Switching to RO Water

[coleh11]

My parents just installed an RO system for drinking water and I was wondering what i could use to add minerals back for the plants and my betta. I have moderately hard water with a high ph and lots of nitrates out of the tap so I’d like to switch over to the ro water. Its only a 10 gallon tank so it shouldn’t take for ever just to fill up a 5 gallon bucket for water changes every week. I was also wondering how you raise kh to keep ph stable and if you add nutrients for the plants right in with the water or wait and dose the whole tank whenever you normally add ferts.

 

[FishGirl38]

Do you mean what you could use to remineralize the RO water?

RO water is naturally void of minerals, SO, it usually has a very low ph (between 5 and 6ph) - no kh, no gh. it's pure H20, which - for fish or plants, in its raw form, isn't good for them really at all.

You could technically 'mix' it with your tap water to sort of, alleviate the amount of nitrate and minerals that are being added from the tap water...but totally 'switching' over might not be a great idea if you're also not accounting for how you're going to add an APPROPRIATE amount of minerals back into the RO water.

There are products, such as Kent R/O rite - that adds the minerals back into the water excluding all those pesky nitrates...You could absolutely use remineralized RO water to refill the tank (so long as that RO water was testing at a similar PH to your main tank - slightly lower perhaps, to lower the overall mineral concentration).

Are you having a problem with all the nitrates from the tap water? Or the high ph from the tap water?

Adding crushed coral or a calciferous rock should help keep KH and general PH stable - but if you add to much, you may end up with a higher PH again. I can see where excess nitrates from the tap would be frustrating, have you considered using something like nitra-zorb or a nitrate removing filter media instead of totally changing the water source?

I'm worried the ph will fluctuate enough to stress your fish out as you're doing water changes if you totally change where the water source is coming from. If you do this gradually and slowly (say, a gallon at a time, every while) than you may be able to change things gradually, but I wouldn't dump 5G of straight RO water into your tank all at once, maybe I'm misunderstanding you with that, but if you were to do that, you'll drop the PH too quickly, quickly enough to stress fish out.

Using remineralized RO water would be fine - you'd add enough of the R/O rite to bring the RO water close to your current mineral content - without all the nitrate. That would work out okay. (that's how reef tanks are maintained)

but if you're just using straight RO water, you'll want to add it little at a time and watch your PH closely - because it will drop your PH.

EDIT: about the plant ferts, I personally always add them to the main tank, in one large dosage according to my schedule. I suppose you could add them to the bucket of new water - I like to drop the liquids right overtop my plants and watch them float down. I feel like that way they're getting a good, concentrated dose....even if it is being dispersed throughout the water column...not sure it REALLY matters, but that's how I dose mine and why.

 

[coleh11]

Do you mean what you could use to remineralize the RO water?

RO water is naturally void of minerals, SO, it usually has a very low ph (between 5 and 6ph) - no kh, no gh. it's pure H20, which - for fish or plants, in its raw form, isn't good for them really at all.

You could technically 'mix' it with your tap water to sort of, alleviate the amount of nitrate and minerals that are being added from the tap water...but totally 'switching' over might not be a great idea if you're also not accounting for how you're going to add an APPROPRIATE amount of minerals back into the RO water.

There are products, such as Kent R/O rite - that adds the minerals back into the water excluding all those pesky nitrates...You could absolutely use remineralized RO water to refill the tank (so long as that RO water was testing at a similar PH to your main tank - slightly lower perhaps, to lower the overall mineral concentration).

Are you having a problem with all the nitrates from the tap water? Or the high ph from the tap water?

Adding crushed coral or a calciferous rock should help keep KH and general PH stable - but if you add to much, you may end up with a higher PH again. I can see where excess nitrates from the tap would be frustrating, have you considered using something like nitra-zorb or a nitrate removing filter media instead of totally changing the water source?

I'm worried the ph will fluctuate enough to stress your fish out as you're doing water changes if you totally change where the water source is coming from. If you do this gradually and slowly (say, a gallon at a time, every while) than you may be able to change things gradually, but I wouldn't dump 5G of straight RO water into your tank all at once, maybe I'm misunderstanding you with that, but if you were to do that, you'll drop the PH too quickly, quickly enough to stress fish out.

Using remineralized RO water would be fine - you'd add enough of the R/O rite to bring the RO water close to your current mineral content - without all the nitrate. That would work out okay. (that's how reef tanks are maintained)

but if you're just using straight RO water, you'll want to add it little at a time and watch your PH closely - because it will drop your PH.

I was just wondering what the best way to remineralize would be. I definitely wouldnt switch over right away but gradually over a couple months. I will probably just cut it with tap water to reduce the nitrates and then switch it out over time.

 

[FishGirl38]

I was just wondering what the best way to remineralize would be. I definitely wouldnt switch over right away but gradually over a couple months. I will probably just cut it with tap water to reduce the nitrates and then switch it out over time.

Well, I would personally recommend something like the Kent product I mentioned earlier. BUT, that's the only product I personally am aware of that will do this for you. (I'm sure there are others, search for R/O remineralizing agents).

But you could also use crushed coral or a calciferous stone set in a bucket of your R/O water. It should break down a bit and increase the PH overall - though, I'm not sure at what rate that would work, my guess would be fairly slow. I'd say that's a good plan then regardless, so long as you're aware not to switch it out too quickly.