Reverse Osmosis?

[mfdrookie516]

So i just realized that it was time for a pwc on my 150, then i realized i have no water conditioner. I started thinking, and i am going through ALOT of conditioner each month. I spend around $20-30 a month on water conditioner depending on how many pwc's i do. I know that reverse osmosis will remove the chlorine/chloramine, but will it alter the ph any? My tap ph is perfect at 7.8 (at least its optimal for my mbuna tank), and all my other fish seem to be doing very well with 7.8 as a constant ph. I also know that after water has been run through reverse osmosis and deionization, it should have a ph of 7.0. Is it just the deionization that will alter the ph or the ro as well? If just the di, can i just run ro for now, and then use the di later for sw and occasionally on shrimp tanks to remove any copper? Have i lost you all yet?

 

[Aquarium1]

I think its tht if you don't want to dechlor it, you have to make sure you run it through a cabon filter.

 

[jsoong]

RO will stripe out ALL ions & minerals, so the pH will be 7.0. <R/O will do a more through job than DI, but for our purpose, they are interchangeable.> You will need to add buffers to make R/O usable in your tank, so there is no saving there.

The best suggestion I have is to get some Prime. That stuff is 100x more concentrated than the usual dechlor (1 ml per 10 gal), so a $10 bottle will last a year or 2. <My $10 bottle is 300 ml = 3000 gal of water treated.> It is far easier to use straight tap water than to try to doctor the water using DI/RO. I think that should be reserved for really bad source water or SW tanks.

 

[mfdrookie516]

ok, the only reason i thought about it was prime is $20 a bottle... i do a 50% pwc on all my tanks each week at least, so 150+55+10+10= 225g... at 5ml per 10g (ive been using amquel, i know prime is 1ml per 10g), thats 125ml per week minimum... the big bottle ive been getting that is $17 only lasts me about 2 weeks, its 250ml, and prime would only last 5x as long which would be 2 and a half months... it just seemed cheaper to me, but i dont want to mess with it if it messes with the ph... thanks, that was the answer i was looking for

 

[jsoong]

Big Al's has Prime at $12 for 500 ml:
Seachem Prime- 500 ml at Big Al's Online

You can also get 2 or 4 liter sizes, but not much saving over the 500 ml.

 

[mfdrookie516]

wow, i guess my store is somewhat overpriced lol... wont be buying conditioner from them anymore... I just ordered a 500ml bottle about 3 minutes ago... thanks again