How to mix RO....?

[Witos]

I bought RO filter but i'm not sure how to mix water with "RO Right" - i just want it to be safe for discus,ramirezi and plants....
Few days after WC(RO+RORight) one of my discus had fin disease.....

any advice?
Thanks

[David Rose]

1. Do you know your RO water TDS (total dissolved solids) is before adding RO Right?

2. What is your target TDS? Are you using RO for a juvenile grow out tank or sub/adults?

Your answers will impact how much RO Right you use. I use Kent's RO Right and the directions only say to use 1/2 tsp/10 gals, but it's relative to your target TDS and it's important to keep your TDS relatively consistent. You will want to test your RO water TDS adding a bit of RO Right until you reach your desired target. Personally, I add mine to my aging barrel ahead of time to get well mixed in from the aeration.

3. Do you age your RO water and need to treat it with a water conditioner such as Prime for chlorine and or chloramines?

4. Are you sure you need RO water? What is your aged tap PH and TDS?

[Witos]

the reason i wanna use RO is VERY high phosphate level and i want my ph to be around 6.5(i've co2)
my RO kh/gh-0,0 (API drop test) and i never use wtr conditioner(wtr age at least 24h+carbon filter before membrane)
when i use Kent's RO as directed my fish had fin problem so i figured it was wtr problem
and sorry for my english

[Don Trinko]

All IMO;
1. Don't try to change ph unless breeding. discus do fine in ph 6 to 8.5 and probably higherand lower. The buffereing determines your ph. Not enough buffering (kh) increases the chance of ph crash.
2. most mix ro with tap or well water unless there is something horribly wrong with the tap/well water. I mix 50/50, some mix 25/75 etc.
3. Get a cheap TDS meter . (aprox $30)

All IMO; Don T.

[David Rose]

I'm not entirely sure the spots are caused by the RO Right directly, but rather having a good supply of minerals and nutrients.

If you don't have a TDS meter, I would recommend getting one given this is one of the best ways to gauge mineral content. eBay has a lot to choose from such as:

http://cgi.ebay.com/HANNA-Primo-TDS-Tester-ppm-Meter-Hydroponics-Aquarium_W0QQitemZ270458839907QQcmdZViewItemQQptZL H_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ef89a6363&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

You could get one that measures PH, TDS, and Temp, but they are pretty expensive. A TDS meter is really all you need in my opinion.

From all that I read and based on my personal experience, keeping your TDS between 100-300ppm is fine; unless, you're breeding then you would want it lower. I agree with Don that "discus do fine in ph 6 to 8.5 and probably higher and lower", so as Don suggested you could consider not using RO Right and doing aged tap/RO mix to get the minerals and nutrients from your tap water.

That said, depending on what your straight tap water parameters are, it may be possible just to use tap with a phosphate filter pad or media that can help with your phosphate concern. I don't use it, but someone that has may have a recommendation on what works well.

These are general suggestions and myself and other SD members could advise better, if you could provide your water source and if you've tested it after aging it 24/48 hrs for possible PH fluctuations.

[Witos]

Thanks for advice.looks like i have to buy that TDS...Thanks

[akumastew]

I use this little table that I attached.

I had planned on using R/O right. But after reading the forums, decided to go the reconstition route.

Over the passed few weeks, I have not noticed any variation in my water supply. But it has only been a few weeks.

[Witos]

I'll wait for my TDS meter and then ....
Thanks

[Witos]

i received my TDS tester and:
1 what is the max range to keep discus in planted aqua ? 300ppm?
2 ive in my tank more than 1000ppm(dont know why its so high)
3 tap is 370 ppm
4 do i have to measure kh/gh or tds is enough while mixing?

[akumastew]

i received my TDS tester and:
1 what is the max range to keep discus in planted aqua ? 300ppm?
2 ive in my tank more than 1000ppm(dont know why its so high)
3 tap is 370 ppm
4 do i have to measure kh/gh or tds is enough while mixing?

Have you tried your TDS in calibration solution?

1000 ppm is pretty hard water. My water from the tap is 750 ppm which is pretty hard.

If your tap is 370 and your tank is 1000ppm I would guess that there is something in your substrate that is adding to your aquarium water.

Perhaps some crushed coral or somethign like that.

I would recommend testing your kH and gH separately so you know what the individual values are.

As too the maximum you should allow...there are a lot of folks on the forums, that say that you can keep Discus at a high TDS value, as long as you can keep the TDS value the same and maintain a good water change regime.

- Stew

[Witos]

i add salt to the tank and i think this is a reason of my high tds.
thanks for replay

[David Rose]

Yep, most likely the salt. Just curious, why have you been adding the salt and at such high amounts; especially, given you have a planted tank? Are you adding fertilizer as well for the plants? It all effects your TDS. Also, have you been using buffers to adjust your PH? Depending on which kind they will lower your PH, but can increase your phosophate levels.

As for your new TDS meter, it should have already been calibrated at the factory and given your tap water results of 370ppm may be just fine. Have you tested your RO water as well? What were the results? Hopefully 50 or less. You could always test on some distilled water for a cross reference.

In anycase, I know you want to use your RO water because of your tap water phosophate levels, so I would start with those TDS results and adjust up to 100-300 using a mix of tap water or Kent's RO Right for now. It's important that you keep your TDS level consistent and adjust slowly so as to know shock your discus.

For more specific assistance on your planted tank, you could try sending a PM to Chad/Avionics30. He's pretty cool and has a great set up with lots of experience.

Best of luck,

[Witos]

i didnt add much salt - only 2tbspn/10g and cause of my discus had white coat problem
and why in planted ? because i dont care much about plants,now discus r on 1st place.Yes i add fertilizer and ph discus buffer but i didnt know that its gonna raise tds that much - stuppid me

I'll try to lower it to 300 in few weeks

Question:
When i lower tds to 300 then my kh/gh (API drop test) is at the lowest level - one drop.Is it ok and safe 4 fish/plants?

dlr1961 Thanks

[David Rose]

Hi Witos,

If I'm understanding you correctly, the additives are what's causing your TDS to be so high. Salt is typically used if you had a spike in nitrites, your discus are sick or very stressed. But not knowing why you added it, I can't advise.

I'd also stay away from the PH buffers as well. Discus can adjust to a wide range of PH. i.e. 5.5-8.5

[Chad Hughes]

Sounds like you have way too many things going on in your tank. Lots of additives, salt etc. being added is only going to stress your fish out. Keep it simple, that's the best approach.

Exactly how high are your phoshates out of the tap? If you are 30 ppm or less, I'd say you are OK and can compensate for this through your fertilizer regime. Speaking of that, what type of fertilizers are you using? If you are doisng individual dry ferts, stop using potassium phosphate. If you are using premixed ferts, you may need to switch to dry and reconstitute with RO water then add them to the tank. This will allow you to remove certain ferts from the mix, like Phosphate.

Phosphate is essential to plant growth but in excess will cause algae problems and fish stress. Let me know what types of ferts you are using. I would stop adding anything put water to the tank at this point. No additives (except for dechlorinator, I suggest Seachem Prime) or salt. Using straight RO is not a good thing either. Trace elements are essential and having a TDS of zero in RO water is lacking them.

As I suggested above, control the fertilizer phosphate and you should be able to use your tap water mixed with RO to get great discus water. The phosphate in your tap should be sufficient for your plant nutrition. As far as how much RO to add to tap, that is variable depending on your wter hardness and generally takes a bit of tinkering to get just right. Sometime tap water shifts in TDS so you'll have to keep an eye on that as well. Why are you trying to maintain such a low Ph? Unless you are breeding, your tap water seems perfect in the 300 ppm TDS range for both fish and plants.

Unless there is something that I am missing, I stick to tap, review your ferts and keep things consistent. ;)

Hope that helps!

[Witos]

I did some tests and after i add some "PH Discus Buffer" to the tested wtr my phosphate level ...there was no scale for it (wtr gets almost black (API test))
Is it normal?I didnt know that ph buffer is doing that...And also i test all my plants addons....all good without phosphate.
My tap ph is around 7.5 and my tank ph is 6.5 and imo its not very low.I was adding buffer because i didnt want to stress discus while wc(but i did with salt :embarassed:)

avionics30 ive question:
while wtr mixing is it enough to check TDS or should i check also gh/kh?
and what is better - mix it with RO Right or with "RO WASTE" to get 200 TDS?

ThankYou

[Chad Hughes]

I did some tests and after i add some "PH Discus Buffer" to the tested wtr my phosphate level ...there was no scale for it (wtr gets almost black (API test))
Is it normal?I didnt know that ph buffer is doing that...And also i test all my plants addons....all good without phosphate.
My tap ph is around 7.5 and my tank ph is 6.5 and imo its not very low.I was adding buffer because i didnt want to stress discus while wc(but i did with salt :embarassed:)

avionics30 ive question:
while wtr mixing is it enough to check TDS or should i check also gh/kh?
and what is better - mix it with RO Right or with "RO WASTE" to get 200 TDS?

ThankYou

You never want to have to add chemicals to your water. Ther eare some people in the world that have nearly straight RO water out of the faucet. These are the folks that have to remineralize with a product.

I only check TDS. From time to time I'll check KH just to ensure Ph stability. Noramlly my KH is about 4, so that's fine. I wouldn;t want to have less than 3. Ph gets a bit unstable at 1 or 2. I use RO waste to get my TDS where I like it. Ph falls where it may. Remember, try and keep it simple. ;)

Hope that helps!