Tap water to RO water/My plants are doing awesome...

[corrado33]

I'm new to planted aquariums, in fact I bought my first plant a week ago. I don't even know what plants I have (Shhhhhh I don't usually make impulse decisions..., the lady at the mom and pop place told me they grow like weeds, and I actually think it's Brazilian waterweed)

Anyway, I bought a few more plants yesterday, and I added another lighting fixture to bring up my tank to a "medium" lighted tank. My plants are doing awesome. About noon today I noticed a small bubble on one of my plants, I figured it just got stuck there, but then around 5:00, there were bubbles coming off of every leaf, on EVERY plant! (Except the java ferns, but they're also doing well, even though their rhizomes are actually IN the substrate. (I'll fix that tomorrow)) I was so excited! I'm so happy that plants are doing well. Especially since I generally only see people with bubbles on their plants when they have a very high tech tank, or put a ton of work into their plants. I have a feeling though, that this good fortune is brought about by a TON of nutrients in my water. In fact, I've been battling BGA recently (why I bought plants in the first place, and I love the look of them).

Also, I just switched from tap water to RO/DI water. I'm afraid that as I continue to use the RO water, the nutrients in the tank will drop. I have well water, so I think that it came with a ton of nutrients to begin with. I have fish in there, and they always seem to fill the gravel up with poo. I vacuum every week and there's always a ton! Should I be worried about a possible nutrient deficiency? I'm planning on adding a couple more fish to bring my total to 10 in a 12 gallon tank. (Mainly guppies)

I don't want to dose ferts unless I HAVE to, and even if I have to, I'll just pour some of my magical tap water in. What are your thoughts? Oh and what do you think my plants are? Besides the java ferns of course.

EDIT: Please excuse the hurriedly taken P&S camera pictures. And I guess I could have included a FTS... too bad, I don't wanna stress the fish anymore tonight.
DOUBLE EDIT: Oh and I'm also building a DIY hood to hold both my light fixtures. That's for tomorrow
Pics

 

[Crepe]

Nice pearling. I think you should be fine with RO/DI water depending on your lighting levels.

 

[mgamer20o0]

java fern the first pic on the right needs to be pulled from the substrate. the other anarchis will be fine in the substrate. it will grow roots from the stem and anchor its self down even if you didnt plant it.

for chemistry i wouldnt just go with pure ro. i would cut it with at least some of your tap water. there some nutrients in the water that the fish and plants need. plus you want to make sure you have at least some buffer in there. while you dont have to use tap there are products out there to add to ro the easiest and cheapest way would be some tap water.

 

[corrado33]

I'll probably end up cutting it with some of my tap water. The whole point of the RO/DI was to eliminate the excess of Na in the water, as we use a NaCl water softener, and Na ions are no good for the fishies. Plus, we get "free" drinking water now. So that's a plus. I really want to get my tap water tested somewhere for everything, kinda like a full workup if you will, but I don't know where to go.

Thanks for the comments. I am going to pull up the java fern in the middle of the tank (and the ugly one on the left front corner, got that one yesterday, it'll pull through). And apparently it's anarchis. I guess I was right. Can I just keep the one java fern on top of the substrate? I might tie the other one to a piece of driftwood, or the big rock, as I like to move the driftwood often. I've already tied a fern to a piece of driftwood in my betta tank, it's not really hard.