# Can I stop using RO water straight away?



## drjack (8 Sep 2011)

Hi,

When I started thinking about a heavily planted tank I read a lot of advice on the WEB (befoe joining UKAPS) and the recommendation seemed to be you needed RO water and a KH of 3 to 5. From what I read here, it seems I don't need RO water at all. So can I just go 100% tap water at the next water change and bin my RO unit or do I need to phase in the change? My tap water has: TDS = 473, GH = 17 and a KH of 12. My tank is currently a KH of 4.5

Aslo, I have read here that some run a hose straight to their tank during water changes and add the anti-Chlorine/Cholaramine straight to the tank. I have always heated the water to the same temperature as the tank before adding so I was wondering is there no chance of "themal shock" to the fish if you use a hose directly, especially in the winter?

Regards, David


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## ceg4048 (8 Sep 2011)

Hi David,
               The plants don't really care but your fish might, depending on the hardiness of their species. KH and TDS have osmoregulatory effects,so its bette to do small water changes at first to get the aclimated to the KH rise. Aftwards, whent KH and TDS of the tank water matches the tap water then it's no problem. Thermal shock is an issue for fish, so the new water should be close to the tank water temperature.

Cheers,


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## drjack (9 Sep 2011)

Great, thanks for the advice, much appreciated.
Cheers, David


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