, then it's the worst thing you can do...
HarleyK
iono but when i do WC with tap water i get these weird ammonia spikes and i suspect it being my tap water. so id rather use RO water since its a lot more safe.
HarleyK;4175598; said:
Great point Harley... What kind of fish are you keeping in this tank ILoveOscars (I have a feeling he's going to say an Oscar
)iloveoscars702;4175606; said:
Contact your local water supplier and ask if they use chloramine in plae of chlorine.
If they do then when you add Prime to your tap water the chloramine will be broken into ammonia & chlorine... The chlorine will be neutralized and gas off... the ammonia will be converted into ammonium... the bacteria in the tank will oxidize the ammonium just like it does ammonia produced by the fish...
Provided the ammonia spike after adding Prime to your tap water is gone in 24 hours, then everything is as it should be and there is nothing to be concerned with...
When many municipalities started using chloramines in place of chlorine Prime and a few others factored this into their formula.
nc_nutcase;4175642; said:Great point Harley... What kind of fish are you keeping in this tank ILoveOscars (I have a feeling he's going to say an Oscar
Contact your local water supplier and ask if they use chloramine in plae of chlorine.
If they do then when you add Prime to your tap water the chloramine will be broken into ammonia & chlorine... The chlorine will be neutralized and gas off... the ammonia will be converted into ammonium... the bacteria in the tank will oxidize the ammonium just like it does ammonia produced by the fish...
Provided the ammonia spike after adding Prime to your tap water is gone in 24 hours, then everything is as it should be and there is nothing to be concerned with...
When many municipalities started using chloramines in place of chlorine Prime and a few others factored this into their formula.
I have a jardini and 6 bichirs. lol no oscars, well i used to have em but i sold em. but yeah the ammonia spike last overnight and the tank is back to normal.
So you have Bichirs which come from African Rivers, which has very similar water parameters to S. America...
And the Jardini which hales from Australia in all around neutral waters...
Pure R/O water is completely neutral (PH) and very soft (KH, DH, TDS, etc). Due to it's softness it's prone to 'PH crashing'.
It sounds like your "ammonia spike" from the tap water is the very common effect of chloramines. It is important to use a complex dechlorinator like Prime, Amequel, etc that not only gasses off chlorine but also converts ammonia to ammonium and not a simple dechlorinator that only gasses of chlorine.
Since the R/O water is readily available, you may want to use it for a protion of your refill water. I personally wouldn't use 100% R/O water as refuill water unhless you are buffering it to sustain it.
Because R/O water is commonly suggested in delicaet salt water set ups many people suspect it's the best choice. This is not often true as salt water aquarium salt has a variety of buffers, minerals, etc in it to turn that 'pure H2O' into ideal salt water. Without these buffers, minerals ect that 'pure H2O' is often worse for our fish than dechlorinated tap water.
And the Jardini which hales from Australia in all around neutral waters...
Pure R/O water is completely neutral (PH) and very soft (KH, DH, TDS, etc). Due to it's softness it's prone to 'PH crashing'.
It sounds like your "ammonia spike" from the tap water is the very common effect of chloramines. It is important to use a complex dechlorinator like Prime, Amequel, etc that not only gasses off chlorine but also converts ammonia to ammonium and not a simple dechlorinator that only gasses of chlorine.
Since the R/O water is readily available, you may want to use it for a protion of your refill water. I personally wouldn't use 100% R/O water as refuill water unhless you are buffering it to sustain it.
Because R/O water is commonly suggested in delicaet salt water set ups many people suspect it's the best choice. This is not often true as salt water aquarium salt has a variety of buffers, minerals, etc in it to turn that 'pure H2O' into ideal salt water. Without these buffers, minerals ect that 'pure H2O' is often worse for our fish than dechlorinated tap water.
nc_nutcase;4175740; said:
alright so i usually do 20% twice a week. so ill fill the tank half with tap and half with RO?
iloveoscars702;4175902; said:
That should work pretty good...
But again, I would only suggest this if you had R/O water readily available. I surely wouldn't pay LFS prices for it...