# RO Water for a planted tank?



## SpaceBug

I have really hard water and I'm thinking of using RO water in my 75gal planted tank that I am in the process of setting up. Are there any proponents of RO water here and if so, what are the recommended additives to reconstitute the water?


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## azfishguy

I use 100% RO water. At first I was mixing it with my liquid rock from the tap on 50/50 basis. When I decided to keep discus I switched to RO entirely and have never been happier with the results. I also keep my kh at 0. I don't believe in the famous ph crash. My plants and fish love it. Obviously you can reconstitute your water with all the available products but keep it soft.


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## Bert H

> I have really hard water ...


What is 'really hard'?

Lots of folks use RO without problems, some re-constitute it, some don't. As long as plants have what they need they will grow.

Lots of folks, myself included, use hard water. This will prevent you from healthily growing some of the soft water plants, otherwise, it's not an issue, imo.

If you have the $$ and want to spend it on an RO unit, go for it.


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## ed seeley

azfishguy said:


> I use 100% RO water. At first I was mixing it with my liquid rock from the tap on 50/50 basis. When I decided to keep discus I switched to RO entirely and have never been happier with the results. I also keep my kh at 0. I don't believe in the famous ph crash. My plants and fish love it. Obviously you can reconstitute your water with all the available products but keep it soft.


I use 100% RO too and agree with everything above. I put a small amount of Kent RO Right in to remineralise it, but that still gives KH 0, and I've never had problems.
I also had high nitrate in tap water and now I know exactly what I'm putting into my tank, I would never go back to tap water.


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## SpaceBug

How hard is my water? Somewhere around 400ppm I believe. Its been hard to measure accurately with the test kits I've used. Hmmm, just occurred to me that I could mix it with an equal part of RO water and test that. I might try that later today.

I guess I'm surprised that the 2 of you that replied that you use RO water don't add anything to raise the KH. If I don't worry about KH, it just makes life simpler.


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## ed seeley

SpaceBug said:


> I guess I'm surprised that the 2 of you that replied that you use RO water don't add anything to raise the KH. If I don't worry about KH, it just makes life simpler.


I thought RO Right DID raise the KH and never bothered testing (as the fish were doing great!). Only recently did I realise it didn't! Not going to change after more than 3 years doing this! Believe me, soft water fish love it. I've bred various Apistogrammas, cardinal tetras, Pelvicachromis subocellatus 'Matadi', Benitochromis and now got some Nanochromis. They all love it.

Just slowly adjust your fish to it by doing smaller water changes to slowly lower the KH. Keep testing to make sure there are no problems during the change over and you may find you have to add more fertiliser to compensate for the stuff that would have come in via your tap water, e.g. Mg and Ca.


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## trenac

Here is a article on using pure water, that might be of help... Using pure water in the aquarium, RO, distilled, deionised, rainwater


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## michaelg210

ed seeley said:


> I thought RO Right DID raise the KH and never bothered testing (as the fish were doing great!). Only recently did I realise it didn't! Not going to change after more than 3 years doing this! Believe me, soft water fish love it. I've bred various Apistogrammas, cardinal tetras, Pelvicachromis subocellatus 'Matadi', Benitochromis and now got some Nanochromis. They all love it.
> 
> Just slowly adjust your fish to it by doing smaller water changes to slowly lower the KH. Keep testing to make sure there are no problems during the change over and you may find you have to add more fertiliser to compensate for the stuff that would have come in via your tap water, e.g. Mg and Ca.


Hello, I am thankful for your site. I just switched to R/O due to high nitrates in tap water, ~ 20ppm. I keep a single male betta in a 10G filtered / heated tank with a gravel bed.

My question is, I started using R/O Right by Kent Marine to restore water quality and replenish trace minerals / elements. Do I need something additional, i.e. Seachem Fresh Trace, or does R/O right contain everything the tank needs? Are R/O right and Seachem's Equilibrium the same basic thing? (I could not find Equilibrium anywhere locally, so went with Kent).

Tank also has 6 plants, 3 java ferns, 2 crypts, and an anubia.

I was worried about minerals, so added Aqueon's Betta Water Renewal, but would rather use a more concentrated product if it is even needed.... Aqueons small 118 ml bottle requires 10 ML per gallon, which seems very high.........

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks


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## Gibby

azfishguy said:


> I use 100% RO water. At first I was mixing it with my liquid rock from the tap on 50/50 basis. When I decided to keep discus I switched to RO entirely and have never been happier with the results. I also keep my kh at 0. I don't believe in the famous ph crash. My plants and fish love it. Obviously you can reconstitute your water with all the available products but keep it soft.


I'm looking to keep discus in a planted tank and would like some more info on your setup: ferts, CO2, plants, etc. Is there a link to any of your setups that I could look at?


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