advice on water chemistry please

[herbzIOW]

Any idea how I can soften the water in my tank a bit so I can breed my silver dollars? Thanks

 

[Hholly]

Peat pellets in your filter, or driftwood might help.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Peat moss, DW, certain substrate, and indian almond leaves all help. Also RO/DI water.

 

[herbzIOW]

Whats DI water? Ive only heard of ro. Could I mix ro with conditioned tap water without too much bother to other water parameters? Or would I see swings in ph etc?

 

[herbzIOW]

Also, if I was to use ro , wouldn't I have to add minerals etc back into the water?

 

[Fishless cycle]

Also, if I was to use ro , wouldn't I have to add minerals etc back into the water?

I'm just learning about this too. I started to use RO for my tropical tank as my tap water is already at 40ppm. I mix in minerals that I got from my lfs. Apparently once you start using RO you can't go back to tap water. I tried that last week and my ph swung loads - I didn't realise I couldn't! I have added a nitrate filter to get rid of some nitrate and I've gone back to adding RO but I believe that the fish can't be in pure RO without adding minerals or mixing tap water (you need to calculate the exact proportion of both and then stick to it).

 

[Hholly]

You can go back to tap water with several small water changes. You just have to take it slow.

 

[Fishless cycle]

You can go back to tap water with several small water changes. You just have to take it slow.

Really? I'm trying to get my head round it all. I really want my fish to be happy. My nitrate from my tap is 40ppm and I've added a filter bag to both of my tropical tanks to absorb as much nitrate as possible. I'm not sure whether to keep with RO - I only began doing pwc with RO a few weeks ago and the nitrate is reading 5ppm... not sure if its the RO or the nitrate filter bag??

What would you suggest I use?

 

[Fishless cycle]

Also, if I was to use ro , wouldn't I have to add minerals etc back into the water?

Sorry herbzIOW - didn't mean to hijack your thread! Think I'm in the same boat.

 

[Hholly]

Sorry herbzIOW - didn't mean to hijack your thread! Think I'm in the same boat.

You might want to start a thread about it. But I think you should test your tap water again. Nitrates often fluctuate in tap water. I would personally use the tap water and maybe add Seachem Matrix and Purigen to your filter. And live plants if possible.

 

[Fishless cycle]

You might want to start a thread about it. But I think you should test your tap water again. Nitrates often fluctuate in tap water. I would personally use the tap water and maybe add Seachem Matrix and Purigen to your filter. And live plants if possible.

Thanks Hholly - I will add more plants. I'm still sitting on the fence about the tap water as I have been testing it regularly and nitrate fluctuates between 30-40ppm. Still seems too high to me.