How do you treat your RO water?

[makiedog]

I have a 2-stage system from Kent Marine (without DI canister). I currently let it drip into a 22 Gal Rubbermaid barrel with a heater & a bubbler. When its full, I add Kent RO Right and Discus Buffer to bring PH down to about 6.8. After about a day, once I made sure the temp is raised to 86 deg, I'll use it for a 30% water change in my 35 Gal Discus tank. Am I doing it right? Should I add a DI canister?

Thanks,
Pat L

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Pat:
Is there a special reason you are using RO water? Is this a breeding pair?

I raise juveniles is straight tap, GH 12, pH 7.8. Breeders I mix RO/tap 50/50%

[makiedog]

My tap water is very hard, 8.5 PH. Difficult to bring it down fast. I'm not breeding them, simply trying to keep them alive & happy without too much messing around with the tap water. Was told by LFS this is the best way to go.

Pat L

[Carol_Roberts]

You don't have to worry too much about the pH. Have you considered a 50/50 mix of tap and RO rather than RO right and discus buffer? Steady parameters and lots of water changes are best for discus. Juveniles grow larger with minerals in the water. Soft water is so the eggs will hatch.

[makiedog]

Carol,
Are you suggesting to pour in 50% of untreated tap water? Or should I still dechlorinate the tap water portion?

Thanks.
Pat L

[Carol_Roberts]

Of course you dechlorinate the water.

You may not have to strip minerals, add them back and add chemicals to lower the pH.

You may be able to simply heat and agitate your change water for several hours (or overnight) and add a dechlor product before refilling your aquariums. This might save you lots of time, work and money.

Pat you might want to check the Water section.
There is ton's of info on how to treat R/O water.

DI can be very costly, depending on your feed water.
Besides what Carol has advised, you also could regenerate
the R/O with minerals. Also you could mix with Treated Tap (peat).

I would not recommend Discus Buffer, since it jacks up your TDS/Conductance too much.

Ronald

[RandalB]

I agree about the Discus buffer. The whole point of RO is to take stuff out of the water. Why Add it back in if you don't need to?

RandalB

[Smokey]

Howdy Pat;

I have similar water. 8.5 pH; 450 ppm GH./ KH.
I found that a r.o; I have a 2.5 x 14 inch unit; did not condition the water to as low as I would have liked.
Rocky Mountain water. lol... Clean, but hard!

What I might suggest - is let the R.O. water drip into a small bucket of peat moss, before it drips into the water barrel.
For 20 gallons of water - try about 1/2 gallon of moss. Measure the pH and gh / kh.

The moss will remove the hardness, and lower the pH.

The amount of peat moss will determine the final water numbers. More moss = lower KH/GH, pH.

A bit of trial and error, on your part, should give you the water numbers the discus will be comfortable in.

RandalB, Carol, Ronald, have good suggestions.

Smokey
{ I use 4 gallons of moss to treat 100 gallons of my water. Final numbers = pH -6.8, ... kh 445 ppm.}

P.S. - You still need to de-cholrinate the water !!!

[LobsterMobster]

I agree about the Discus buffer. The whole point of RO is to take stuff out of the water. Why Add it back in if you don't need to?

RandalB


What is your personal suggestion for treating RO water??

[RandalB]

Don't use it at all if not breeding and mix in a small amount of tapwater if you are. Keep it real soft and do more frequent water changes to prevent crashes.

Smokey,
What kind of RO unit were you using that didn't soften the water enough? Even at low pressure your product water should have been below 15PPM. Not trying to sell you anything, I'm just interested..

RandalB

[Smokey]

RandalB - it was supplied by Dow Corning.
2.5" by 14". Stainless steel housing.
The feed pressure is 95 psi.
output 150 -175 gpd.
FilmTec[DOW] = TW30-2514F

Smokey

[RandalB]

What was the TDS of your product water?

RandalB

[Smokey]

Sorry - no tds meter. Gh / kh both are 450 ppm.