Adding minerals back to RO water...

[DLock3d]

So, I've officially converted all of my pairs to 100% RO water. Who else is doing this? If so, are you adding mineral supplements back to the water? I know some may add waste water to remineralize but I'm curious to know who adds other minerals and if so, what? My biggest fear is having HITH show up because I failed to provide the proper water conditions for my pairs.

[yim11]

Nicholson has a whole study on pairs in 100% RO, in a nutshell it doesn't work well at all.

Mix with tap.

[Len]

I'd like more info on that. It seems that may be the problem I'm having once my fry are ready to go free swimming and they just disappear and I assume they've been eaten. I don't have them in RO, but the water is very low in mineral content. GH is less than 10 straight from tap. TDS meter reads 43 from cold water tap but chemical test doesn't show anything at all.

[DiscusDrew]

I've noticed a larger effect on fry than anything else. With parents in mineral constituted RO, hatch rates are fantastic in my experience. However, I do not keep them in this water indefinitely. Short periods of time when gathering batches of fry, then with the fry going free swimming going immediately back to tap has worked tremendousl. And allowed for less " disappearance" of fry. I do notice my parents do not like their little ones being raised in water with low TDS rgs ( Len I'd be happy to talk to you in greater detail on this, I had some hell experiences with parents eating fry right after attachment, this issue was the problem, and it took some time to figure out what was going on). And that is why I switch them back to tap, then when the fry are pulled I allow them to stay in aged tap until they are back on cycle., then over three days I put them back on remineralized RO for another spawn. This is just my process and experience.

That said, looks like I need to talk to call John tomorrow because I'm very interested in the research.

[Discus Origins]

I've never had to put any domestic pairs in pure RO and my tap in FL comes out about 180-200ppm, hatch rate was just fine with domestics. I do have my wild pairs in pure RO and that helps hatch rate tremendously along with more spawning behavior. As Drew stated above, the fry I noticed in pure RO developed short gills and some fin defects even with reconstituted minerals. So I start adding back tap water as soon as there is wigglers and raise fry in tap water while the pairs get back into pure RO, that has cut down on defects tremendously.

I reconstitute with Discus Essentials from Kent for all my pure RO tanks. I figure why add back exactly what the RO filter just took out with tap water...just my preference :)

[DLock3d]

I've never had to put any domestic pairs in pure RO and my tap in FL comes out about 180-200ppm, hatch rate was just fine with domestics. I do have my wild pairs in pure RO and that helps hatch rate tremendously along with more spawning behavior. As Drew stated above, the fry I noticed in pure RO developed short gills and some fin defects even with reconstituted minerals. So I start adding back tap water as soon as there is wigglers and raise fry in tap water while the pairs get back into pure RO, that has cut down on defects tremendously.

I reconstitute with Discus Essentials from Kent for all my pure RO tanks. I figure why add back exactly what the RO filter just took out with tap water...just my preference :)

Thanks everyone. Mark, this is specifically what I was thinking about. Very curious that you've had good hatch rates with those parameters. You're a lucky man. :)