Trying to get the tank back to tapwater parameter

[thangnguyen76]

How would I go about to making my tank back to stable tap water parameters? My fish are in a quarantine tank till they are deworming and other parasite if they have any. But I mess with the water in that tank. Now that I know they don't have any diseases or parasite and it is closing to the last deworming treatment, I really want to move them to my main tank. I want it to be easy in doing water changes because it is big and for using ro water the cost in my water bill will go up very high and i can't have that yet...

I do 50% water changes a day of 80/20 at first since I got the fish. Now I am gradually increasing the tap water mix. 70/30 60/40 50/50 and I am at 40/60 right now... Is this ok? or is there a faster way of going about with it? I do not want to lose them seeing them grow bigger and chunky.:o

[sheaspina]

If you're putting them all together in a big tank I assume you're not trying to breed. Aside from that or if you have really nasty municipal water supply you don't need r/o. Just get an aging barrel & treat with safe/prime & you should be good. ph/hardness consistency is more important than the actual values.

[ErickC]

I agree with sheaspina. For now just keep adding a little more tap and less ro each time. Don't forget to dechlorinate!

[dirtyplants]

I agree just keep adding more tap to your RO should only take about an hour or two. Yes you will want a de-chlorinator added. It goes quicker then you think.

[thangnguyen76]

i finally manage to get it to 7.8 ph with tds of 280. They're alive, eating well, and very very very active then before. Eat bloodworm and flake food like there is no tomorrow. They dislike beefheart can't seem to feed them that try every possible mix, but bloodworm, brineshrimp, and omega one flake food is like steak to them though.

thanks you guys for helping out.

[Madaboutdiscus]

i finally manage to get it to 7.8 ph with tds of 280. They're alive, eating well, and very very very active then before. Eat bloodworm and flake food like there is no tomorrow. They dislike beefheart can't seem to feed them that try every possible mix, but bloodworm, brineshrimp, and omega one flake food is like steak to them though.

thanks you guys for helping out.

Just a thought here...brine shrimp and bloodworms arent all that nutrtionally sound for them. Maybe try some of Als blackworms. Mine tore them up whereas previously they wouldnt touch it if it wasnt bloodworms or beefheart. I never thought theyd eat them but they actually left the beefheart to eat the blackworms. And bonus...made their color pop.

-Victoria

[tbmeck]

What were your water parameters before you started to acclimate back to tap water? How long did the process take to acclimate them back? I use RO/DI since my tap water is essentially liquid rock (pH 8.6 and TDS 379). Since I keep Crystal Red Shrimp tanks as well, and grew up with Reed tanks, RO/DI is what I am used to. It would be nice though, to use less RO/DI and a little more tap water.

[thangnguyen76]

my parameters was like 6.7 to 7.0 ph hardness very low like 3, tds only 80. It did not take long, I just do water changes at first with ro and tap mix but tap at higher percent. Then i raise it up till i was only doing straight tap water until i reach the gallon of what my tank is. Patient is key slow and steady. Now that I move back into my house again, the one thing i hate is that i have chrolamine in my tap water. My test kit always show that I have ammonia and nitrite even though the tank is establish. So frustrating make you go nuts. You just got to find what your mix is. Don't mess with it if you can because I learn if you not breeding don't mess with it.
What were your water parameters before you started to acclimate back to tap water? How long did the process take to acclimate them back? I use RO/DI since my tap water is essentially liquid rock (pH 8.6 and TDS 379). Since I keep Crystal Red Shrimp tanks as well, and grew up with Reed tanks, RO/DI is what I am used to. It would be nice though, to use less RO/DI and a little more tap water.