Reverse Osmosis

[newworldan06]

Hi, I was thinking about getting distlled, deonized, or R/O water. Will R/O water put my PH at neutral ? If not what can I add to bring it down to neutral. Also will these make the water soft?


thanks

 

[VUE]

Ro

Hello, RO water should bring your PH down. I use 60/40, RO/tap water in my 30 gal long tanks and it brings my Ph to around 5.5 to 6.5. If you just want to stablize your tank try adding som drift wood or a little bit of sand on the bottom of your tank to help keep the Ph stable. I also try not to use carbon in my tanks.Peat moss also can bring your Ph down, just make sure it is unfertilized peat. well i hope this helps..

 

[newworldan06]

ya help a lost. But one more ? wat is the Ph of the R/O water w/o your tap? And is it really soft to then?

 

[Peter Lovett1]

The softness of ro water depends on the hardness of the water going though it as it removes about 95% of all dissolved solids and has a ph of around 6.5 but this also depend on your tap water hope this helps.

 

[newworldan06]

My tap is about 7.6 PH and around 10 GH, can anyone estimate what an R/O filter will make this come out as?

 

[Peter Lovett1]

Okay 10gh = 178ppm * .05 = 8.9ppm or about 5.gh after it has been though the ro system. You are quite luck your water is not that hard. My water starts out at 300ppm and goes down to 15ppm

Your ph will probably be about 6.5 but this will need to be checked.

 

[fishboy20]

If you need your pH to be even lower after it has run through an R/O unit, try using peat. I think this is what a couple of people use to breed the very soft water species unless their water is already soft coming of the tap.

 

[Z Man]

My tap water is 175ppm TDS and when new, the RO water comes out "O"ppm TDS! As you continue to use the unit, it will slowly increase in ppm. I have been using this particular membrane for about 8 months and the RO is now coming at 5ppm. A good RO unit should always remove all the hardness when new. I have been using this one for about 10 years and am on my 3rd set of membranes.

 

[balacam]

My tap water is 175ppm TDS and when new, the RO water comes out "O"ppm TDS! As you continue to use the unit, it will slowly increase in ppm. I have been using this particular membrane for about 8 months and the RO is now coming at 5ppm. A good RO unit should always remove all the hardness when new. I have been using this one for about 10 years and am on my 3rd set of membranes.

hi Z man

besides the TDS from 175ppm to 0 ppm, i am curious to know what is the pH of the water before and after the RO unit.

I bought a bottle of RO water and i measured the pH is 7.9, is it possible?

 

[Z Man]

My pH comes from the tap at 7.5. I only checked the RO ph once and it was just about 6.8. I did own an electronic pH meter but gave it away because it's a pain to calabrate every time you use it and I never have worried what the pH was as long as the highest is 7.5. I have bred most of my 200 different spawns without even checking the pH. Only 2 fish did I have to lower pH and that was for Taeniacara candidi & Ctenopoma ansorgii & I did that by soaking RO water in 20 gallon pails with lots of peat moss and the pH dropped to about 5.7. It's easier to work with the pH you have than to change it constantly.

 

[cootwarm]

Hi Z Man,

I was suprised to see that the soaking in peat moss only dropped your pH to 5.7. How long did you soak it for?

The Burlington Water department gets it's water from from Lake Champlain and treats it for drinking. The pH is 7.5 - 7.6 out of the tap. I treat this with dechlor and put it in a 30 gallon plastic barrel with a 5 gallon bucket of peat moss. After soaking and aeriating for 2 days the pH is usually about 4.5! I mix this peat water with tap water to achieve the pH I was looking for.

Do you or anyone else know what factors come into play in relation to the extent the pH can be lowered by peat moss?

I've been contemplating the purchase of an RO filter because I expect to be able to get lower pH with a smaller amount of peat water. By using RO water mixed with peat water, I hope to achieve lower pH values with less peat stain in the water. I want to begin photographing my apistos and I'm afraid the slight yellow stain will effect the way the colors of the fish turn out in the photos.

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Z Man]

I used a 7 gallon bucket with about 2" of peat on the bottom first. To me it is a real pain, you know where! I only used this in 20 gallon tanks so didn't need much more at any one time. As I said I tossed the pH meter as that too became a pain. For what it's worth I only used this low pH when trying to breed difficult fish. I've had 26 different Apistos spawn for me but never lowered the pH. After breeding a few times I returned them to the 7.5 water. For just taking photos, I wouldn't even bother with the lower pH. BTW, I get a water quality notice from the Water Authority every year and it states "7.5pH - Adjusted", so whatever they do to it I don't know nor care to reach that mark. I have only done the 'peat' thing twice and decided if any other fish needed it for breeding purposes, I wouldn't try to breed that particular fish.

 

[Scooter]

I'll echo Z man's results. My tap is a little higher in TDS and a little higher in pH than Z man's but I get about the same results with my RO unit. I might add that the type of membrane makes a difference. I use a HiS, which gives me a reading of 2 or 3 on my TDS meter and that's after a year of use. The resulting pH is around 6.4.