# How you reconstitute your RO water in water change?



## Glouglou (Feb 21, 2006)

Well in my case I change 4 to 6 gallon of water in a 33 gallons. Most of the time I just give a double dose of fertilisers after that, lately I use a little bit of magnesium to rebalance my KH vs GH.

I was thinking to use a little bit of peroxide in the RO water containers just before adding to the tank?

What you guys and girls modifications you do to your water used in water change?


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

I have come to the conclusion that many people have suggested to me for a long time - if I try to play "little chemist" and mix my own water things do not work well in the long run. 

That maybe due to inconsistencies in what I do, but in this hobby common sense is the best approach - the simpler you keep things the better.

--Nikolay


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## Roy Deki (Apr 7, 2004)

I am lucky enough to have found local rocks that buffer my RO to about 3-4 kh. I use them in all of my aquascapes. I don't even test for gh anymore.


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## Salt (Apr 5, 2005)

Peroxide?!? What would that do???

I dose Flourish, Fresh Trace, Flourish Trace, Excel, Potassium, and Iron throughout the week (as per label).

After lots of testing and experience, I only reconstitute my RO water based on what needs to be added from last week's test results. I use:

- Calcium Carbonate
- Potassium Bicarbonate
- Ferric Nitrate
- Manganese Carbonate

My targets are 6 dGH and 5 dKH. I use a gram scale to weigh it. I adjust the measurements based on the previous week's test results.

I don't need to add magnesium because more than enough (more than I would like actually) is added through the Seachem products.

I use a magnetic stirrer to stir the Calcium Carbonate for 1 hour before adding to the tank. I only add it when the CO2 is on, as the CO2 causes it to form Calcium Bicarbonate which is a soluable state. It takes about 1-2 hours to dissolve clear.

I don't test for iron or manganese; on a water change I always add the same amount, which is only a trace amount: .04 grams of Fe(NO3)3•9H2O, and .02 grams MnCO3. (I have a 42 gallon tank and change 15-16 gallons of water per week.)

I get my chemicals from a lab supplier.


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## Glouglou (Feb 21, 2006)

*Tanks Salt*

Peroxide will oxigenate the water and act as a very mild antiseptic for any unwanted guest, no need to air pump and stone to do the job.
Can be use on cyanobacteria and some algae either.


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## czado (May 26, 2005)

I change 50/50 with my moderate water tap to lower KH while keeping some GH. I dose NPK to my targets. I start dosing traces the following day. It is essentially the same as the tanks where I do not monkey with KH or use RO/DI.


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## Mjproost (Nov 17, 2005)

Well, I play little chemist and it is working great for me for the last 5 months. To my RO water I add 1 teaspoon NaHCO3(baking soda) for KH and 2 teaspoons Barr's GH Booster per 10 gallons for GH. I then dose macros to my targets and dose micros the next day. It is working great so far.


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

Mjproost said:


> Well, I play little chemist and it is working great for me for the last 5 months. To my RO water I add 1 teaspoon NaHCO3(baking soda) for KH and 2 teaspoons Barr's GH Booster per 10 gallons for GH. I then dose macros to my targets and dose micros the next day. It is working great so far.


Ditto!


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## naman (Nov 12, 2005)

Be simple. Takashi Amano says if your tapwater 15-20GH, mix RO:tapwater in proportions 4:1. This IS reconstitution. Resulting water ~4-6KH, just fine for CO2=15-25ppm. 
Water exchange should be nore less than 50% per week for low light/slow growing plants tank, and 30% for high light/fast growing plants tank. That's it. 
Excellent recipe for reconstitution - on TheKrib.


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

naman said:


> Be simple. Takashi Amano says if your tapwater 15-20GH, mix RO:tapwater in proportions 4:1. This IS reconstitution. Resulting water ~4-6KH, just fine for CO2=15-25ppm.
> Water exchange should be nore less than 50% per week for low light/slow growing plants tank, and 30% for high light/fast growing plants tank. That's it.
> Excellent recipe for reconstitution - on TheKrib.


Why risk the unknown nasties and possibly varying levels of one thing to everything in the public water system?

Lots of people find out the hard way that their city water hardness changes depending on the time of year.

Besides it's just way easier to scoop a little GH Builder and baking soda into your tank water and keep pure RO on hand.

And also you will *know* exactly what is in your water, unlike when dealing with mysterious tap water.


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

Okay, help a newbie out. Some of this talk is way over my head!

I have an RO filter which I have never used because I just don't know enough to do so.

My tap water is horrible. It's city water and has nitrates at 20ppm before I even add it to the tank. It's next to impossible to get algae under control in conditions like that, and I know the fish and plants aren't as healthy as they could be. I don't even know if RO water would help with this problem, but I'm sure there are other problems in the tap water of which I'm unaware.

So how would I go about using RO water? What do I need to test? What target levels should I look for? Where do I buy the nutrients to add back? I have Flourish and am planning on switching to Flourish Excel.

If anyone has advice, or maybe a link to a good article for RO beginners, that would be awesome. Thanks!!


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

I bet lots of folks would be quite envious of your tap water. 20ppm NO3 means never having to dose KNO3! 

Consider yourself lucky.

If you are having trouble controlling algae then you have other issues. In my personal opinion, high nitrates don't cause algae. Unhappy plants do! 

My water after dosing is always over 20ppm, and sometimes has been upwards of 30 ppm or more.

RO water, assuming your filters aren't in need of replacement, will generally have no GH, no KH, and no nitrates, phosphates, or anything else. You probably don't need to use dechlorinator either, though check with your unit's specifications to make certain. I think some filters I have read about don't take out chlorine/chloramines. If you really want to use RO though, I can help you get started. 

I use a 32 gallon rubbermaid trashcan to store my water. I have the RO unit hooked up to a float valve mounted on the trashcan and an auto shutoff valve on the RO unit. At the bottom, inside the reservoir I keep an 800 GPH Catalina water pump connected to a section of flexible pvc hose with a female hose attachment on the end. Each week when I am ready to do a water change I take my DIY python, screw it onto the hose adapter in the reservoir, turn on the pump and away I go. As soon as the water level drops the RO unit kicks on and starts making new RO water for me. In my opinion it is even easier than using the kitchen faucet.

As for reconstituting, I like to use Barr's GH Booster available from Greg Watson, and baking soda for building up the KH. I shoot for a GH of 5 and a KH of 3.


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

Wow, I had no idea that could be a good thing! I'd heard from everyone out there that nitrates should be 20ppm or under. But then, most folks aren't interested in planted tanks...this forum has MUCH better information than any other out there. Thank you for the info!


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

abnormalsanon said:


> Wow, I had no idea that could be a good thing! I'd heard from everyone out there that nitrates should be 20ppm or under. But then, most folks aren't interested in planted tanks...this forum has MUCH better information than any other out there. Thank you for the info!


Just be sure to test for PO4, general hardness and carbonate hardness to be sure none of those parameters are out of bounds.

Also, while you might be safe not dosing KNO3 I would keep an eye on it anyway, as some fast growers might use it all up pretty quickly. I was too quick to tell you that you would not have to dose KNO3, you just won't need as much as soon.

To be safe keep NO3 > 10ppm.


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## Glouglou (Feb 21, 2006)

*Just a thought*

I understand the safe way of complete RO water reconstitution, but I'm asking myself... after testing your Tap water and no radioactive slime and other nasty stuff come out of there and your puppy don't flipflop in convulsion on the floor. I think it will be safer to mix and match RO and Tap to obtain a water close to your ideal parameter.
It seem like the more natural approach to use natural live water.

It's true that in my case I have very good well water


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

Glouglou, I think if tap water works for you then great! But personally I don't see why I would want to spend the time and money making RO water only to mix it back in with the crap I tried to take out. I guess what I am saying is that public tap water, I think, isn't fresh from the aquifer. Water I drink has probably been toilet water at some point, but it gets "treated", etc., and I don't trust it! That's all. And no amount of test kits will prove to me there aren't weird little things in there that are buddies with algae. I can't prove it, and it's just my paranoia, but when I changed to RO my tank just took off. It could have been coincidence as I was also improving other aspects of the craft of aquatic plant keeping.. so who knows.. I suppose one day I will try another tank with tap water.. but another big objection is that tap water just isn't always the same tap water for many areas of the country!


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I have to say... having city water here in Hartford CT is very close to having RO water. There is basically nothing in it at all that my tests can measure. Had it tested by the chemistry lab and the Ca is ~9ppm and Mg ~3ppm. Everything else is really low too, but interestingly i had a bumpy ride in learning to reconstitute the water correctly. 

Hopefully others will have an easier time then i did, but if you don't have to "play chemist" then its better not to. After all it is much easier to get used to your city water/well water then to spend the extra time required to reconstitute, check, measure etc...

Oh well, at least i have RO water now... Though i still REALLY miss my perfect well water from my old house... Sniff...


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## banderbe (Nov 17, 2005)

Agreed, I hate playing chemist. That's the beauty of Barr's GH Booster. You just dose to get your desired GH and the details are taken care of. I haven't used a test kit in a long, long time.


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