65 Gallon Tank Ram tank improvement suggestions?

So, I’ve finished setting up my ram tank the rams are in, 1 pair of GBR, 2 male GBR and 2 (hopefully) female EBR. Other stocking is 12 ember tetras and 19 neons as well as 2 bristlenoses. This is the setup, I’m just looking for anything I’ve missed environment wise, I have some floating plants arriving soon…

 

Lucky Rams. The tank looks great.

 

Yes, very nice, will be good with the floating plants too.

 

Yeah I thought they could do with a bit of shading, just wary of over doing it and depriving the rooted plants of light! A few more pics.. excuse the TV reflection it’s keeping the children quiet while I stare at the fish.. the cartoon children are not actually in the tank

 

Its really looking very good. My type of tank! I have floating plants in my tanks and they do not affect the other plants negatively, in fact I think they help to prevent algae by shading and using up excess nutrients, fish really appreciate them too.

Just one slight concern, rams need soft water and the other fish you have will do better in soft water too. If you are thinking of keeping shellies in your other tank they need very different conditions - how are you dealing with this?

 

My natural tap water is hard, at the moment I'm relying on lots and lots of wood and leaves to soften the water slightly with their tannins but going forward I'm thinking of mixing the water with RO water from my local LFS
Although I have to say they seem to be going along ok at the moment, spawning and well coloured when left alone

 

My natural tap water is hard, at the moment I'm relying on lots and lots of wood and leaves to soften the water slightly with their tannins but going forward I'm thinking of mixing the water with RO water from my local LFS
Although I have to say they seem to be going along ok at the moment, spawning and well coloured when left alone

Or are you in a position to collect rainwater? The leaves and wood will not really have much effect especially if the KH is high. Good to know that they are doing well at the moment, but I would try to mix some rain water or some RO if possible.

 

I could collect rainwater but I don't think it would be enough for a water change, I am going to look into RO but again getting it in the right quantities for this size of tank may prove too expensive.. not that I have any idea how much it costs at the moment!

 

I could collect rainwater but I don't think it would be enough for a water change, I am going to look into RO but again getting it in the right quantities for this size of tank may prove too expensive.. not that I have any idea how much it costs at the moment!

It might be less expensive in the long run to buy a small RO unit?

 

Perhaps, but then space becomes an issue, definitely worth considering though. Does RO water keep? say I went and bought for example 20 litres and used it to top up the tank say 3 times a week ( its open topped so needs topping up regularly) would the rest be ok just sat doing nothing?

 

Perhaps, but then space becomes an issue, definitely worth considering though. Does RO water keep? say I went and bought for example 20 litres and used it to top up the tank say 3 times a week ( its open topped so needs topping up regularly) would the rest be ok just sat doing nothing?

I think it should be OK, but I have never used it as our water is very soft with low conductivity out of the tap. Hopefully someone else will know..

 

I stored RO for weeks easy.
Open top or covered. I had 3@ 32g and 1@ 42g full unless after waterchange.
All had float valves so refilled automatically.
Not sure if available in UK but check out BRS for RO set ups.
Reverse Osmosis & RODI Systems

 

I have just found an RO system for £32 so about $39. Just to clarify what is it I’m looking to lower? Gh or kh? As well as ph? I’ve never done anything like this before I’m a little confused!

 

I have just found an RO system for £32 so about $39. Just to clarify what is it I’m looking to lower? Gh or kh? As well as ph? I’ve never done anything like this before I’m a little confused!

All of those should be lower if you mix with RO water. Most important for software fish are GH and TDS/conductvity. With a lower KH the botanicals should have more eventual effect on pH.

 

I found your end result is related to your source water.
My GH/KH/pH did not move much.
But my TDS went from 350 to 20 with a good system.
I would be leary of cheap units and make sure they don't get your money later with expensive replacement cartridges.
Get a TDS meter like this ; https://www.amazon.co.uk/HM-Digital-TDS-3-Handheld-Carrying/dp/B000VTQM70

 

Oh right ok, is that what matters then the tds? I have no clue what part of soft water it is that the Rams like

 

You want your water around 100 TDS [ or lower ] for breeding IME.

 

Brilliant thanks, does the ph, kh and gh not really matter then?

 

I found that in my case I needed to target nothing else.
My tap water is 7.6pH/2-3KH and 9GH with a TDS of 350+

 

I am so lucky - my tap water is GH 1-2, KH 0-1, pH about 6.8 and TDS about 19! So I have no experience of using RO water, but it should work well for you and the rams.

 

Another spawn! With a different pair, Wohoo! The parents and the eggs…

 

Ok, I finally have a tds meter which reads 383 ppm, so I plan to mix 3 quarters RO with 1 quarter tap water when I get the RO system… does that sound right? Also what’s the best way to introduce it to the aquarium, I’m guessing too quickly will shock the fish

 

You can introduce the new water when doing water changes.

 

So if I do a 25% water change, I can use the new 3 quarters RO for the whole wc? Or would that be too much at once?

 

That would be fine.
I found like I said before that my pH/GH/KH shifted very little.
Only the TDS changed with the RO/DI.
I was able to move rams from 350tds to 100tds without issue.
Get your tank down to 100-120 slowly with water changes if you can.

 

Brilliant, thanks again

 

Looking at RO systems now as I have had the go ahead to get one. If the aim is to reduce TDS and nitrates which stages do I need? Is it necessary to have the DI stage?