# Tap water no3 at 10ppm phosphate at 5ppm would you go RO?



## Cichlid_beast123 (Feb 26, 2018)

Keeping African cichlids basically I have discovered that my tap water is around 10 PPM for no3 phosphate at 5. I am aware that 10 PPM is not really that bad but I would prefer it to be a lot lower considering this builds. And it's common knowledge some fish don't like to breed in those numbers
should go down the ro route and remineralize ? Or maybe trying 75 tap water 25 RO water? I could see what the KH PH and GH would be with that mix but that wont reduce the no3 past 7.5 so I don't think it will be worth it
Anyway if you have any experience doing this please let me know many thanks


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

My first action would be to double check test results. Test kits are not very accurate, especially when older. And the nitrate test is notorious for being difficult. 10ppm of nitrate is not ideal, but still won't be a problem for most fish. I might put in an automatic drip water change system to keep it at 10ppm at all times. That will probably be better than having it alternate between 0 and 20ppp from waterchange to waterchange.

Phosphate is not something cichlid keepers usually worry about. It's not harmful to fish but can only create algae problems. I'd rather deal with the algae, for example by adding snails or some algae eating fish, rather than targeting phosphate.

RO water is expensive, and bringing it back up to Rift Lake conditions is just a hassle. I would go to great length to avoid that.


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## sandrock (Jul 14, 2019)

I used ro when I had my discus set up. If you produce it yourself you end up with three times as much water to dispose of from the filtering process so bare that in mind if you are on a water meter like me. I used to buy mine from the local store I think it was about £12- 15 pound a week for between 120 and -150 litres howeve as you are not servicing the ro unit you would have no control over service intervals and the water will not always be at the same peramaters. you would also need to use a fair amount of mineral powder to bring it to the desired ph and hardness which is a n additional cost and headache. You will need to test the water and adjust accordingly so you will go through your ph, gh and kh test kits more frequently. having done this for a few years for discus fish wich would use less than half the mineral powder I would not recommend it unless its necessary. Almost forgot you will either have to keep a spare barrel of it ready or you may struggle if you need to do a water change in a hurry.


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