roy

hi, i am getting bottled water from a R.O. system and i have tested it with readings of nitrite,nitrate,ammonia and chlorine all at 0, the pH is 6.4 which are all ok, but the water hardness is also 0, now i remember reading somewhere on here if you have soft water your ph levels will run away?, what do i need to do to prevent this.

i have a 14 gallon tank, 2 small angles a 4" plelco and a silver dollar, water temp is at 80, my tank water is nitrate 40, nitrite 0, amm 0, chl 0, ph 6.8 and hardness 120, the tank has been running for about 10 months, currently looking to upgrade to a 55 g, but more questions on this later, thanks for any info given.

Shawnie

as long as your ph is steady, and doesnt get higher, lower, etc regularly, fish will acclimate to it...no need to worry.same with the hardness...id say your fish have adjusted to what you have as they are in there doing ok for 10 months....id be more worried about the 40 nitrates and do a water change of at least 40% to lower that..under 20 is great....being over stocked will keep the nitrates up there but when you get the bigger tank, you will be able to control that more ....

lew2000

just to add my two cents and new emots (thanks Shawnie , even though i am an old man (older than dirt as my kid says, i like emots)). The two issues that i know of with RO water is it needs additives of trace minerals and it needs KH for buffering. Without KH, as fish are added and waste builds up you can get into pH swings.

Shawnie

dirt has many many uses lew!!! my kids say the same thing..and they tell me to be nice to them as THEY determine which rest home im going too!! witches!!

roy

cheers for the answers, after 3 water changes the nitrates has finally come down, ph is stable but i am checking it every other day.

cerianthus

If you wish, there are products called buffers for different pH. Let's say your pH @ 6.4, you should be able to maintain at 6.4 by adding buffer made for 6.5 OR if desired ph @ 7.0, Neutral Regulator (Buffer @ 7.0) can be used.
As you mentioned, pH will still swing as wastes are produced and accumulates, may not swing as fast when bufferes are used, thus routine water change and monitoring will tell you when to buffer.
I found that these buffers work better when pH is adjusted back to where it should be before adding buffer rather than to expect buffers to do both, raise pH and maintain.
Another CRUDE method is a small bagful of crushed corals/shells and dip/insert into HOB filter as needed then removed.
Once you can establish approxiamte time frame b/n buffering, no need to test pH that often.
Hope this help a bit!