# help with r/o water



## SlyDer (Jul 11, 2007)

Looking for some help using ro water in my 10 gal tiger shrimp tank. Ive been keeping them in my 29 gallon rcs tank for some time but they dont seem to be doing as well as the rcs. The water is very hard and a ph round 8. I cant remembr exactly ill retest when i get home tonight.. I havent had any losses that i can tell but i would like them to get breeding andin a suitable enviroment..

If i mix 50/50 tap and ro water with my ph 8, gh 300 ppm (estimate from memory) Am i correct in assuming the result would be ph 7 150ppm gh water?

Als how do you convert ppm to degees of hardness?

Thanks again
-Nate


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

SlyDer said:


> Als how do you convert ppm to degees of hardness?
> 
> Thanks again
> -Nate


Take the number that's in ppm and mulitply it by 0.056 to convert it to degrees.


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## southerndesert (Oct 14, 2007)

I use straight RO water in my CRS, Bee, Blue Tiger, and Tiger tanks with ADA Amazonia II plus a little Shirakura Mineral Powder once a week and all are fine and breeding like mad except the BT which are not of age yet... My water from the tap is PH 8.0 or so and actually somewhat soft - after running through the RO PH is around 7.0 and once added the ADA buffers the PH to around 6.4 to 6.6.

My Shrimp have no health issues...

I also make sure to feed foods with added minerals made for low PH soft water shrimp or crab food with added minerals. Again Shirakura food, Hakari Crab Bites, etc. Once a week 30% water change.

Seems to work fine for me.

Cheers, Bill


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## SlyDer (Jul 11, 2007)

so more or less you use the mineral power to reconstitute your water? Im planning or buying the 5 gal jugs of ro water untill i get my shrimp rack filled and have to buy ro filter to keep up.

Ive read you shouldnt use just ro water, will mixing it with my ta work or should i buy som equilebrium or something to add to the water?

thanks
-Nate


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## southerndesert (Oct 14, 2007)

I just opted to skip trying to treat the tap so use RO and am willing to add minerals through food which I believe is the most valuable way to assure health and additives like the Shirakura mineral powder. This was advise given from a breeder and has worked well for me.

The shrimp actually go after and appear to eat some of the powder and yes some also is in the water itself, but very small amounts. Not enough to noticeably affect water parameters anyway.

Also my snails show no lack of calcium in their shells to speak of and my tanks have been running this way for 8 months with healthy breeding shrimp...

Still learning myself, but willing to share what is working so far for me.

Cheers, Bill


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## SlyDer (Jul 11, 2007)

i picked up some pur brand water in the 5 gal bottles im going to do some tests with it and see how it goes till i have time and the extra money for a r/o filter. btw ill be setting up my crs tank with amazonia 2 and be using Shirakura food and powder. After im able to breed tigers successfully ofcourse

thanks -nate


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## southerndesert (Oct 14, 2007)

Good luck with those Tigers...

Some of mine.










Cheers, Bill


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## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

I use 100% and aquasoil as well but without the mineral powder and my CRS's are breeding well.


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## SlyDer (Jul 11, 2007)

nice tigers! very clean and healthy looking!
some of mine have a dark blue spot where the saddle is usually seen (on my rcs anyway). I haven't found a way to explain it yet, but these not as clean looking as yours are. Im going to blame it on waater quality for now. But ill be acclimting them to there new and proper home tonight!

btw anyone recomend a good r/o filter? I shipped out 4 more orders of cherrys this morning and should be able to pick one up soon. Providing this is someting i can hook to my faucet and run a waterhose to my fish room.


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

SlyDer said:


> nice tigers! very clean and healthy looking!
> some of mine have a dark blue spot where the saddle is usually seen (on my rcs anyway). I haven't found a way to explain it yet, but these not as clean looking as yours are. Im going to blame it on waater quality for now. But ill be acclimting them to there new and proper home tonight!
> 
> btw anyone recomend a good r/o filter? I shipped out 4 more orders of cherrys this morning and should be able to pick one up soon. Providing this is someting i can hook to my faucet and run a waterhose to my fish room.


I would look here for RO.
http://www.thefilterguys.biz/


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## southerndesert (Oct 14, 2007)

There are basically two types

One waists a bunch of water by pumping waste water down the drain, it is not dirty really but its a complicated process. (cheaper)

The second type pumps the waste water back into your hot water system and is zero waste (the one I use more costly but I'm in AZ and water is scarce)

BE SURE to by a unit with two carbon pre-filters or you will not remove chloramine and some other nasties....

The RO water is stored in a 2 gallon tank for a smaller unit (over 300.00) and it goes up for higher capacity. Home Depot or Lowes sells them and filter replacements.

Shop around before you buy and make sure you get a full service unit with pre-filters.

Bill


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## SlyDer (Jul 11, 2007)

Thanks! i did some reading myselg lastnight andi did see the lowes model with the storage tank. I think this is a project for when i move int my new house this summer. In the meantime the cheapest bottled ro water ive found is 39 cents a gallon at walmart. Much better than the $1.55 per gallon stuff at kroger :yikes:


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## thief (Feb 20, 2008)

Well I'm going to be setting up a shrimp rack. If I buy the RO system listed on the other page I could just hook that to me sink then hook my tube to the RO system and it would pump water into my tanks. I never heard of RO water but by from what I reading it is something that would help my fish a inverts correct? I don't think that system is very expensive so I will buy it but I want to know that I can easily hook it up to my sink and then foward it to my tanks from there. How often would I have to replace the filter media though?

Sorry for noobish questions I just really think this is a good investment. But I would like to here from everyone else if this does effect alot.


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

Reverse osmosis water comes out really slow. Even a 100gpd unit will litterally dribble out of a 1/4 inch tube. You will need to plumb the system in a more permanent location storing water in a container which will take hours. Drip systems are an alternative but I view them as wasteful especially with RO.

On the other hand using a prefilter and two carbon block filters is good enough for most water and most tanks. Its much cheaper and hooks up almost any faucet and can be used as a more temporary system filling right from the tap in minutes.

Here is an example from Buckeye Field Supply
http://www.buckeyefieldsupply.com/
BFS-240 2-pack, Specialty Sediment Cartridge, 1 Micron Depth Filter - $7.99 
BFS-2 Carbon block cartridge - The Chlorine Guzzler, 10-inch - $10.99 
BFS-2 Carbon block cartridge - The Chlorine Guzzler, 10-inch - $10.99 
BFS-77 Clear 10-inch housing - $17.00 
BFS-77 Clear 10-inch housing - $17.00 
BFS-77 Clear 10-inch housing - $17.00 
BFS-295 Mounting bracket, triple - $14.99
$96 For about one year
$30 each additional year


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## thief (Feb 20, 2008)

Thanks for the reply Brilliant. Just some Q's. Everything you list I'm guessing makes a complete system. But how is this better than the dripping one? Is it faster and does the same job as the dripping one?

Thanks in advance.


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

No problem. You will need some fittings, tubing and faucet adapter. 

It's more ideal. What I have listed is an RO unit without the RO membrane. Reverse osmosis strips the water of its hardness. You can research more about RO online if your interested. What I am saying is the membrane portion, the RO portion typically isnt needed.

As far as chlorine is concerned it does the same job. An RO unit will further soften water. An RO/DI unit will include resins to strip the water down to its purist form. This type of filter is useful with marine systems.

Think of the filter like stages. Do you have a reason for the softening stage? If not go without it. As mentioned it takes a long time to collect water, requires storage and RO units puts water down the drain to make water unless your storing waste water elsewhere.


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## Halibass (Jan 28, 2007)

SlyDer said:


> Thanks! i did some reading myselg lastnight andi did see the lowes model with the storage tank. I think this is a project for when i move int my new house this summer. In the meantime the cheapest bottled ro water ive found is 39 cents a gallon at walmart. Much better than the $1.55 per gallon stuff at kroger :yikes:


I buy my R/O water at vending machines outside supermarkets. They replace the filters every 2 weeks. It's .25 per gallon and the TDS is usually around 7.


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