# RO water implementation



## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

So with our smaller tanks we have added two ram pairs, a pair of electric blues in her 20 long (heavily planted) and a pair of German blues in my 20 high (planted fairly heavily but just starting this one.) We also have a crystal red and crystal black nano shrimp tank 6.6 gallons thats heavily planted as well. We had been using indian almond leaves and the driftwood to pull my tap water pH down. Out of the tap it's pH of 7.6 and kH of 6-7. This method had brought it down typically to basically right at neutral or just under. Anyways, we ended up having a horrific shrimp loss between her 20 long and the 6.6 over about a three week time. All typical water parameters were fine. pH has just under 7, zero ammonia, nitrites, nitrates always under 10 due to the plants, most of the time it reads at 5. We were told that the water authority added phosphates and thats what killed off the shrimp, extremely saddening as we bred out a line of pure white SSSS grade crystals which sell for around $700 each. We had eight of them plus our normal stock of at least 3 dozen between the two tanks including a lot of higher grades. Anyways, we have tried the shrimp again only in the 6.6 and the pairs of rams in the respective 20s. I since acquired a RO system and was mixing half and half with tap water to keep some of the trace elements. I was told last night that it was more likely copper to have killed the shrimp and to use straight RO and add trace elements for the Rams and shrimp tanks. What methods and products do you RO users utilize in this type of scenario? We bought some kent marine trace elements last night and I added some to a five gallon bucket of RO with an air stone in it. I want to minimize outside contaminants for the shrimp tank and provide the best water within reason for the rams. I don't want to add a lot of natural things that may darken up the water though and hide the beauty of these fish, but I would also like to see if I can get them to breed as well. Any input is greatly appreciated. My main concern with the RO and trace was pH stability.


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## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

Ok, correction, it was kent marine R/O right. I just tested that RO water with 1/2 teaspoon of the RO right in a 5 gallon bucket overnight with an air stone. pH is 6.2 and both KH and GH test kits are zeros. Obviously I don't trust this pH to stay stable so avoiding tap water altogether and with possible pH and hardness requirement differences between three tanks, what all do you recommend? I just looked quickly and saw that the 6.2 would be a good pH for the shrimp, and the rams in the other tanks but I still need to check on ideal parameters for all of the tankmates though before I decide on final preferred parameters to tweak to.


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## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

Crickets again. Anybody? Someone here has to be using RO water. Lil help, lol.


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## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

Maybe a mod can move this to the South American section.


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## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

Or maybe its just time for another forum. This one seems to have really dropped off on people wanting to help if you ask for anything besides what is asked 20 times a week in 20 different people's words. If anyone reads this and knows of an active forum that one can get responses on, please pm me. I'm not trying to whine or anything, just looking for answers to a question and know enough that it is not a set thing such as when people ask how to buffer their water for africans that don't live in the same area. A lot of people want to hear, "put a teaspoon of baking soda for every five gallons," but depending on what your kh is to start with would have a huge affect on the amount needed. I'm trying to do right by my fish and my lfs doesnt know enough considering what they told me to do left my KH and GH at zero so I'm assuming that a pH crash would happen eventually. I religiously do water changes weekly but am not willing to bet whether it will stay stable for a week. Thats not fair to my fish. My fish are pets to me, not just things to look at. So if any die it really bothers me especially if my ignorance played a role.


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## laney_miller85 (Jan 8, 2013)

My apologies, but I have no experience with using RO water. I was going to suggest posting this in the "general aquaria discussion" section? Maybe you'll have better luck there. Not sure why the mods haven't stepped in. Most users on this forum probably aren't familiar with RO water so that may be why the crickets are still chirping on your thread.


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## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

laney_miller85 said:


> My apologies, but I have no experience with using RO water. I was going to suggest posting this in the "general aquaria discussion" section? Maybe you'll have better luck there. Not sure why the mods haven't stepped in. Most users on this forum probably aren't familiar with RO water so that may be why the crickets are still chirping on your thread.


I figured that most were probably african guys and gals but there are sections regarding south and central america, etc and I figured some of those people didnt use peat, leaves and everything else to get their water to where they need it.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Moved to SA as requested.
Here are a couple of links I've used in the past for this subject:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com ... .html#rodi
http://www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/20 ... se_osmosis


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## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

Thanks GTZ. I've been reading off and on for a while about this and trying to figure out the magic. It's looking like using trace elements, acid and alkaline buffers are the way to go or finding the right mix of tap and RO.


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## ahud (Aug 22, 2009)

Hey,

I have not personally used RO mixes yet (plan too soon), but the best place for this type of discussion is Apistogramma.com. Using straight RO, cutting with tap, or filtering it through peat is all common practice with Apistogramma. Personally, if I were you, I would consider either adding a source of sodium bicarbonate (crushed corral, oyster shells, etc), or adding a little baking soda to your RO water mixed with RO right. I say with RO right because I'm assuming shrimp need something it provides..I don't know much about shrimp. Sounds like all you want to do is increase the KH a little in order to have a stable pH. From personal experience, if you can get your KH around 4, your tank should be stable enough as long as your not going ages without water changes.

Keep in mind, by the very nature of pH it will be unstable in very soft water. A lot of the water gurus argue that a stable pH is a non issue in tanks with very soft water and acidic pH. If you think about it, it makes sense. When we are dealing with a ratio, and have very few ions. It only takes a few ions to move the ratio to one extreme or the other. I'm not sure about shrimp, but for the fish I would ignore pH if your KH and GH are both 0.

Here are some of my favorite threads from that site:
http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index ... ion.11247/
http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index ... post-69837
http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index ... /ok.12048/


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## Trigger334 (Nov 21, 2013)

Hi everyone.

I have had some experience with RO and keeping shrimp. In other forum I stay active in, we had a good discussion about shrimp keeping and the outcome of the conversation of basically what you figured out. Trace Minerals! Specifically Calcium and Magnesium. It was highly recommended to use Wonder Shells which are similar to the Kent's stuff. We even had a discussion that compared the use of and without. There was much more die off without. The people in the conversion were pretty heart broken about their loss.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com ... Shell.html
You can check them out from the same place as the links provided from GTZ. They have a lot more information about the use of.

Hope this help keep those $700 shrimp alive! Good luck!


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## Trigger334 (Nov 21, 2013)

I made an edit to my post, but I don't know if it went through. It doesn't look like it. I did not mean to say that the Wonder Shells were like Kent's R/O. They should be used in addition too a R/O product such as this. I also mention that I know of people that have used the Kent's RO but switch over to SeaCheam Replenish because it had additional trace element. I sure what exactly what the difference was.

I also wanted to add one last link as I think it addresses the this conversation very well. Also by AAP
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com ... tml#amazon


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## CrypticLifeStyle (Dec 14, 2009)

A lot of the shrimp people i know rave about SaltyShrimp products to re-mineralise RO water.


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