Additive to RO water

[Tjd2006]

Hi guys,

My water is pretty rough here. Ph is 8.8 out of the tap with a KH of 71.6ppm (4 drops) and a GH of 268. Ppm or (15 drops). I believe the list time I checked TDS it was around 300.

The water here comes from a river that travels through a bunch of limestone and has a lot of fertilizer runoff.

I've had a planted tank in the past and had a large amount of Algae issues (in fact all my tanks have algae issues)

I really want to do a planted Tank again. This time I'd like to buy an RO unit and make RO water for the tank.

I have some blue dream shrimp that are surviving in this water now but they do not seem to be breeding :-(.

Does anyone have any advice for an additive to add to the RO water to increase the KH and some way to get the PH maybe a little lower but still stable?

I've aged and aerated water here before but the PH still stays pretty close to 8.

 

[rlederer]

I have an R/O system. My well water is not nearly as hard as yours but I treat it to get the pH down and make it softer. I just put a small drip system valve in the line and mix the well water with the R/O water so that I get the pH and hardness that I want. You should be able to do the same and get the pH you want.

 

[Tjd2006]

If I can just mix RO with tap at a certain percentage that would make life a lot easier

 

[mbkemp]

For more control you can play with epsom salt, baking soda and calcium chloride.

 

[flitabout]

I would make it much easier and just mix ro and tap together to get the level you are looking for. Just fyi my water is worse with a
GH 28 501.2ppm
KH 11 196.9ppm
I don't play with shrimp but I do run a planted tank. I also have extremely high nitrate in my water. Gotta love farm country! If you want to do planted I really recommend dosing with pps-pro or EI it's way easier to control the exact amounts of nutrients going in to your water which will help greatly with the prevention of algae. I do have to watch my tank like a hawk but my plants are growing great!

 

[coralbandit]

I mix ro for my rams..
I just get it under 100 TDS and check NOTHING else..
I mix my tap 350+ TDS with my RO [No DI] [10-20 TDS] with my tap to get what I want..

MB nailed it though for homemade mixes...
I can bring up a nice link on how to use what he recommends.. I have those three chemicals [I use ice melt for my calcium chloride] and it is cheap and easy...Less then a teaspoon of each for 32 g....When I mixed my water all the time like this I got a batch of the most lemon yellow anyone has ever seen...They all lived healthy !

 

[coralbandit]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/gold-or-not-336355.html
My yellow rams....
Here is the link ,read comments from Misslebear as he [and I ]seemed only ones to understand completely...
The formula ;
The Planted Tank Forum - View Single Post - RODI balancing
The whole thread ;
https://www.google.com/url?q=http:/...8:4272865476&usg=AOvVaw1pqMFMyFAmN6jEb1szjGJd
This mix was used for SA cichlids but is easily adapted to whatever you need..
I did this without the peat or lemon .