Mixing RO and Tap Water ??'s

[Bearchumjs]

Ok- so I have well water. My pH tests at about 7.8-8.0 in my tank. I have driftwood in the tank, and peat moss in the filter. The peat isnt making a difference so im going to remove it.

pH straight from tap is 7.4, and after 24 hours of sitting on the counter and me stirring it up it tests at 7.8-8.0.

My alkalinity (water hardness) tests very high on the LFS paper test. I don't have a liquid test for that.

Nitrates in my tap water test at 40-80ppm.

I use the API master test kit.

In an effort to reduce the nitrates naturally occurring in my water, the water hardness, and the naturally high pH, I am thinking about mixing RO water and my tap. I do not want to use chemicals like pH down or any chemical nitrate remover.

As part of my tank maintenance I do a 10-15 gallon pwc every week. That's when I vacuum the poo and debris off of the sand and wipe down the glass to remove any diatoms or algae or whatever might be trying to grow on the glass.

If I take out 10 gallons of water and replace 5 gallons with tap water and 5 gallons with RO water, will this bring down my pH, alkalinity and nitrates? Eventually my entire tank would be half RO and half tap water.

I'd like to get more neon tetras and more rummy nose tetras (if I can find more). My ammo and trites are good. They've been testing at zero for nearly a month now. When I add new fish half of them die. I can only think it's my pH and alkalinity.

Tank info: 55 gallon planted tank
Filtration: Marineland emperor 400
Inhabitants: 2 rummy nose, 4 neons, 4 variatus, 5 male endlers, 3 ghost shrimp, 2 zebra nerite's

 

[Cichlid Kid]

I would think that its a combination of high ph and nitrates. Neons are not the best fish to try and acclimate to a higher ph. You stated this was a planted tank so maybe try introducing more plants to absorb the excess nitrates. I have extremely good results with hygrophilia species for my gbr's. They grow fast in low lite and mop up trates like crazy.

 

[Bearchumjs]

I would think that its a combination of high ph and nitrates. Neons are not the best fish to try and acclimate to a higher ph. You stated this was a planted tank so maybe try introducing more plants to absorb the excess nitrates. I have extremely good results with hygrophilia species for my gbr's. They grow fast in low lite and mop up trates like crazy.

That might solve my nitrate problem, however I am also concerned about the pH. I know now that neons and Rummies -and basically any tetra- have a hard time adjusting to high pH. However, I already have 4 neons and 2 Rummies. I need to get more so they are happy.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Ok- so I have well water. My pH tests at about 7.8-8.0 in my tank. I have driftwood in the tank, and peat moss in the filter. The peat isnt making a difference so im going to remove it.

pH straight from tap is 7.4, and after 24 hours of sitting on the counter and me stirring it up it tests at 7.8-8.0.

My alkalinity (water hardness) tests very high on the LFS paper test. I don't have a liquid test for that.

Nitrates in my tap water test at 40-80ppm.

I use the API master test kit.

In an effort to reduce the nitrates naturally occurring in my water, the water hardness, and the naturally high pH, I am thinking about mixing RO water and my tap. I do not want to use chemicals like pH down or any chemical nitrate remover.

As part of my tank maintenance I do a 10-15 gallon pwc every week. That's when I vacuum the poo and debris off of the sand and wipe down the glass to remove any diatoms or algae or whatever might be trying to grow on the glass.

If I take out 10 gallons of water and replace 5 gallons with tap water and 5 gallons with RO water, will this bring down my pH, alkalinity and nitrates? Eventually my entire tank would be half RO and half tap water.

I'd like to get more neon tetras and more rummy nose tetras (if I can find more). My ammo and trites are good. They've been testing at zero for nearly a month now. When I add new fish half of them die. I can only think it's my pH and alkalinity.

Tank info: 55 gallon planted tank
Filtration: Marineland emperor 400
Inhabitants: 2 rummy nose, 4 neons, 4 variatus, 5 male endlers, 3 ghost shrimp, 2 zebra nerite's

I've read about lots of people doing this, especially those who are raising shrimp. The only way you'll find out for sure if it works or not is to try it. Like the moss, if it don't work try something else. You certainly are not going to hurt anything provided you're still providing some tap water for the elements your critters need.

 

[Bearchumjs]

I've read about lots of people doing this, especially those who are raising shrimp. The only way you'll find out for sure if it works or not is to try it. Like the moss, if it don't work try something else. You certainly are not going to hurt anything provided you're still providing some tap water for the elements your critters need.

Well alrighty then! I think I'll try it. I look forward to any other input people have to offer.

 

[Hondatek]

If you want to lower your nitrates and are pretty handy you could always make an algae turf scrubber. It's not only for sw .

 

[Bearchumjs]

If you want to lower your nitrates and are pretty handy you could always make an algae turf scrubber. It's not only for sw .

The nitrates are not my only concern. I'm also concerned about the pH and the alkalinity. I can do research on turf scrubbers but that doesn't solve the other 2 problems.

 

[Hondatek]

I get that . It was just an idea for you. I know with the way you run the lights for the scubber it will make the ph more stable but it's not going to lower it . I did see some stuff called pillow softener at my Lfs but I never used it.

 

[Bearchumjs]

I get that . It was just an idea for you. I know with the way you run the lights for the scubber it will make the ph more stable but it's not going to lower it . I did see some stuff called pillow softener at my Lfs but I never used it.

I've seen those pillow things too. I will definitely research the turf scrubber. I'm going to have a big SW tank one day, so even if I don't use it on my FW tank I will know about it and possibly use it with the SW.

 

[jpchin]

i have almost all south american fish in my tank. they prefer softer water with a lower ph. i mix my tap water with ro water at a 50/50 sometimes 60/40 ratio. the 60 being the ro water. this keeps my ph at about 6.5-6.6. this mixture came with some trial and error. you can mix tap and ro in small amounts until you get the ph you are looking for. you can also add seachem's "fresh trace". this replaces the trace elements that are removed from the ro water. this system is the one i've been following for about 2 years and i still have the same fish minus one so i feel pretty lucky. i also do a 25% water change every 3 days to keep the water fresh. to me nothing compares to regular water changes to keep your fish healthy. good luck.

 

[Bearchumjs]

i have almost all south american fish in my tank. they prefer softer water with a lower ph. i mix my tap water with ro water at a 50/50 sometimes 60/40 ratio. the 60 being the ro water. this keeps my ph at about 6.5-6.6. this mixture came with some trial and error. you can mix tap and ro in small amounts until you get the ph you are looking for. you can also add seachem's "fresh trace". this replaces the trace elements that are removed from the ro water. this system is the one i've been following for about 2 years and i still have the same fish minus one so i feel pretty lucky. i also do a 25% water change every 3 days to keep the water fresh. to me nothing compares to regular water changes to keep your fish healthy. good luck.

Thank you! I will go ahead and start playing with different mixtures of RO and tap. I'll start by mixing 1/2 gal RO with 1/2 gal tap water that's sat for 24 hours and see what pH I get. When i get a mix i like i'll start doing that ratio in my water changes. I'd love to feel more confident when I purchase fish. Right now I feel like if I get more neons (to up my current school of 4) I'm just giving half of them a death sentence.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Not sure that sphagnum moss would work for that application, but could you do an algae scrubber with sphagnum moss?

 

[Bearchumjs]

Not sure that sphagnum moss would work for that application, but could you do an algae scrubber with sphagnum moss?

I have that in my filter and it hasn't made a bit of difference. I think I would need a lot more for it to have any effect, so maybe using it with the algae scrubber would work.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Day 1 of my experiment. 1/2 gal RO and 1/2 gal tap water mix:

TANK READINGS: (last pwc was Wednesday)
8.0 pH
40-80 nitrates

MIXTURE READINGS:
7.4 high range pH
7.6 low range pH

20-40 nitrates.

These are immediately after mixing. My gallon of water is currently degassing with an air bubbler. I will check it again at 6pm. Now I just have to wait and see... This is the boring/hard part.

View attachment 91717

(nitrate reading is appearing slightly darker in the photo than in real life. It's lighter than my usual nitrate readings so that's good. Was hoping it would be lower though.)

 

[Bearchumjs]

After 15 hours of degassing my pH is 7.8. I'll test again in 9 hours.

I think I'm going to try a mix of 2/3's RO and 1/3 tap if the reading is still at 7.8. If I can get it to 7.2 or 7.4 I'd be pretty happy.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Ok.... Here are my results... And I'm not impressed.

What do you guys think?? Now I'm running the test again- 3/4 gal RO mixed with 1/4 tap. Will get those results tomorrow at 6pm.


View attachment 91955

After 24 hrs degassinf, 50-50 mix of ro and tap water. Is this 8.2??

View attachment 91956

View attachment 91956

And this second picture is from my tank. I can only guess it is reading 8.3?

 

[Bearchumjs]

Twelve hours in on my 3/4 RO 1/4 tap test and my pH is testing 7.6 low range, 7.4 high range. I hope it stays there. We'll see in 8.5 hours...

 

[Bearchumjs]

Also, I'm going to take a sample of this mix to LFS today to see where my water hardness is. They use test strips, but I'd rather have some clue than no clue.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Ok! I think I found my mix. 3/4 RO 1/4 Tap.

pH 7.4
Nitrates: 10-20 let's just say 15ppm.

Waaaaay better than the 40-80 it used to be! And the pH of 8.3!

 

[Bearchumjs]

Did a 7 gallon pwc using RO water. Initial pH test reads 8.0 rather than 8.2/8.3. That's good. I was hoping using all RO this time wouldn't change the pH too drastically. I'll test the water tomorrow evening and see how the pH reads.

Question- does RO need degassing time like tap water for reading pH?