Aging RO water?

[steve b]

A novice question here.....

I know you age water to degas tap water for chlorine/Co2 but what about RO/Di water? if it's filtered for Chloramine do you still do it for Co2?

How do you prepare your RO water for W/C. What do you use to remineralize the water.

[LizStreithorst]

Hey Steve, RO still needs a bubbler to air off the Co2. I store mine in a food safe plastic barrel and I don't remineralizer at all. My pure RO still has between 3 and 5 TDs which I believe to be plenty. Discus get their mineral from their food just like we do. I add a heater and heat the water to 82 same as the tank water.

[Sandip]

I have been researching this topic for the past few days. My tap water has chloramines. I bought a new house recently and was not prepared to finding ammonia in tap water. Such a bummer to all my plans. Now that I know about it, I am thinking of using ro/di water (0 tds) for the discus tank. I will still age the water to let go off the co2, if any.

[steve b]

Thanks, thought as much.

[brewmaster15]

A novice question here.....

I know you age water to degas tap water for chlorine/Co2 but what about RO/Di water? if it's filtered for Chloramine do you still do it for Co2?

How do you prepare your RO water for W/C. What do you use to remineralize the water.

I wouldn't count on aging it to degas the chlorine as thats really concentration dependent. But yes , you do need to age it for the Ro Water unless you are blessed with good discus water first and don't have co2 . I'm not blessed like that and have to age my RO water. The question, " if it's filtered for Chloramine do you still do it for Co2?" is hard to answer because Chloramines and CO2 are not related. Chloramines are a combination of Chlorine and ammonia, which gives it more stability.. A good RO filter with quality carbon blocks should remove Chlorine , but I would be sure to check my water bin just in case.Most Carbon blocks don't remove Chloramine very well..adding a DI resin to the RO Filter can usually remove it but the Resin needs to be changed often.

You can read a little more here...
https://aquaticlife.com/blogs/news/w...osmosis-system

Storing RO water in a barrel with a heater and air stone is what most do. You can remineralize with Commercial products like Kent RO right or seachems equilibrium.. many just add back a percent of their tap water... I do 80% RO and 20 % tap to meet my goals.Its different for everyone based on your water.

hth
al

[brewmaster15]

I have been researching this topic for the past few days. My tap water has chloramines. I bought a new house recently and was not prepared to finding ammonia in tap water. Such a bummer to all my plans. Now that I know about it, I am thinking of using ro/di water (0 tds) for the discus tank. I will still age the water to let go off the co2, if any.

Be sure read this...



https://aquaticlife.com/blogs/news/w...osmosis-system

and research your options on Carbon blocks , RO alone doesn't guarantee that chloramines will be removed.


You can also use a storage barrel and age your water with Prime in it...no Ro needed.


al

[Sandip]

Be sure read this...



https://aquaticlife.com/blogs/news/w...osmosis-system

and research your options on Carbon blocks , RO alone doesn't guarantee that chloramines will be removed.


You can also use a storage barrel and age your water with Prime in it...no Ro needed.


al

Al, Thank you for sharing the link.

I have a question about this "You can also use a storage barrel and age your water with Prime in it...no Ro needed."
Can you elaborate a bit on how this will work? Prime binds the ammonia only temporarily, right? After 24-48 hours Prime looses its ability and the tank filter bacteria will have to work by then to consume the ammonia.

I had used a Spectrapure RO/DI setup in the past . I didn't like the extra work that comes with using RO/DI water re-mineralized. I would like to avoid this step if possible.

[steve b]

Yes I have 1ppm Chlorine and Chloramine in my hard London tap water. Will be using a CBR2 (Carbon) and Chlorplus for the Chloramine. When you say you add tap water do you mean RO filtered waste water? Seems strange to me to add tap water when you have cleaned it up first, I would have a by pass before the RO to get filtered water.

[brewmaster15]

Yes I have 1ppm Chlorine and Chloramine in my hard London tap water. Will be using a CBR2 (Carbon) and Chlorplus for the Chloramine. When you say you add tap water do you mean RO filtered waste water? Seems strange to me to add tap water when you have cleaned it up first, I would have a by pass before the RO to get filtered water.

I'm on a well so not quite the same but even your RO waste water has been filtered by your Carbon block..so its really just minerals and in most cases ( if the carbon is good quality and appropriate for your water) a little waste water is fine. In my case, I use my tap water as its well water thats fine for my fish..juts not so good for breeding.

al

[brewmaster15]

Al, Thank you for sharing the link.

I have a question about this "You can also use a storage barrel and age your water with Prime in it...no Ro needed."
Can you elaborate a bit on how this will work? Prime binds the ammonia only temporarily, right? After 24-48 hours Prime looses its ability and the tank filter bacteria will have to work by then to consume the ammonia.

I had used a Spectrapure RO/DI setup in the past . I didn't like the extra work that comes with using RO/DI water re-mineralized. I would like to avoid this step if possible.

Many people use chemicals like Prime in their storage barrels to detox Chlorine and Chloramine .Some people add it straight to their fish tank before adding tap water that has Chlorine/chloramines, I used to use it years ago when on city water. I Honestly don't know the method or time frame it stays bound,my chemistry background is bare minimum, but if your Biofilter does break it down at some point it should not be an issue.. I would guess the amount of ammonia added is small compared to what your Fish excrete all the time.. A healthy Biofilter should have no problem. I'm more concerned with the Chlorine Component.


hth,
al

[steve b]

Gotcha.

[steve b]

Just a quickie question, new RO/DI water has a Ph of 7? leave it open to the air and it will absorb Co2 lowering Ph. Pumping air through it to de gas it will push Co2 through it also lowering Ph? is this right, so aged RO/DI water will be Acidic?

[Jandiscus]

Just a quickie question, new RO/DI water has a Ph of 7? leave it open to the air and it will absorb Co2 lowering Ph. Pumping air through it to de gas it will push Co2 through it also lowering Ph? is this right, so aged RO/DI water will be Acidic?

Hey Steve,

my r/o + di resin water sits at 7 ph and does not move further. I had it stored for 9+ days with heat and air bubbles and it was still 7. I don't see how it would attract back CO2 from the atmosphere while you are driving Oxygen through it. I blend with regular aged tab water to get to the water I want. I do a 50:50 blend which gives me a ph 7.4, gH of 3. Not that this is what I was aiming for, it just turned out to be the outcome of the 50:50 ratio which makes water changes easy.

[jwcarlson]

Just a quickie question, new RO/DI water has a Ph of 7? leave it open to the air and it will absorb Co2 lowering Ph. Pumping air through it to de gas it will push Co2 through it also lowering Ph? is this right, so aged RO/DI water will be Acidic?

This isn't a concern. It will exchange gases at the surface and will do so more with agitation like an air stone. But it's not like water is a giant CO2 sponge. I don't know how to tell how much is CO2 entrained in the gas and how much might be carbonic acid added in processing. But it doesn't much matter. If you need to age... you need to age. And if you're using municipal water, you should probably always use a dechlorinator so you don't run into an issue where suddenly the switch from chlorine to chloramine when weather warms up and all the sudden your fish are dead.

[steve b]

Cheers, just was reading that the RO/DI is like a sponge and absorba atmospheric Co2 depends how much Co2 is in the air.