Making the Switch to RO from tap

[confusedfishmom]

Ok I finally bit the bullet and bought an RO system. I have 4 tanks, stock includes oto, bolivian rams, pea puffers, snails, and juvenile (newly added) black ghost knife. All tanks are planted some heavier than others. 3 tanks are established and 1 is newly cycled. How is the best way to go about transitioning from a very high Ph (8.4-8.6) to the RO water without causing my fish to go into shock? TIA

 

[t-bone]

You can't run straight RO water. It has no minerals or buffers in it. The Ph will be all over the place without proper buffering. It would also throw off the osmotic balance of the fish. The RO water would try and draw out the minerals in the fish to balance the concentration of minerals in the water and inside the fish. Bad deal. You will have to add something like Discus buffer or similar to the RO water to replace minerals and buffers. As far as the specifics of transition and a detailed explanation of the Ph buffering/osmotic balance, I'll just leave that to someone else. I've got a lot of chemistry in my degree but it has been 15 years. [emoji13]

 

[TMaier]

I use RO/DI water. I add Seachem equilibrium to remineralize. I like my PH about 7.4 so I have a bit coral/aragonite in my canister to my ph stable. I recommend you slowly start replacing part of your PWC with the RO. When I did it to my 29 gallon I would do 12g a week changes and did 4g the first week. Then 6g the next. Then 8, then the full 12.

 

[confusedfishmom]

Based on my limited research, it seems I should plan on my next WC to do a half RO and half tap water WC. This will cut my hardness in half (for the WC water) but my Ph wont be cut that much because Ph is different and I'll have to experiment with getting it right. Ugh. This is intimidating and I'm really worried about ending up with an unstable Ph. I'll research equilibrium to see if that might help. Thanks for advice.

 

[TMaier]

The coral/aragonite will keep the ph from bottoming out on you. I was very conservative. My Khuli's hate any dramatic changes and totally freak out darting around if it happens.

 

[Kaneu]

Based on my limited research, it seems I should plan on my next WC to do a half RO and half tap water WC. This will cut my hardness in half (for the WC water) but my Ph wont be cut that much because Ph is different and I'll have to experiment with getting it right. Ugh. This is intimidating and I'm really worried about ending up with an unstable Ph. I'll research equilibrium to see if that might help. Thanks for advice.

Test your tap. See what your gH and kH levels are. And add tap accordingly.
My tap water is liquid rock but has good minerals in it and a good kH value. I have found that if I do 1 part tap and 3 parts RO, then I get the water peramitters that I want. Just have to do some testing, trial and error

 

[t-bone]

Test your tap. See what your gH and kH levels are. And add tap accordingly.
My tap water is liquid rock but has good minerals in it and a good kH value. I have found that if I do 1 part tap and 3 parts RO, then I get the water peramitters that I want. Just have to do some testing, trial and error

A much better idea than buying buffer and not to mention a lot cheaper. This would probably be a lot more stable in the long run too.

 

[TMaier]

My tap is terrible. Ammonia.5 and nitrates 20. We don't ever drink it. That's why I went to RO/DI.

 

[Kaneu]

My tap is terrible. Ammonia.5 and nitrates 20. We don't ever drink it. That's why I went to RO/DI.

...wow. that is almost toxic.

 

[coralbandit]

Test your tap. See what your gH and kH levels are. And add tap accordingly.
My tap water is liquid rock but has good minerals in it and a good kH value. I have found that if I do 1 part tap and 3 parts RO, then I get the water peramitters that I want. Just have to do some testing, trial and error

^^ THIS X1 ^^
Get a good TDS meter to add to your test kit.
I mix my ro with tap to breed my rams. I now only use TDS to know proper mix since the two [my tap and ro ] don't change too much...
Don't be afraid the slow switch is easy peasy..
I can switch my rams from tap to very soft ro in one day safely with drip acclimating.

 

[confusedfishmom]

Yikes this is all a bit overwhelming. I might have bit off more than I can chew. I'm definitely going to slow down and do more research. I have one empty tank (well it's a snail tank) I can experiment with it until I get the hang of this.

 

[rlederer]

My R/O system goes into a large 40 gallon storage tank so that I always have fresh water available at the right temperature. But I put a connection straight from the tap into the line between the R/O system and the storage tank and control it with a valve. That way I mix R/O and tap water as the R/O is produced and always have the pH and hardness that I want, in my case 6.5 and 80 ppm, respectively.

 

[Kaneu]

My R/O system goes into a large 40 gallon storage tank so that I always have fresh water available at the right temperature. But I put a connection straight from the tap into the line between the R/O system and the storage tank and control it with a valve. That way I mix R/O and tap water as the R/O is produced and always have the pH and hardness that I want, in my case 6.5 and 80 ppm, respectively.

Brilliant!
I will have to look into this.