Ro/di water for freshwater planted tank

[Saratj1]

I have a 6g fluval edge that is freshwater, I have mollies in it so really it could be fresh/salt/brackish. It does have some salt in it for the mollies but not much, around 1 tablespoon per gal. I have a couple reef tanks also and I've recently installed a RO/DI filter and I am wondering if using the RO/DI water would help or hurt my freshwater tank. I have a few plants in my freshwater tank, I'm not sure what they are, one is a moss ball. I just haven't seen much info on RO/DI water use in freshwater systems any info on this would be appreciated.

 

[jlk]

RO/DI water is fine for freshwater as long as you are adding back minerals, etc with a product such as RO Rite or Replenish. Exactly how using RO water would affect a planted tank, I am not positive. If you only have a few plants or a moss ball, I wouldnt be overly concerned but I would ask the plant experts for more information if you have alot of plants or plan on adding more.

 

[blert]

As jlk said, it's fine to use but you need to add back in the minerals your plants and fish need to survive. That said, the added expense is not worth it, unless your tap water is way gross just stick with it.

 

[Coursair]

A. I don't recommend Mollies for anything smaller than a 20g. 30g is better. They have a large bioload for their size and are very active fish and can get good size. 3" sometimes even 4" Sailfin Mollies up to 6+"

B. if you use RO/DI as was mentioned , you'll need to re-mineralize it. Plants don't like "pure" water.

C. Plants don't like salt. Very few plants will tolerate Brackish. You can search for salt tolerant plants.

D. I'd move Mollies to a larger tank and look at Nano fish. Ember Tetras. Celestial Pearl Danios.
Or Cherry Shrimp.

My tanks are in my sig.

 

[Bettafanatic]

The tank is WAY too small for mollies. For a six gallon, I'd get bettas, neon tetras, killifish, or guppies. But not mollies. That's way too small.

I agree with the others about the RO water.

 

[jetajockey]

R/O is fine for planted tanks, as mentioned though it would need to be reconstituted. Look at it as basically starting with a blank slate so you know what is in the system.

And I agree about the mollies, way too big for an edge and that is a ton of salt. They are fine without salted water to begin with, and even still 1tbsp/gallon is enough to make nearly every plant and most fw fish uncomfortable.

 

[Bettafanatic]

R/O is fine for planted tanks, as mentioned though it would need to be reconstituted. Look at it as basically starting with a blank slate so you know what is in the system.

And I agree about the mollies, way too big for an edge and that is a ton of salt. They are fine without salted water to begin with, and even still 1tbsp/gallon is enough to make nearly every plant and most fw fish uncomfortable.

+1 to this