R/O Water

[fishboy]

Hi, is it necessary to add anything to R/O water for freshwater tanks. I had a DI unit and it came with supplements for freshwater. Now I use a R/O system and am wondering if the addatives are required?

[StirCrazy]

yes, depending on the type of fish you want to keep there are different "remineralizers" /buffers.. if you want plants you will have to add a lot of stuff to the water or the will melt away. sorry I can't tell you anymore but with out knowing what you intend to have thats all I can say right now.

Steve

[fishnut]

Fish and plants cannot live in pure RO water.

There are 2 ways to make RO water suitable for FW fish and plants:

one way is to use 80% RO water plus 20% tap water

the other way is to use a product to re-constitute the RO water (add back minerals) such as Mark Weiss Recon 50 or Kent R/O Right

Also, it is important to keep the dKH = 4 degrees at a minimum, in order to keep the pH from falling suddenly to unsafe levels.

Pure RO water has no buffering capacity by itself.

[GinKu]

for most discus breeders they use r/o water and they add buffering to a 6.5 ph level
i think thats what they do