RO water additive

[edsye]

I'm setting up a 72 gallon tank for discus. I am using RO water. The tank was filled yesterday. What sort, if any, mineral additive should I be using with the RO water?

[mojosodope]

May I ask why you are using RO in the first place? Are you breeding?

[edsye]

The rational that I have for using RO water is that we have a private well. While we were an active dairy farm our water was tested every six months, and though we never were flagged because of water quality there was variability. With my african cichlids we fought algae on anubias and java fern because of a high phospherus levels in the well water. My son-in-law is an active reef aquarium owner...tried to get me to go in that direction...and he recommended the RO unit.

[DISCUS STU]

RO is really the recommended way to go if the water is questionable, but it needs to be buffered. I've heard of people using pure RO in some cases (?) or going 50/50 with RO and tap water. I have an RO system and usually don't get much algae where I use it, on the systems where I don't, due to time and space requirements, I get lots of algae and really need my Plecos to do their part.

Without any minerals to buffer the water it's very susceptible to huge ph crashes. The only additive that I use, though there are probably others, is "Kent R/O Right" which is supposed to add back many of the minerals that are removed by the RO process; so in theory you get the good stuff back without the bad stuff. I'm sure others will have info.too. It's available in some of the better fish stores or online. It's about $20 for 2 lbs. (2.2 kg.). Regards Stu.

[OC Discus]

You might consider pre-filtering the water before adding it to the tank instead of RO. I've never done this, but I've heard of filter media used for this purpose. It's worth looking into.

I'm setting up a 72 gallon tank for discus. I am using RO water. The tank was filled yesterday. What sort, if any, mineral additive should I be using with the RO water?

[edsye]

Makes sense to me. Coming up with a way to establish a accurate dosing pattern when making water changes will be necessary. I have a system for water changes with my African Ciclids, but I never really measure the amount of water I exchange. It is all approximate. I change some water daily so temp is not critical because of small percentage being changed frequently.

[pcsb23]

RO water isn't always necessary but if done correctly will create utterly consistent water conditions. I prefer to use RO water (well in some ways I have to, but that is another story) ...

I re-constitute it using commercially bought re-min salts, my preferred salts are made by tropic marin and I use a 50/50 blend of their Pro-Discus and re-mineral tropic. I use a conductivity meter (a TDS pen will do) and aim for whatever conductivity I want, and that can depend on what I'm doing and which fish they are. I make the water in a holding tank and then pump it from there once warmed. If you always get the source water right, then you don't need to worry over how much you change etc, just crack on and change it

[Second Hand Pat]

You might consider pre-filtering the water before adding it to the tank instead of RO. I've never done this, but I've heard of filter media used for this purpose. It's worth looking into.

If you wish to prefilter the water vs using RO water you might find this thread useful http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...unhappy+fishes. Note that the parts list has changed.

[DISCUS STU]

Will pre-filtering eliminate or reduce the phosphorous levels indicated in the third post? My phosphorous levels are also high. That's why I use RO, but is pre-filtering a good alternative?

[Second Hand Pat]

That I do not know. I would suggest asking the folks from whom you buy your RO supplies from. There might be a filter that specifics targets phosphates. You could also pm Buckeye Hydro who could answer these questions.