# RO unit



## Conort2 (21 Jul 2020)

Hi

looking at maybe purchasing a 50gpd RO unit and just wondering what your opinions are on them? They’re not as expensive as I thought however not sure how often you need to change the membranes etc?

I would be connecting it to the garden tap so it will not be in the way and can be left to do its thing on water change day. This water will then be pumped into the tank from the storage container outside.

I have some fish I have now that I would like to breed and think the RO water would be beneficial. Namely pencil fish, corydoras. I also believe it would improve plant health. My plants are good but no where near the condition of those seen in RO tanks. They always seem that bit better. Have any of you seen an improvement since switching to RO?

Cheers

Conor


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## dean (21 Jul 2020)

Are you planning on using a separate aquarium for breeding?
Cold water is the key to prompting Corydoras once you’ve conditioned them with live foods 
A bare tank is best as they scatter the eggs over the glass 

Pure RO is not good for this 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## alto (22 Jul 2020)

Conort2 said:


> not sure how often you need to change the membranes etc?


This question needs to be directed to the manufacturer - especially tech support for the RO membrane manufacturer


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## Hanuman (22 Jul 2020)

Actually the answer to that question is highly dependant on your water quality to start with. If your water has a high amount of dissolved matter then it will last less. Obviously the manufacturer will tell you under which conditions the membrane will last x amount of years. In my case the manufacturer told me to change it every 2 years but I think you also need to keep an eye on your TDS. Where I live, water TDS tends to rise dramatically during the dry season because I live close to the sea and sea water tends to feedback inland. So my TDS can go from 200 ppm during the rainy season to 1000 ppm by year's end. Water does actually start tasting slightly salty.

The shop that sold me the membrane told me 1 year (probably they want to increase sales).


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## Conort2 (22 Jul 2020)

dean said:


> Pure RO is not good for this


I wouldn’t use pure ro, it would be a mix with tap to get the TDS down to a suitable level. 


Hanuman said:


> Actually the answer to that question is highly dependant on your water quality to start with. If your water has a high amount of dissolved matter then it will last less.


TDS is around 400 out of the tap so not great at all. Would probably be looking to get my display tank down to around 100/120. Breeding tanks would be different and dependant on the species. For example coral red pencil fish would almost be pure ro compared to say a corydoras or a tetra which isn’t a black water specialist.

cheers

Conor


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## Conort2 (22 Jul 2020)

Other option is rainwater, could get a 250litre butt which would be suitable for my needs I recon. Only thing is will this be enough to keep me with a constant supply? Would need approximately 40/50litres a week if I’m mixing with some tap. Could be potentially a lot less faff than RO.

There is also spotless water, nearest unit about 20minutes for me. But then there is the lugging of containers and storage of those containers. plenty to think about. Maybe I should’ve just gone with rift lake cichlids lol!


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## dw1305 (22 Jul 2020)

Hi all, 





Conort2 said:


> could get a 250litre butt ...... Only thing is will this be enough to keep me with a constant supply? Would need approximately 40/50litres a week if I’m mixing with some tap


I think you would need at least 1000 litres of water storage to carry you over droughts like April/May this year. For the wet six months of the year 250 litres is plenty. 

cheers Darrel


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## Conort2 (22 Jul 2020)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all, I think you would need at least 1000 litres of water storage to carry you over droughts like April/May this year. For the wet six months of the year 250 litres is plenty.
> 
> cheers Darrel


Could probably squeeze it to 500l without the boss (Mrs) killing me. Suppose I could then use spotless water ro as a back up in times of drought or maybe revert back to tap. Would changing back to tap and a sudden increase in TDS cause issues? I’m guessing it should be similar to nature where TDS must increase with drought and then decrease suddenly with heavy rains?

cheers

Conor


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## dw1305 (22 Jul 2020)

Hi all, 





Conort2 said:


> .... I could then use spotless water ro as a back up in times of drought or maybe revert back to tap. Would changing back to tap and a sudden increase in TDS cause issues? I’m guessing it should be similar to nature where TDS must increase with drought and then decrease suddenly with heavy rains?


I'd probably try and mix a bit more tap in if it looked to be a long dry period, and hopefully that will tide you over until rains, and you won't get a sudden change to much harder water. 

People who want to breed _Corydoras, _ or Loricariid catfish, often reduce water changes to let the conductivity rise, and then when the barometric pressure is dropping do a big water change with softer, cooler water to stimulate spawning. 

cheers Darrel


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## Conort2 (22 Jul 2020)

Thanks Darrel,

To be fair I’ve always used tap so any rain water will be an improvement hopefully.




dw1305 said:


> People who want to breed _Corydoras, _ or Loricariid catfish, often reduce water changes to let the conductivity rise, and then when the barometric pressure is dropping do a big water change with softer, cooler water to stimulate spawning.


This has normally proved to be good enough to me with a sudden change of cold tap water, however these gold lasers and duplicareus don’t want to know. I’m hoping a change to rainwater with a low TDS will improve my chances. It will also make my range of species I can possibly breed much greater.

cheers

Conor


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## dw1305 (22 Jul 2020)

Hi all, 





Conort2 said:


> however these gold lasers and duplicareus don’t want to know


I know _Corydoras duplicareus_ is a Rio Negro species. I really like them and was thinking about a tank for some the other day. 





Conort2 said:


> I’m hoping a change to rainwater with a low TDS will improve my chances. It will also make my range of species I can possibly breed much greater.


I think it definitely will, I've had some form of success with most of the fish I've kept, other than the real black-water specialists, and even our rain-water is too hard for them to breed in successfully.

cheers Darrel


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## Conort2 (23 Jul 2020)

dw1305 said:


> I know _Corydoras duplicareus_ is a Rio Negro species. I really like them and was thinking about a tank for some the other day.


Go for it Darrell, they’re a great species. One of my favourite corydoras. Always up the front on show with beautiful colouration. I’ve got a group of wild caught adults which were a little bit hard to find but tank bred youngsters show up pretty frequently.

cheers

Conor


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## Conort2 (26 Jul 2020)

Went ahead and got a water butt yesterday, full to the brim already fortunately. Good timing with the weather!

question is how much of this should I use initially in my water change regime. It has a TDS of around 40 as opposed to my tap which is nearer to 400. 50/50 mix good to start off for now?

cheers

Conor


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