RO Water For Freshwater Tank.

Just wished to know - How many of you use reverse osmosis water for your tanks? And I have one unit installed at my place which we use for drinking water. Can it be used for tanks as well? And, is it really beneficial?

 

I have one and it is pretty awesome. tbf my local tap water is terrible for the fish I want to keep. My water comes out hard as a can be with a ph close to 8 and I'm trying to keep things in soft acidic water so its absolutely necessary I have one. I then use buffers and ferts to set all my levels to exactly where I want them. Makes life super nice knowing exactly what is going into my tank. You can get a read out of all the things in your tap water from your local water department but you usually have to request it. Sometimes I will do like 1 part tap 9 part RO water so I get some of the minerals that I may not be adding through fertilizers but I have started to do that less.

If I lived in a place where my tap water was soft and acidic already I most likely would not have gotten an RO filter. So it just depends what you are going for.

Things to keep in mind with RO water is it will have no minerals or nutrients so you will need to add these to your water, especially if you have plants. It will also have no KH or GH so it can have PH swings if you dont buffer the water yourself. But if you want to be able to set the water exactly how you want it then RO or rain water is the way to go.

I am pretty sure the one installed for drinking water is the same thing. You can also get a little test strip and test it and see if it comes out with close to 0 GH/KH but I'm pretty sure it is the same thing.

 

I got one for drinking water originally too.

I use RO water for my shrimp tank and discus tank. My discus get really stressed if I ever try to convert them to tap water (but then... they're discus, what do you expect). My shrimp probably don't care if I use RO or tap, but its easier to manage the RO water.
I use dechlorinated tap water on the rest of my tanks because the RO system uses something like 8g of tap to create 1g of RO water and I don't like to waste that much water.


also Darthmoli RO (stands for reverse osmosis from the filter system) water does have some minerals and it does not have 0 gh or kh. You are probably thinking of DI (stands for deionized) water, which is pure H2O.

 

I got one for drinking water originally too.

I use RO water for my shrimp tank and discus tank. My discus get really stressed if I ever try to convert them to tap water (but then... they're discus, what do you expect). My shrimp probably don't care if I use RO or tap, but its easier to manage the RO water.
I use dechlorinated tap water on the rest of my tanks because the RO system uses something like 8g of tap to create 1g of RO water and I don't like to waste that much water.


also Darthmoli RO (stands for reverse osmosis from the filter system) water does have some minerals and it does not have 0 gh or kh. You are probably thinking of DI (stands for deionized) water, which is pure H2O.

Yea you are correct but typically since RO water is still pretty low on its mineral content I tend to lump it together unless someone gets specific I probably should have used the word low and not no.

 

Yea you are correct but typically since RO water is still pretty low on its mineral content I tend to lump it together unless someone gets specific I probably should have used the word low and not no.

Ah okay just making sure you knew the difference. because my RO water still has a kh of 2-3 and gh around 5.

 

Will 50% RO water and 50% tap water be a good match for mollies?
I don't know the exact readings of my tap water, but I feel its pretty hard (seeing the mineral deposits and hard water stains on my aquarium walls).

 

Will 50% RO water and 50% tap water be a good match for mollies?
I don't know the exact readings of my tap water, but I feel its pretty hard (seeing the mineral deposits and hard water stains on my aquarium walls).

Livebearers actually prefer hard water so I would just use 100% tap water. Saves you the hassle of using RO as well.
And dont worry about the mineral deposits - I think everyone gets those no matter what their water is like.

side note, what is your tap water like?

 

Livebearers actually prefer hard water so I would just use 100% tap water. Saves you the hassle of using RO as well.
And dont worry about the mineral deposits - I think everyone gets those no matter what their water is like.

side note, what is your tap water like?

like like? Hehe, I mean what do you mean? Its source - Jet pump (underground water)

 

like like? Hehe, I mean what do you mean? Its source - Jet pump (underground water)

haha no I mean what are the parameters of your tap water (if you know them). ph, gh, kh, etc

 

haha no I mean what are the parameters of your tap water (if you know them). ph, gh, kh, etc

No......I don't know about the parameters but I think I am soon going to call up the water works department to know the parameters of the water. They would know it right?

 

No......I don't know about the parameters but I think I am soon going to call up the water works department to know the parameters of the water. They would know it right?

yeah they would know it. They usually post their weekly reports online if you want to search for it.
but honestly livebearers prefer hard water - some can be completely converted to salt water even. So no matter what it is, I would just use pure tap water

 

I use RO due to well water having some crazy hardness and keeping lower pH fish. Mollies are pretty flexible, so going that route likely won’t be necessary unless you have really bad water, although it is nice knowing what exactly is in it.

 

Okay! Thnx for the help!

 

Ah okay just making sure you knew the difference. because my RO water still has a kh of 2-3 and gh around 5.

RO water should be way lower than that. Basically zero degrees and single digit TDS. Good membranes have a 99% rejection rate.

 

I use RO due to well water having some crazy hardness and keeping lower pH fish. Mollies are pretty flexible, so going that route likely won’t be necessary unless you have really bad water, although it is nice knowing what exactly is in it.

Similar. My well water has a dGH of around 11, dKH of 0-1, ph of 5.4 and nitrates anywhere from 7-40. Ughh.
Have been using remineralized RO/DI for 2 1/2 years now.
But I have an aquarium specific unit so have no idea about using a house unit.