Hi everyone,
Longtime lurker here. I've been wrapped up in the planted tank and shrimp world until I moved recently. I broke down my 48 gallon planted tank and decided I want to do a biotope-like tank for a yet determined apisto species.
I'm in the process or ordering and waiting for stuff, but have sand on its way. I have manzanita branches and malaysian wood to drop in along the sand. I plan to drop lots of leaf litter and seed pods along the sand and driftwood.
With that being said, I'm trying to fully understand the water. I only plan to have one sword and some val's in the tank along with some floaters possibly to reduce nitrate. I have RODI which I plan to use Now do I have to remineralize the water or can I use the straight RODI in this tank? I plan to have a root tab or two around the plants to keep them fertilized so the water column doesn't need minerals for them.
From my reading here today, it sounds like I can do full RODI in the tank w/o adding anything else and the fish will be happy? The abundance of leaf litter I plan to add I think will drive the pH down below 7 I would think over time. Does this sound correct?
If the above is correct, how and when do you determine time for a water change versus just topping off the tank with the RODI?
Longtime lurker here. I've been wrapped up in the planted tank and shrimp world until I moved recently. I broke down my 48 gallon planted tank and decided I want to do a biotope-like tank for a yet determined apisto species.
I'm in the process or ordering and waiting for stuff, but have sand on its way. I have manzanita branches and malaysian wood to drop in along the sand. I plan to drop lots of leaf litter and seed pods along the sand and driftwood.
With that being said, I'm trying to fully understand the water. I only plan to have one sword and some val's in the tank along with some floaters possibly to reduce nitrate. I have RODI which I plan to use Now do I have to remineralize the water or can I use the straight RODI in this tank? I plan to have a root tab or two around the plants to keep them fertilized so the water column doesn't need minerals for them.
From my reading here today, it sounds like I can do full RODI in the tank w/o adding anything else and the fish will be happy? The abundance of leaf litter I plan to add I think will drive the pH down below 7 I would think over time. Does this sound correct?
If the above is correct, how and when do you determine time for a water change versus just topping off the tank with the RODI?