Excuse me but What is RO and what is it used for?

[Natalia]

I'm sorry for not knowing but can someone explain to me what an RO System is and what is it used for?

HAving suck a system does your water changes easier and in less Time?

Am i Correct?

[RyanH]

Hey Natalia,

RO stands for Reverse Osmosis. An RO unit is a water purifier that uses pressure to force water through a semi-permeable membrane allowing smaller water molecules to pass through but blocks larger molecules such as heavy metals. This gives you water that is extremely pure and almost devoid of trace elements. RO units are used to soften water for breeding as Discus sperm has difficulty penetrating and therefore, fertilizing eggs in harder water.

Tap water is almost always sufficient for keeping Discus so unless you are interested in breeding you do not need an RO unit.

As for your second question, I'm unsure of what a sucking system is. Maybe somebody else can chime in and answer that one.

hth!
-Ryan

[Carol_Roberts]

I think she meant such instead of suck ;)
RO is much more work (more time consuming) than simply aging water for water changes.

[RyanH]

:embarasse Whoops... yeah that would make sense... :p

[Natalia]

Sorry about that, i really did mean Such!
What exactly is Aging Water?
And with all this water changing what about the biology of the aquarium, isn't it destroyed?

[RyanH]

When you age your water you are allowing it to release CO2 gas. This stabilizes the pH so that when the water is added to your tank any changes in the pH will not affect your fish. These swings, especially downward, can cause severe stress to your fish.

The nitrifying bacteria in your tank live in your filter media. Specifically, on the surface of your filter media. They will remain in your tank no matter how much water is changed. By changing water you are removing nitrates which are not broken down in the filter. Your are removing potentially harmful bacteria and pathogens. You are also removing wastes that haven't been broken down yet.

hth!
-Ryan

[Paulo]

Hey,

an Reverse Osmosis unit for household use usually comes in 5 stage filter, wherein all unseen particles will be filtered.

I think the last filter stage is an Activated Carbon...depending on the brand.

Usually a RO unit delivers a 50gallons per day water capacity.