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Reverse osmosis water for aquariums?

Kiwibird08

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Curious, if you have RO water and want to make it suitable for an (freshwater) aquarium, what product would you need to add to it? Hoping someone on here will know. Thanks!
 

webchirp

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I don't think hubby adds anything but are we talking water change or start up cycle?
 

VictoriaVague

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I think just regular tap water. 50/50.
 

webchirp

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Ah yes, we are on a well and a water softener to boot so he only uses the RO
 

Kiwibird08

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It's for my long established newts tank. I'm tired of buying gallon bottles of spring water for water changes and would like to get a 5 gallon jug I can just refill at the store. The store only has RO water you can do refills with though. I will never use our tap water ever again in my tank (it's only about 5 gallons of water in it). I did once and the water clouded up (and yes, I did use the conditioner drops), it left horrendous un-cleanable hard water marks and I had to change it all out and recycle it with spring water.

I know RO water is not good for aquariums as is and needs something added to replace some of the minerals (or so I've heard).
 

Kiwibird08

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Just an update, I managed to find a product: Amazon.com : Seachem Replenish 500ml (17oz) : Pet Supplies

So far Mr. Newt seems ok with me doing water changes with the RO water and "replenish" solution:) He is just one newt, lives in a 1/2 full 10 gallon (he needs land too) so we aren't talking massive water changes here and it's MUCH nicer to pay 30 cents a gallon and fill up a 5 gallon container than pay $1 a jug and have big empty gallon jugs to contend with until recycling day in our very tiny kitchen.
 

theocnoob

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Due to the way water chemistry works it is not possible to keep a fish in pure reverse osmisis without remineralization and carbonate hardness (KH) buffering long term. You will eventually experience pH crashes and swings which will kill your livestock. R/O is the perfect basis for creating the ideal conditions for your particular fish species however. You will need to remineralize the water (example, kent R/O right) and then buffer it to a sufficient carbonate hardness to maintain the desired pH which depending on the amount of remineralization usually hovers around 7.0 with R/O. It is however possible to adjust the pH prior to locking it down with a kH buffer using products such as API pH up and API pH down.

You will need a very basic knowledge of water chemistry as it relates to mineralization. You will also need pH, general hardness (gH) and carbonate hardness (kH) test kits with accurate liquid reagents. None of this test strip garbage.

If that all sounds like Klingon PM me and I will explain it better. Don't want to type 20 paragraphs right now if you already know what I'm talking about :D

HTH
 
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