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Personally I follow THIS

Personally I would do small, daily water changes as suggested. I would ensure that the water I was adding was at the level I wanted overall and gradually it would get there.

I use it a lot but to be honest I am not sure how I could measure if there was an improvement in quality and what measure would you use? It will certainly add a decent amount of surface area for nitrifying bacteria but given we are running (typically) heavily planted tanks, they will deal with...

My main pressure is not great either. I produce 25 litres in about 6 hours on a warm day and anything up to 10 on a really cold day. (My RO unit is inside)

Have a read of this too - http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/a-guide-to-crystal-red-shrimp.19724/

How are you cycling the tank? What is the set-up so far? Mainly what's in the tank? Can you add a picture?

What is it you are unsure about? What gH and kH are?

My understanding is that some kH is needed for the cycling process so I would assume some form of remineralisation would be needed to provide this?

What's your plan to 'cycle' the tank?

I found this very useful:

It's 45cm tall if you have the DI resin upright. 40cm without it.

I think it's free refills as that's tap water! lol

Personally I use this one: http://www.osmotics.co.uk/products/4-Stage-50-Gallon-Per-Day-Reverse-Osmosis-System-with-DI.html

Darrel, Does it come down to exposure time? If we wash the sponges in tap water are they not exposed to the chlorine for long enough to have a detrimental affect? I would assume that the chlorine level was high enough to kill bacteria or why add it?

All I can add is another link - http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/metal-ions Hopefully someone more knowledgable can help. [emoji4]

If there is not much chlorine (or chloramine) then I guess you should be ok then? Bit like the Dutch. [emoji106] (Sorry, just re-read the first post. You did mention little chlorine).

Putting the effect on the fish to one side you have to ask yourself why chlorine is added to water in the first place. Then think about what happens to the beneficial bacteria we have in our tank when you add water full of chlorine (or chloramine). Take a read here also -...

Seachem Prime is good and very good value for money. No dechlorination going on eh. No wonder you have had problems! Fish-In cycle to contend with now I imagine...

Why? As long as you dechlorinate the water it would be fine. What you would be doing is replacing possibly contaminated water with nice fresh water. I hope you get it sorted though! :)

Carbon does not need to be changed unless you are using it for a specific reason like removing tanins or removing meds. I would have left the carbon in to be honest. If there is no sign of whitespot then I am not sure I would dump chemicals in there to treat it. Someone at the LFS is going to...

Can you see white spots? How long has the carbon been in the filter? If it has been there a while it could be home to millions of beneficial bacteria so I would not throw it away. Carbon is a great filter medium as it offers a massive surface area.

I would suggest a few water changes as this tends to help with a lot of situations.

I cannot believe it would be nitrate. What symptoms do the fish exhibit? Are there any obvious marks or discolouration? Do they swim any differently before dying? Has anything else been added to the tank?

Nothing wrong with critters. Fish love them! :)

Same for me.

I would agree. To put some figures too it let's start with 10litres of water. TDS is 300ppm. If 50% of the water evaporates (and it would be pretty much pure water that evaporates leaving everything else behind) you are left with 50% of the water with 100% of the original TDS now giving a TDS...

Nitrate is nitrate. The issue with the nitrate produced via the nitrogen cycle is that oxygen (plus other 'stuff') is consumed in converting ammonia to nitrite and then from nitrite to nitrate. This reduces the oxygen available to the inhabitants of the tank and this oxygen depletion is what is...

Edvet, you might wanna read that first link. ;) :D

This is very true you are right. When the nitrite is off the scale it reads zero. When you dilute 1ml tank water with 4ml tap water you then get a reading.

Thanks Clive. You are right (of course) in that the focus in on these three species alone. Quite often I read posts about people losing fish just after a cycle and there is no explanation. I believed it was one of maturity and I think you have just confirmed it. Thanks.

Hi All, This subject crops up quite frequently and whilst I have read the many informative posts I still have a couple of queries. 1. Do hobby grade kits measure zero accurately? Now I have read many of Clive's and Darrel's post about the inaccuracy of kits like the API Freshwater test kit...

Who indeed?! :D

Yep. :) I accpet what Clive and others say on cycling (and again I think we have to remember that this is a forum dedicated to planted tanks) but can you imagine trying to suggest this on PFK! Let alone dumping the test kits. :D

Yeah that was one of the posts I have a link to... :) Along with the issues with test kits etc But I think we should also be clear that we are dealing with planted tanks over here and usually well planted tanks.

Brumbird, things work a little differently over here with regards to cycling. I can provide further details later when I am not at work and trying to sneek using these forums! :)

Divide by 17.9

I mix RO with tap water to reduce the hardness but this is more to suit the fish I keep rather than to reduce the effect of limescale. Regular cleaning with a fairly soft scouring pad normally does the trick though.

I think you could be right. My shower has a lot more pressure on the weekend mornings than it does during the week.

Saying that I think my pressure is actually lower than yours. Will check later when I am home...

Nick, I have the same system set up in the same way with the same pressure and mine takes about 8 hours to fill 25 litres. I think you have set it up correctly. Just takes a lot longer with a lower pressure. Temp can also be a factor too.

Makes sense as I did read there was a conversion range. Typically you could multiply the figure by any number between 640 and 700 to be in the right area. 700 seems easiest to remember if nothing else.

It seems that to convert micro-Siemens to ppm you multiply by 700. So your reading of 0.1 would be 70ppm indicating quite soft water. (But not ultra-perfect :) )

Cheers Rob/Mark. I think I did read about doing it before but I am at work then apart from Weekends. So I am hoping doing at lights out would be the next best alternative.

It seems fine to me. I cannot vouch for its accuracy 100% as there is probably a more accurate way to calibrate it but it measures my RO/DI water at 000 TDS as I wood expect and I get the results I expect when mixing tap and RO so I am happy with it.

Cheers Kirk. That is what I am thinking. The water change itself is about 15 litres so does not take long.

I use one like this - Digital TDS3 TEMP PPM TDS Meter Tester Filter Pen Stick Water Quality Purity UK | eBay

Hi All! Currently the photoperiod on my tank is from 4pm to 9pm. CO2 is off from 8pm. I assume it is best to avoid doing a water change during the photo-period as CO2 levels will be compromised. I cannot really do it any earlier as I am at work. Would it be best to do the change after lights out?

So lets just say the typical mains pressure is 3 bar. The RO membrane will reduce this to say 1 due to the resistence. So the pump forces the water through at a higher rate to get nearer to the mains 3 bar pressure.

Its been a long time since I did chemistry but I belive that when the water evapourates it is just pure water. Therefore it leaves all the chemicals behind. Therefore you have the same amount of chemicals that make up the TDS but in less water. Therefore the concentration (TDS) has increased. RO...

Apologies if I have missed something but how does this increase presure? Surely it cannot increase on the speed the water comes out of the tap so I do not see how it increses the pressure going into the RO unit.

Just to add to what Alastair has said in that with soft water topping up from the tap has little impact but with hard water you can significantly increase the TDS so using RO prevents this.

Thanks for the feedback. :)

Fortunately at least I am not on a water meter.

I know those white marks only too well! :) Would you say you face any difficulties in any particular aspect? I read somewhere that you have to run CO2 at higher levels in hard water set-ups but not sure if this is the case?

Anyone use hard water in a high-tec set-up?

Hi All, First up some tank details (if it matters): Tank is a 30litre nano (Fluval Ebi) that is currently planted with Eleocharis Acicularis in a cat litter substrate. Hard scape is Lava Rock. I have set up a FECO2 system running at about 2bps and drop checker is darkish green. I dose TNC...