Noob questions - RO water

[bape]

Hello people,

As per the title. Where is the best place to get this? I know you can buy kits to do this but not keen on doing this at this stage.

Many thanks!

 

[Ady34]

Try your local aquatic shops. Many of them now offer it for sale.

 

[ceg4048]

Hello,
The more important question is why do you think you need it? Are you intending to breed soft water fish or are you just wanting to cut your tap water during water change?

Cheers,

 

[bape]

Hello,
The more important question is why do you think you need it? Are you intending to breed soft water fish or are you just wanting to cut your tap water during water change?

Cheers,

Thanks for your reply

I did a water parameter test and the hardness was really high so I wanted to lower it by using ro water when I do water changes.

Oh and It is a shrimp only tank.

 

[ceg4048]

OK, well if your shrimp need some special hardness value then I guess it's worth the effort and expense, otherwise the plants do not really care and if you were doing it for that reason it would not be worth the effort.

Cheers,.

 

[bape]

Am I right in thinking that I have to add some nutrients to the RO water myself? or am I okay to use it as is?

 

[Ady34]

Am I right in thinking that I have to add some nutrients to the RO water myself? or am I okay to use it as is?

Hi,
if your cutting it with your tap water then you wont need to add anything to it.
If your using it alone then you will need a remineraliser to get the water perameters right for your chosen species.
Id check out your local water authority report to get a better idea of water hardness as off the shelf test kits can be wildly inaccurate for a number of reasons.
Im not saying dont use RO water, but alternatively you could choose shrimp to suit your tap water which could save you extra money and effort......you may of course want a particular species which needs softer water 🙂
Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[bape]

Thanks Ady for your thorough response. the RO water is still new to me so its all learning curve I guess....

I am going to cut it with the tap water when i next do about 40% water change and see how that affects the water parameter before I go any further.

I am in London so the water hardness level seems to be extremely high at the moment and the cherry shrimps don't like that I don't think. I have only had 2 casualties so far in 3 months and it could be down to something else I suppose.