Hello and RO Question

[JJOZ]

Hi everyone, my first time here and wanted to ask a question about RO water.
I live in Australia and we have some pretty serious water restrictions rules at the moment due to drought conditions and I have just given my 4x2x1.5ft discus tank an overhaul and bought some new discus, I have always previously just used dechlorinated tap water which has a PH of 7.6 but would like to try shoot for a PH under 7.0.
I understand using a mix of RO and tap water is the best way to achieve this and I have an RO unit I use for my 120L reef tank but making very large amounts of RO water for frequent water changes for the discus tank will produce lots of waste water which is not ideal with our current water restrictions.
I was thinking of using both the pure RO water and waste water together and then adding some tap water for my desired PH.
I figure even straight RO waste water is still cleaner than the straight tap water I've been successfully using for years anyway and was wondering what you all think of this idea ?
Or should I just stick with tap water at 7.6 ?

Look forward to any replies.

[peewee1]

We all seem to have our own formulas with regard to water. Mine is tap water with Prime added changed daily at around 15% per day. Six almost fully grown Discus, no other fish except 2 Green Cory, sharing a 30 gallon tank. This has worked well for me for the past 18 months without a problem. I have one pair spawning so I plan to move them to a 20 or or 30 gallon tank of their own and then not add any more to the 30 gallon tank. The tap water is around 7.5 ph when I test it from time to time. Something to consider if you purchased your fish from a local seller is that your fish, by the time they are introduced into your tanks, have lived in at least two different water conditions. One at the breeder, one at the wholesaler, and then your aquarium. The fish seem to adapt to these these changes without many problem.

[LizStreithorst]

Unless you're wanting to breed your Discus pH is unimportant. Even then, it's more about TDS than pH.

[JJOZ]

Yeah tap water with prime is all I've ever used before with much success and still using at the moment.
Turns out my pure RO and RO waste water mixed together idea was a stupid one, for some reason I had it in my head that everything that buffers the PH would be trapped in the RO unit filters and that the waste water would have the same PH as the pure RO water but I found that was completely wrong after testing the PH of the waste water.
Once you mix the two back together it ends up being 7.6 again !
I suppose it would still be cleaner water than straight from the tap but probably more trouble than it's worth.

Your six large discus in a 30 gallon tank sounds like a full house !
Do they all get along okay, I assume they must if they are starting to breed but yeah they will definitely want more space to themselves then.
Have you breed any discus up before ?

[ricowtr]

In simple terms, a reverse osmosis system is a technology for filtering water containing viruses, bacteria and other bad microorganisms into clean water. :guitarist:

[Willie]

In simple terms, a reverse osmosis system is a technology for filtering water containing viruses, bacteria and other bad microorganisms into clean water. :guitarist:

This is incorrect. R/O systems do not sterilize water. It only reduces the level of dissolved inorganic chemicals.

[Michael A]

This is incorrect. R/O systems do not sterilize water. It only reduces the level of dissolved inorganic chemicals.

I am currently using mineral water for my discus. I would like to know how did you process your water ready for aquarium use. Is 100% reverse osmosis harmful for fish growth?

[Willie]

I've successfully raised and spawned discus for 5 years on pure R/O, despite all the products out there that claim it couldn't be done. Other than these unsubstantiated claims, there's no scientific evidence that fish needs to get minerals from the water. All discus foods have sufficient levels of calcium and other minerals. Also, discus in the Amazon do perfectly fine in water absent of any measurable hardness. (I had to go to 100% R/O because the main water pipe in front of my house was replaced and lime was added to seal the pipe. It took 5 years before I could go back to straight tap.) Nevertheless, discus hobbyists frequently suffer from equipment envy.

So here's the downside => Good R/O systems are really expensive, unless you want to just make 25 gal/day. I had a system that made > 350 gallons, but buying that model now will run you $600. Cheap systems have very high rejection rates so that you will waste 4 - 5 gallons of water for every gallon of R/O. (The $600 system had a 1:1 rejection rate.)

So here's the upside => ?

Note that raising discus in R/O does NOT make them more likely to spawn, says everyone on this site that regularly spawn discus without R/O. I use straight tap after 24 hours of aeration and warming.

[LizStreithorst]

I second what Willie said.

[Michael A]

thank you for the help shifu :thumbsup::thumbsup:
didnt see the message because it didnt go to notif

[Michael A]

I've successfully raised and spawned discus for 5 years on pure R/O, despite all the products out there that claim it couldn't be done. Other than these unsubstantiated claims, there's no scientific evidence that fish needs to get minerals from the water. All discus foods have sufficient levels of calcium and other minerals. Also, discus in the Amazon do perfectly fine in water absent of any measurable hardness. (I had to go to 100% R/O because the main water pipe in front of my house was replaced and lime was added to seal the pipe. It took 5 years before I could go back to straight tap.) Nevertheless, discus hobbyists frequently suffer from equipment envy.

So here's the downside => Good R/O systems are really expensive, unless you want to just make 25 gal/day. I had a system that made > 350 gallons, but buying that model now will run you $600. Cheap systems have very high rejection rates so that you will waste 4 - 5 gallons of water for every gallon of R/O. (The $600 system had a 1:1 rejection rate.)

So here's the upside => ?

Note that raising discus in R/O does NOT make them more likely to spawn, says everyone on this site that regularly spawn discus without R/O. I use straight tap after 24 hours of aeration and warming.

is there added benefits of using RO than normal tap water?