to use RO water or not?

[Baby_Girl]

I have done a search of the forums and it seems most people use Reverse Osmosis-treated water if they are A) going to keep soft water species and their tap water is hard or B) if their tap water has nasty things in it. Well, I would like this forum's opinion on whether RO would be beneficial to my situation.

I currently breed RCS rather successfully, and am now getting more serious about breeding more shrimp species. I'm pretty sure I will stick to the harder water species, for example yellow H. heteropoda shrimp and green shrimp (C. cf babaulti). In the future, I may try Amanos, if I feel braver then

So my readings out of the tap are KH = 8 degrees (~140 ppm), GH = 13 degrees (~240 ppm), NO3 = 5-7ppm, PO4 = .25-1.0 ppm. The last two fluctuate a little from time to time within the ranges I list. The nitrate and phosphate values aren't great, but so far the RCS have had no complaints! At least those two act as fertilizer to help grow algae, huh?

What are the other parameters one should examine when making the decision to purchase an RO unit? I am willing to purchase whatever test kits you all recommend, but have heard that inverts will die before copper levels reach detectable concentrations.

I live in an agricultural area so am worried that there are all kinds of pesticides or other nasty chemicals in my tap water that I can't test for. The local environmental report lists our groundwater as having trace amounts (~0.5 ppb or micrograms/L) of things like toluene and benzene.

One last question:
How about the bottled water you can get by the gallon (fill your own container) for $0.30/gallon? How trustworthy are their RO filters? I think I read badflash said their UV sterilization is useless.
I definitely wouldn't rely on this source long-term (if you want something right, you gotta do it yourself), but for the short-term is that an acceptable alternative? Even if I don't end up needing RO water, I'm just curious about this source of so-called "pure" water.

Much thanks!

[pixl8r]

I'm not much help since I don't use R/O water. I dechlorinate and age my water before putting it in my tanks. This system has worked well for me.

However, many of the better equipped fish shops sell R/O water at reasonable prices. Call around and check with the stores near you.

Since I have no experience with the super market R/O water, I'll leave that question to those better suited to answer it.

Good luck with whichever species you decide to breed next!

[badflash]

With those readings, you are on the edge, but probably OK. Are you using leaf littler? That will significantly reduce the nitrates and phosphates. In the tanks I use a lot of leaf litter, I have a difficult time keeping plants alive due to the low nitrates/phosphates.

Without testing a particular unit, there is no way to know about a store R/O unit, or your own for that matter. My store was very good while I was using it, but it was a pain.

[The Fisherman]

I use R/O water in most of my tanks.

I buy it from my LFS. I mix it half and half with my well water, because pure R/O doesn't have enough TDS, and their gills end up having to work harder to get oxygen. At least, I think I remembered that correctly.

[badflash]

Pure R/O water has almost nothing in it. This tends to suck whatiiiisinside the shrimp outside. Nature want to equalize. I don't know about oxygen, but pure R/O never did my guys any good. I do use it for evaporative make-up when I'm not ready to do a real water change.

[The Fisherman]

Yeah, I use it for evaporate top-off as well.

I only mix it half and half with my well water to dilute the natural nitrates and high pH.

[Baby_Girl]

hi, thanks for everyone's input. I keep slow-growing live plants in there to help absorb N,P. In particular, I have billowy balls of java and other mosses in all my shrimp tanks.

One option would be to mix RO water with my tap water. How does that sound? actually, nevermind. I just remembered that I live on an old army base that has had considerable controversy over the safety of our groundwater. So if people were concerned about drinking the water, I probably shouldn't expect my shrimp to live, breathe, and thrive in it, huh?

I was planning on adding RO Right or perhaps Equilibrium to increase dissolved solids of the RO water. I definitely was not going to expect greens and RCS to breed in pure RO! As for those RO water preps, what are the differences between say, Equilibrium by Seachem, RO Right by Kent, and Electro-Right by ___ ? What total hardness should I shoot for in the case of RCS and green shrimp?

oh, yeah, one more question. How is it that Reverse Osmosis does not change pH? Does that mean it doesn't affect the carbonate equilibium in the water it treats? My pH (after outgassing) is 8.0 so it's hard for me to grasp the concept that RO treated water could still measure that high.

thanks again!

[badflash]

If R/O does not effect your pH there is an additive, like Sodium Hydroxide that is comming through. No carbonate gets through an R/O unit.

I would use Electro-right and shoot for around 200 ppm hardness.

[Baby_Girl]

Thanks!

[zapisto]

i was an heavy user of R/O when i was actively in SA dwarf cichlid.
since i talk with people on this forum specially with badflash and mustafa, i use my Waste and my fish is really happy, and my water counter also lol.

[Baby_Girl]

oh, that's a good idea. You use the old shrimp water to fill your fish tanks? That is a good way to save water, as I'm sure the shrimp don't dirty the water much so it'll be fine for fish. I might start doing that, too. Recycling is good

[Mustafa]

Unless you have some *verifiable* issues with your tap water because your are using your own well or something similar, RO water is not needed at all. At least that's where my *almost* completed multi-city, multi-continent ( ) shrimp-water-chemistry research is pointing towards. Most water chemistry issues are not PH or KH/GH or conductivity/TDS related but are actually the result of unestablished/uncycled and disturbed (i.e. cycling all over again/losing cycle) tanks.

Having said that...if you need RO water for whatever reason, the big clunky machines in front of grocery stores produce RO water that's at least as good as any home unit or fish store unit. Here in San Diego the RO water out of those machines comes out at a conductivity level of about 70 microsiemens/cm. As a comparison..my tap water is at about 850-900 microsiemens/cm. This is just about the "hardest" tap water in the US(except for some well-water areas in tiny little towns) . I currently use tap water for all of my shrimp tanks.

[Baby_Girl]

ok, thanks! I'll rest easier then

[ferlyn388]

I have done a search of the forums and it seems most people use Reverse Osmosis-treated water if they are A) going to keep soft water species and their tap water is hard or B) if their tap water has nasty things in it. Well, I would like this forum's opinion on whether RO would be beneficial to my situation.

I currently breed RCS rather successfully, and am now getting more serious about breeding more shrimp species. I'm pretty sure I will stick to the harder water species, for example yellow H. heteropoda shrimp and green shrimp (C. cf babaulti). In the future, I may try Amanos, if I feel braver then

So my readings out of the tap are KH = 8 degrees (~140 ppm), GH = 13 degrees (~240 ppm), NO3 = 5-7ppm, PO4 = .25-1.0 ppm. The last two fluctuate a little from time to time within the ranges I list. The nitrate and phosphate values aren't great, but so far the RCS have had no complaints! At least those two act as fertilizer to help grow algae, huh?

What are the other parameters one should examine when making the decision to purchase an RO unit? I am willing to purchase whatever test kits you all recommend, but have heard that inverts will die before copper levels reach detectable concentrations.

I live in an agricultural area so am worried that there are all kinds of pesticides or other nasty chemicals in my tap water that I can't test for. The local environmental report lists our groundwater as having trace amounts (~0.5 ppb or micrograms/L) of things like toluene and benzene.

One last question:
How about the bottled water you can get by the gallon (fill your own container) for $0.30/gallon? How trustworthy are their RO filters? I think I read badflash said their UV sterilization is useless.
I definitely wouldn't rely on this source long-term (if you want something right, you gotta do it yourself), but for the short-term is that an acceptable alternative? Even if I don't end up needing RO water, I'm just curious about this source of so-called "pure" water.

Much thanks!

Osmosis, by the way, is why drinking salty water will kill you. When you put salty water in your stomach, osmotic pressure begins drawing water out of your body to try to dilute the salt in your stomach. Eventually, you dehydrate and die.





________________________
Refrigerator Filter

[nick11380]

I bought a Ro unit for my shrimp but after reading mixed reviews on RO water I never took it out of the box. I decided to buy a Kold stel-IL filter. It makes water changes so much easier. Just hook it up to the faucet, temp match the water and dump it in the tank. I love not having to warm up cold water (and using conditioners) for my water changes anymore.