RO Water Questions

[wilddiscuss]

Well I ran my ro/di unit. I filled my water up about half way with ro water. Then after that I filled up with tap. Added my air stone. Did not add any water conditioner. Aged the water about 24 hours. My ph is coming back at 8.2 my TDS is 65. Should I do something different? That is a crazy PH and is that an acceptible TDS? I am not breeding but the ph jumps from 7.5 to 8.5 in 24 hours. I thought I would bring down the PH more than 8.5 to 8.2? I dunno. Please let me know what I should do. Thanks!

Todd

[dishpanhands]

with TDS 65 you PH will come back down quick..you might not need to do anything..but watch that PH with a TDS that low the PH can go too far..

[wilddiscuss]

Do I need to add additives for more TDS?

[dishpanhands]

If you ask me you tap TDS of about 130 would be great..If your not breed that is good water..130 isn't alot to high for breeding...I try for about 100 ppm. My tap hits 400 ppm sometimes.

[wilddiscuss]

So about 65 to 67 ppm is too low. What additive do you think I should add? I am new to the RO thing. Also...how long does it take for the PH to actually drop? My tap water is after 24 hours aged jumps from around 7.5 to 8.5 with about 120 ppm. I am just trying to bring the PH down a bit. But it seems like it's hard because everyone else's TDS is 300 or more. :( So I could almost just use 100% RO/DI water and just add what I need but I only have a 35 GPD unit. So I want to do 50/50. I just want my water to be in the 7 point something range. I am not breeding, but just want lower PH.

Todd

[dishpanhands]

you can use 3 parts tap water and about 1 part RO...The Ph in your tank will come down as the fish live in it, so it depends on the size of load on how fast the PH will go down and how often you change your water.I wouldn't worry about your PH. The big thing to to make sure its stable..

[wilddiscuss]

But I want to keep some wilds in the near future... I heard they like lower PH that's why It's a big deal i think. Just not sure what I should do.

[dishpanhands]

Well I use all RO water and RO Right and I have to fight to keep the PH above 6.0. Don't Know how low yours would go. My PH is 7.0 out of tap and 7.3 after 10 hours

[Graham]

Whats the KH of your water

[wilddiscuss]

Whats the KH of your water

Well I just took some water out of the tap and did my KH test kit with the KH Hagen nutrafin test kit. It says the 1st drop will turn the water light blue...and it did. Then add 1 drop at a time, cap the tube and shake...untill it turns to a yellow lime color. Then multiply the total number of drops by 10 to get your mg/L (ppm). But I'm not sure you count the first drop as one of the drops to count or there after???

The results were.... after 6 drops it turned a lime/yellow color. The 7th drop I did just to see and it turned fully yellow. So somewhere around 60-70 ppm I assume. I also did the test on some aged tap water and got the same result.

I also took my GH and it is 100 ppm.

Let me know, thanks Graham.

Todd

[Graham]

If you test the KH on your RO water it should be close to zero...

You should be able to mix the two waters, aged tap and RO and get the water that you want. The GH/KH isn't all that high to overwhelm anything...........

G

[wilddiscuss]

If you test the KH on your RO water it should be close to zero...

You should be able to mix the two waters, aged tap and RO and get the water that you want. The GH/KH isn't all that high to overwhelm anything...........

G


What about the 65 TDS??? Is that an issue? Is the water going to be stable for the fish or do I need to do something else?? Like add RO right? I want the water to be stable enough to not have to do large water changes daily. Am I going to be ok with that?

[dishpanhands]

RO Right won't help much..better to get it right with your tap..

[Graham]

Experiment mixing the aged tap with the RO till you get a pH and KH that will work for you.

A TDS of 65 is pretty soft and there will not be much buffer/KH left in it

[wilddiscuss]

Experiment mixing the aged tap with the RO till you get a pH and KH that will work for you.

A TDS of 65 is pretty soft and there will not be much buffer/KH left in it

Graham. What do you think would be the best that will work for me? Maybe 25% RO/DI water to 75% Tap? I might not be able to get my PH down much. But like I said I am shooting to try and keep wilds. I am not sure what acceptable KH is either.

Thanks!

Todd

[wilddiscuss]

Well I tried a different mix of RO/DI water and tap water. I did 25% RO/DI and 75% tap water. This is where I am sitting as of now. I tested my water and it was 84 TDS. But after calibrating my meter it was at 97 TDS. So am I shooting for 100??? Is this close enough of should I try a different mix?

[Graham]

try any mix that gives you what you want number wise....but you could also drive yourself nuts chasing magical numbers.

Remember that you need sufficient amounts of KH to support the pH and every time you drop the TDS that KH number comes down

[wilddiscuss]

try any mix thst gives you what you want number wise....but you could also drive yourself nuts chasing magical numbers.

Remember that you need sufficient amounths of KH to support the pH and everytime you drop the TDS that KH number comes down

What is the amount of TDS and KH that I want in the water?

[Graham]

I won't comment on the TDS, I'll let the breeders handle that.

For KH to be able to keep pH stable you would want it consistently in the 60>70ppm range

[wilddiscuss]

I won't comment on the TDS, I'll let the breeders handle that.

For KH to be able to keep pH stable you would want it consistently in the 60>70ppm range

Well that's what it is from the tap. So pretty much I'm stuck with the PH I have. I'll have to test my KH from my mixed water but I am sure it'll be around 50 or something. Does that mean I will never be able to own any wilds?

[Graham]

Todd what's the pH, KH and TDS of the water that you mixed...that 25/75 blend.
Play with the mix

G

[wilddiscuss]

Todd what's the pH, KH and TDS of the water that you mixed...that 25/75 blend.
Play with the mix

G

This is what I have right now.

PH - 8.6
TDS- 96 ppm
KH- 50 ppm

Now I was told that sense my tap water jumps from 7.5 to about 8.5 after aging it will take another day for the ph to fall back down. So that's what I am going to do. But does this sound like a safe mix or do I need less RO/DI water???

[Graham]

I'm not sure why your pH is as high as it is, with a KH of 50. Are you aerating the water heavily?

What do the numbers look like when you reverse the mix...75% RO 25% Tap

[wilddiscuss]

I'm not sure why your pH is as high as it is, with a KH of 50. Are you aerating the water heavily?

What do the numbers look like when you reverse the mix...75% RO 25% Tap

Yes I have a airstone in there and a power head going at all times. When I measured it yesturday right after I mixed it...it was 7.5. The water strait out of the ro was 6.8.

[Graham]

I'd question the RO unit... 6.8 out of it seems high, so a rise to 7.5 with some air would be nothing.

maybe some one else has some ideas

[wilddiscuss]

Well it's been 2 days. There is still like 97 ppm TDS and no change in the PH. I don't get what I am doing wrong???

[dishpanhands]

your not doing any thing wrong...If you put fish in that water it would come down fairly quick..If you have to get it down you can get some peat and put it in while you are ageing it...then your going to have to watch for it to crash after you put it in your tank..doing a WC every other day might get you in the end just depends on how many fish are in it. once it starts down you will have to be careful it don't go to far...

[Rod]

Wilddiscus, have you tried pure ro water with minerals added? No tapwater at all!! Thats what i use for breeding my domestic discus and get pretty good results. Tropicmarin make one called pro discus minerals designed just for this purpose. Gives a ph of about 6.5 after aeration and 50/60 tds. I don't keep any wild discus but i do breed wild angels and use exactly the same water. Last spawn i raised 575 from 1 brood :D Incredible stuff. 50% w/c every 2nd day with an average bioload of wild discus should keep the ph pretty stable.

Maybe worth a try if your tapwater is unacceptable.