Advice on RO water.

[Sfgiants415]

So straight out of the tap, my ph is 7.8, KH is 6 and my GH is 18. Anyways, I just returned from college and most of my CRS died. I realized that I can't keep anything but Neos with these parameters since I don't like to fiddle with the water too much but how many of you have experience with mixing RO water with your tap?

Let's say I do this and my KH drops to 3 and my GH drops to 10. This is exactly what it was where I went to college. Would I have to add essential minerals or is that only for pure RO water? I'm 99% sure I don't but I thought I'd ask before messing with my water.

Sorry for the stupid question guys. I lost way too many shrimp. I even drip acclimated them for 4 hours and one by one, they died. My RCS seem fine though.

 

[Cloudhp8]

I don't use Ro water so im not 100% but i believe if you are mixing RO with Tap you shouldn't have to add any minerals to the water as the tap will take care of that......now for 100% pure RO i do believe you will have to add supplements to it as it has nothing but H2O in it.......but i have also heard and read the only reason you should all RO is if your Tap is way way out of whack...which yours does not.....yours seems to be about on par with the average tap water system

 

[scuba dude]

I basicly asked the same question recently about useing RO in a freshwater tank. I was told if you use RO you will have to add minerals back to it to make it safe to use. Not sure about mixing it with tap water but would think that if you mix it ( lets say 50-50) then it should be treated 50 % in order to get the required minerals back into it and make it safe.

I have been useing tap water with a basic chlorine neutralizer and will keep doing it that way since it has never been an issue , plus it keeps it easier since I can just refill the tank with the gravel vac that connects to the sink instead of buckets of RO from my storage tank. Much easier from the tap for me.

 

[Rivercats]

When you want to lower Kh and Gh using RO water you simply would use 1/2 tap water and 1/2 RO to lower your tap water Kh and Gh by 50%. In this instance you don't want to add any minerals back into the RO or it defeats the entire purpose of lowering the minerals in tap water. BUT when you want to lower Kh and Gh you want to do it gradually so as not to shock the inhabitants. So for the first 2 weeks you'd do a WC using 75% tap and 25% RO, then by week 3 you should safely be able to use 50% tap and 50% RO. It's very simple.

I know some shrimp keepers that use straight RO and that's when you need to reconstitute it with minerals using a product like Seachem Equalibrium if the tank is planted. This allows you to know exactly what minerals your adding to your water which you don't know when using tap.

 

[Sfgiants415]

When you want to lower Kh and Gh using RO water you simply would use 1/2 tap water and 1/2 RO to lower your tap water Kh and Gh by 50%. In this instance you don't want to add any minerals back into the RO or it defeats the entire purpose of lowering the minerals in tap water. BUT when you want to lower Kh and Gh you want to do it gradually so as not to shock the inhabitants. So for the first 2 weeks you'd do a WC using 75% tap and 25% RO, then by week 3 you should safely be able to use 50% tap and 50% RO. It's very simple.

I know some shrimp keepers that use straight RO and that's when you need to reconstitute it with minerals using a product like Seachem Equalibrium if the tank is planted. This allows you to know exactly what minerals your adding to your water which you don't know when using tap.

This is exactly what I needed to know. I figured this was the case but I wanted to be sure. Thanks!