RO\DI System

[RustyRapier]

So i have been keeping discus for a few months now and am hooked. I want to improve my water quality coming out of the tap so i have a few questions:
1. I have purchased an 4 Stage RO\DI system and was wondering once the water has been through the RO\DI do i need to do anything to the water? meaning do i still need to age it? do i need to add anything to the water to make it discus safe?

2. how long do you normally age your RO\DI water for?

[afriend]

So i have been keeping discus for a few months now and am hooked. I want to improve my water quality coming out of the tap so i have a few questions:
1. I have purchased an 4 Stage RO\DI system and was wondering once the water has been through the RO\DI do i need to do anything to the water? meaning do i still need to age it? do i need to add anything to the water to make it discus safe?

2. how long do you normally age your RO\DI water for?

In order to improve water quality for discus, I would suggest the following link:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?120956-What-Are-Bioload-and-Biomass-and-Why-They-Are-Important

The control of organic compounds in the aquarium is a very important consideration for healthy discus.

Hope this is helpful

[gators111]

Rusty, the short answer is yes. You need to add back the essential minerals which can be done by either buying a product such as R/O right and or adding some waste water from your R/O unit. If you go with a product you will also need a buffer as well to prevent ph crashes. Either way, I would suggest getting a TDP meter for about $20-30 to use while you figure out your ratios. As for the aging time, if your using an aging barrel, enough time to get the temp up to your tank temp and to mix the minerals thoroughly. I do overnight.

[DJW]

My ro water still needs to be aged, but yours might not. There is enough CO2 to make a big pH swing because CO2 goes through the ro membrane. Age some and see how much the pH changes.

[brewmaster15]

Definitely get a TDS meter , you need to know what your RO unit is producing as far as PPM, and what your source water is. Many people use a mix of the source water and Ro water to achieve a desired target. Something like 80% RO/20% tap. If you do that and do regular water changes you should be okay as far as buffer provided your source water has sufficient Buffering... Its really important that you know your source water....honestly you may not even need RO.

al

[Cosmo]

Just as important as a TDS meter, if not more so, is a good Ph meter for two reasons. 1) hard to determine whether or not your tap water is stable without one, and 2) the use of your RO/DI will impact the Ph of the water. If your source water has a high concentration of CO2 then you will likely need to age your RO water since that is normally not removed during the process and will cause your Ph to increase as it is aerated (this refers back to step 1 of needing a Ph meter). If you test your water and it's stable out of the tap, aging is less of an issue - except - since you are introducing RO water into the system you will likely want to either add waste water back in, or, buy commercial products to remineralize the water, and for that you'll need a separate tank (you do not want to do the mixing in the tank where the fish are). When I used RO water I added Kent RO Right, Kent Ph Stable, and Kent Discus Essentials - note using any commercial product is dangerous if you do not have the TDS and Ph meters as they are extremely concentrated and you'll never guess correctly all the time, you need to measure. Also, although the carbon block will remove chlorine you should still add something like Seachem Prime, for two reasons - chloramines and, you'll never know exactly when your carbon block reaches saturation and stops removing harmful materials from the tap water - always play safe, your fish are living creatures and, they are not inexpensive.

[gators111]

+1 and to add to Cosmo. If you do get a ph meter, pay the extra for one that has auto calibration. Totally worth the extra money.