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DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Hello friends,
In an attempt to experiment with bringing down the costs of the remineralization of RO water and using RO Right, I dug through many websites, forums and blogs to find that not many people have researched this experiment.
I did however find an old thread from 5 years ago that listed a formula compatible to RO Right and Seachem Equilibrium.
Here was the formula:
Powdered compound Grams needed
K2SO4 43.5
CaSO4 34.7
MgSO4 24.7
FeSO4 0.30
MnSO4 0.16
Total weight 103.3
This should give a percentage concentration that will do the job. The author of the thread is in the UK and found that the costs to do this were much higher making 100 grams almost 6 to 1.
Here is the complete thread I found.
http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/in...ro-water.6147/
The reason for this experiment is simple, since I use 250 grams of RO Right weekly, the costs add up pretty quick. And given no conclusive evidence that Instant Ocean sea salt is the same composition as RO Right I feel compelled to try and make my own solution without harming my fish and altering the water with respect to RO Right that I currently use that is much cheaper with the same results.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
You should be able to make this recipe for less than one US dollar. I use all of these chemicals in planted tanks.
K2SO4 43.5 $0.19
CaSO4 34.7 $0.68
MgSO4 24.7 $0.05
FeSO4 0.30 $0.01
MnSO4 0.16 $0.01
Total weight 103.3 $0.94
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
That is good to know Chad. Do you have a source for buying them in bulk possibly?
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
I don't have a sole source but most of these items can be found on Ebay. Make sure you purchase solution grade products!
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DiscusLoverJeff
That is good to know Chad. Do you have a source for buying them in bulk possibly?
+1 :)
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chad Hughes
I don't have a sole source but most of these items can be found on Ebay. Make sure you purchase solution grade products!
Thank you again. I will pickup all these and mix to the quantities in the formula and test it on a single tank.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
GREAT source!
I forgot all about this site.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bugman
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bugman
Thanks Larry!
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Yup, before I got into Discus I had a house full of planted tanks. Still have some of the ferts sitting around. Might have to use them.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chad Hughes
You should be able to make this recipe for less than one US dollar. I use all of these chemicals in planted tanks.
K2SO4 43.5 $0.19
CaSO4 34.7 $0.68
MgSO4 24.7 $0.05
FeSO4 0.30 $0.01
MnSO4 0.16 $0.01
Total weight 103.3 $0.94
Chad I was able to find the first 3 ferts but not the last 2. Are they known by another name?
Thanks again everyone!
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Hello friends,
I received the ingredients needed to re-create RO Right (Generic).
Powdered compound Grams needed
K2SO4 43.5
CaSO4 34.7
MgSO4 24.7
FeSO4 0.30
MnSO4 0.16
Total weight 103.3
Using a fresh batch of RO/DI water with "0" TDS in my 32 gallon holding barrel, I added a half teaspoon at a time to get the desired 100 TDS (just for experiment). It required, just like RO Right just a bit over 1 full teaspoon.
The only difference that I noticed is it took a bit longer to disolve and get me to 100. Normally I can get there in 15 minutes with RO Right, this took about 30 minutes. I then tested it after 1 hour and it was still at 100 and then again after 2 hours.
I also checked my GH and KH and both were at zero. Same as using RO Right.
So, I will use this water in one of my next water changes today and see if there are any effects on the fish. Stay tuned.
Thanks.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Just a one month update.
So far all my water parameters are doing great with the new RO mix. There are no visible effects on the fish. No added algae growth, nothing. All is working out perfectly for 1/4 the cost.
Cost for 1kg (1000 grams) of my mix is about $6.00 compared to RO Right at $26.00 (including shipping).
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Thanks a lot Jeff...appreciate your good intentions and follow up.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Hi Jeff, Good work there. Any idea how many gallons 1kg will treat? Would you be willing to sell me/ship on 1kg? Let me know the cost. Thx Ed
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Hi Ed,
I am not sure how much 1kg will treat as I have not measured that yet. I would say over 500 gallons depending on the TDS you want to hold.
As far as selling it, I am not doing that just yet as I want to try another month worth of testing. But I stated, for $31.00 shipped from the website I posted, you can make about 5kg of this mix. I have made 2kg so far and still have more than half of the mix left to make.
It is a good beneficial deal if you have a gram scale (needs to read 0.00) and some patients. Takes me about 15 minutes to make a batch.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Thought with the recent inquiries I would do a 1 year update (almost a year). Everything is working well with this mix. TDS has been stable without any fluctuating differences. Savings are adding up as this mix has saved me a couple hundred dollars so far.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DiscusLoverJeff
Hello friends,
I received the ingredients needed to re-create RO Right (Generic).
Powdered compound Grams needed
K2SO4 43.5
CaSO4 34.7
MgSO4 24.7
FeSO4 0.30
MnSO4 0.16
Total weight 103.3
Using a fresh batch of RO/DI water with "0" TDS in my 32 gallon holding barrel, I added a half teaspoon at a time to get the desired 100 TDS (just for experiment). It required, just like RO Right just a bit over 1 full teaspoon.
The only difference that I noticed is it took a bit longer to disolve and get me to 100. Normally I can get there in 15 minutes with RO Right, this took about 30 minutes. I then tested it after 1 hour and it was still at 100 and then again after 2 hours.
I also checked my GH and KH and both were at zero. Same as using RO Right.
So, I will use this water in one of my next water changes today and see if there are any effects on the fish. Stay tuned.
Thanks.
Good stuff thanks for sharing I am working out what I will need to do when we move in 5 weeks going from town tap water out to rural where only tank rain water is available. It shouldn't be as touchy as R/o but I will need to put some minerals back in especially growing young. I currently run my town water throught tripple 10" filters 1st is 5 mic PP sediment 2nd is 5mic block carbon and 3rd is 1mic block carbon silver impregnated. I was thinking I will still need the PP sediment and maybe just fill the second with crished coral for calcium ect and 3rd filter PP again to keep the particles out.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
exactly !!! wow cool , i get mine from
http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizer.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chad Hughes
You should be able to make this recipe for less than one US dollar. I use all of these chemicals in planted tanks.
K2SO4 43.5 $0.19
CaSO4 34.7 $0.68
MgSO4 24.7 $0.05
FeSO4 0.30 $0.01
MnSO4 0.16 $0.01
Total weight 103.3 $0.94
and Jeff, cool one year ! have you been using just Ro water alone with this mix and your not seeing any difference to using RO right? also your using this to breed or for what reason are you using all RO if i could guarantee i can keep things constant id like to make my own for my wilds since i despise my well water.
DiscusloverJeff:
Thought with the recent inquiries I would do a 1 year update (almost a year). Everything is working well with this mix. TDS has been stable without any fluctuating differences. Savings are adding up as this mix has saved me a couple hundred dollars so far.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
I use this most for breeding and holding TDS at 80. When I will use it to cut in with my tap water (30% RO 70% Tap) to hold TDS between 180/200 for the rest of my fish. With the recent spikes in my tap water, I am trying to keep a balance so nothing spikes like my PH recently did.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
I am about to try out your remineralization substitute. Thanks for the great posting and the sources for the chemicals.
I tried to find the formula for RO right, and couldn't find it in the threads you posted, or anywhere else online. It seems it must have some sodium chloride in it. Your formula is spot on for the Seachem Equilibrium formula except for the very minor trace elements they also add. One thing to note, is that the amount of MgSO4 in this formula is for this compound in the hydrated form, as found in epsom salts (MgSO4-7H2O), just in case someone actually finds some anhydrous MgSO4 and tries to use it. For the small amount used for Discus, this probably would make no difference, but who knows. Looks like the iron sulfate could also be purchased at almost any drug store in tablets used as supplements. Epson salts in a find granule form can be purchased at most drug stores cheaply as well. Good to have epsom salts on board anyway in case of discus that bloat.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
First time I see this post. Great job. I still have a ton of fertz left over from my planted tanks. May actually keep them now.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the updates! Great and helpful job you did!
I tried to understood but I'm not sure- what is the quantity (grams) for let say 30 gallon? (I use 75% RO and 30% tap water).
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
eranio, remineralization is used for RO water in place of the minerals from your tap water. If your GH with your 30% tap water is above 50 ppm, then you shouldn't need any RO right or additions. Jeff must have had a problem with his tap water not contributing enough buffer to counteract some pH changes, so added it also to his tanks that were not being used for breeding.
I did get my chemicals and made up a batch of the mix as per Jeff's original post. I converted the grams to ounces so I could use a cheap postal scale to mix up 1 Kilogram batches at a time.
The numbers are:
15.34 oz KSO4
12.24 oz CaSO4
8.7 oz MGSO4-7H2O (as epsom salts)
0.1 oz FeSO4
0.6 oz MnS04
This makes 1KG of mix.
I used it and found that this mix will increase your GH and KH if used in the same amount as Kent RO right (1/2 tsp for each 10 gallons). If you use that amount with pure RO water, you will get a GH of slightly less than 40, and KH of 2.
I didn't measure conductivity but suspect that Jeff's measurements are exactly what I would get. Note that he only uses 1 tsp for 30 gallons, so he probably does not have enough GH increase to measure.
This will work out very well, and will be much, much cheaper than Kent RO right. It also will contain no additonal sodium. As Jeff indicated, this mix does not change the pH at all. However, my RO water is slightly acid (pH 6.6) so the final of my tank water is 6.4 or so. This is a bit low for the babies I'm raising now, as they eat so much that the pH goes down pretty fast, so I will add a small amount of sodium bicarbonate (probably 1/2 tsp for 50 gallons) to the mix to compensate for this. Kent RO right changed my pH to neutral when I used it, likely because it contained some buffers to make neutral, no matter what they say (probably not much, and if the water wasn't RO water it likely would not have made the water neutral.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
I am glad you guys are trying this mix. I hope you have good results.
My kh/gh was 0 to 1 and after using what I needed, it only slightly brought them up to a safe 3 to 4 ph and 4 gh.
It did not alter my pH either. As my pH from 100% RO was 6.5/6.6 it never went higher or lower. I feel like this is working just fine for me and my fish.
Post your results and water parameters before and after you try it for a couple weeks. Maybe I can put a chart together to monitor other people's results.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Hi Jeff, this is a great thread you have started here I have been using the mix for around 4 - 6 weeks now and is great. I have also found that yellow diamond are a good gauge to see how your water is mine come up a real strong nice yellow when I have the right amount of minerals in the water and they pale nearly no colour when not enough. I haven't done too much testing on the water but nothing very much changes no PH change and TDS or I use Um might be lucky to move up 10 Um.
Since adding it I have had larger spawns :-) and now successful attachment 3 pairs this week :-). Has taken a while for them to settle in after the big move 1300Km and going from Town supplied water to 100% rain water.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
I am glad this worked for you Timmy and you are having such good results. I wish you continued success.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Wow! Will add this to my "to do" list. I've had odd results with tap water here in the past, so I'm going to try the RO + this mix to bring some consistency to my tanks....
Thanks for sharing!!!
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
It sounds interesting and I think I will try this mix with my RO water if I can get all the chemicals locally. One thing I am curious about is the GH/KH. If this mix still leaves the RO water with GH and KH of zero what are you then doing to raise the GH/KH a little to stabilize the PH? Also if I may ask. I live in a water area that lacks KH (alkalinity) so the water is considered soft although PH straight from tap is about 9 (7,5 after a few hours). I have been using an RO unit to try to lower PH to at least PH6 with some success in the past but I recently bought a new membrane and filters on ebay and the RO unit is now reducing TDS to zero but not lowering the PH at all.
Any advise or suggestions?
Iceman
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Just want to chime in and echo Larry and Chad about aquariumfertilizer.com. They are also my go-to place for dry ferts. The owner is one of the founders of our local SFBAAPS club.
I think this DIY remineralization thread is going to be blessing to this hobby, as it allows folks to go start with RO (and DI?) water and set the mineralization level(?) exactly where they want it. The reef folks have been doing this for who knows how long, and the freshwater shrimp folks have also started doing this a few years ago.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Thanks Jeff, this all sounds great, I am having a slight difficulty in sourcing these chemicals so I wanted to ask if you know if it is safe to use Calcium Chloride Dihydrate CaCl2 * 2H20 instead of CaS04 and if ok would it be the same quantity? Also if that is not ok, do you then know if there is any difference between Calcium Sulphate (Gypsum) (Dihydrate) CaS04 * 2H20 and the Plaster of Paris which people generally seem to be using? Also how important are the last two (Iron and Manganese). Do you think that it would be safe to skip them if I canīt source them?
Any advise greatly appreciated and keep up the good work!
Iceman
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
RO won't change your pH much, but will make it very unstable, unless you use the RO right (seachem substitute) to increase your KH. It is very likely that your pH is very rapidly becoming more acidic once you add it to your tank with your fish, as one of the by products of the nitrogen cycle (caused by the ammonia your fish excrete) is acid. If after mixing in the seachem substitute, in your tank is still high after a day, (very unlikely) you can decrease the pH with muriatic acid easily and cheaply obtained from Home Depot.
You can still get all of the ingredients from greenleafaquariums.com for a good price.
One batch if you use 1/2 teaspoon per 10 gallons, will give you more than 7000 gallons of treated water.This should give you a KH of around 2-3 which will keep a 50 gallon tank with 8 heavily fed juvi discus in it stable (pH decreasing by less than .6 units) for at least 2 days.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
So much appreciation for this thread, thanks everyone!
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
I'm sorry to bring up this old thread, but does anyone know if the website suggested still sells iron sulfate FeSO4? I have looked all over the site and it seems to be the only ingredient in the list i cant find. Unless, it's under a different name. Any help would be great. I have looked around the web, a little, and i have not found straight FeSO4. Is it not made? Thanks for any help. I would also like to say THANK YOU for this thread. I am about to switch over to RO due to poor well water quality.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
Ok - so most opinions are that treated tap is fine for discus. The main things that treatment does is break down chlorine and chloramine which does produce ammonia. Most chlorine/chloramine treatments address this with I believe a binding factor that converts any bad ammonia into non harmful ammonia. An RO filter will remove most of the ammonia - haven't seen one that does 100%.
Ok John a contributor said he sometimes runs some or all of his RO reject water back into his tanks - the chlorine and chloramine being broken by the carbon prefilter that I assume you are also running.
I kept this idea in reserve for a while but have recently been occasionally putting some RO reject back into my system, with no ill affects. I did buy a Seachem Ammonia Alert for my tank (I believe there are other competitors - note most test kits measure total ammonia not just the harmful kind.) Will probably buy a liquid test for harmful ammonia as well.
Note I am not putting anywhere near all of my RO reject in the tank, most go onto various plants, but I do plan on putting in some on a semi regular basis just to address the concern you express - getting trace elements back into the water in the tank.
Thinking about it if treated tap is good and the things you are worried about are chlorine chloramine and ammonia this makes sense as long as your carbon breaks the chloramine and chlorine - and any remaining ammonia is the not harmful kind or you otherwise address it.
My suggestion would be to test your RO reject and if good, use that. You have already paid for the water why not use it if you can? Using the RO reject will give you the trace minerals you are seeking but free of the chlorine chloramine and ammonia.
Thanks John for the hint!
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
OK, I have switched what I use a bit. The formula using all of the sulfates was actually based on Seachem equilibrium which is specifically for planted tanks and contains lots of potassium but very little calcium. I found that when using this mix at higher levels, as for growing out fry, that it contributed to more algae than I liked. So I found Seachem's Replenish formula and am now using something similar to that.
To make this I use Calcium Chloride from SR aquaristiK that I get from Big Al's http://www.bigalspets.com/search/go?w=calcium+chloride (cheap if you need other stuff or you buy enough to get free shipping). I use K2SO4 from Greenleafaquariums.com, MNSO4 from Greenleaf as well, and Epson salts (from Walmart) as the magnesium. I calculated the approximate amounts (from molecular weights, etc including the hydration from water), and used this to come up with this mixture.
12.2 ounces calcium chloride
2.2 ounces Epson salts (Magnesium)
0.08 ounces potassium sulfate
.5 ounces aquarium salt
I also add a pinch of manganese sulfate as a trace element
This adds overall adds a bit of chloride to the mix and a small amount of sulfate.
It makes the GH much easier to read than with all the potassium in the equilibrium-like mixture.
I have found that 1/2 teaspoon of this will raise 40 gallons of RO water about 1 dgGH (about 20 ppm).
I haven't been adding trace elements like Kent Discus trace, but they probably would not hurt
I use a postal scale to weigh these. The above amount makes almost 1/2 kilo of the stuff, and will last a long time.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
I live close to the University of Minnesota and can get lab grade chemicals to remineralize my R/O water. After a few years, I've stopped using these chemicals and recently sold them at the local fish club auction. Now my discus are raised in straight R/O with no additional minerals added. They grow fast and spawn fine without these chemicals.
Just my 2 cents.
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
whats your ph been doing?
I have been using RO right and the ph still drops pretty quick on a daily basis.
so I purchased the neutralizer and discus buffer, a little bit of each has stabilized my ph and my angel pair finally resumed breeding.
I have to imagine straight RO is drifting all over the place
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Re: DIY Remineralization for RO Water
It's not accurate to describe pH as drifting. The readings do fluctuate, but that's because very soft water has no pH to speak of. You'll find that, by choosing the phosphate based buffers that you did, your pH is drifting within the week. Phosphate based buffers are metabolized by bacteria and are themselves unstable.
Willie