Sea salt with R/O or distilled water better than tap water?

[garman]

In another forum I'm discussing the benefits of using reverse osmosis water in fresh water tanks as a better alternative to tap water. Tap water from municipal water suppliers often has a very high pH, around 7.8 or 8.0, can have high phosphates, and of course chlorine and chloramine, which makes it somewhat less than ideal for fresh water aquariums.

R/O water or distilled water should not be used by itself because they don't contain needed trace elements fish and plants need to live, so it is often combined with tap water to get a mixture suitable for fish tanks.


My question is: Would a small amount of sea salt, which contains all the trace minerals and salts fresh water aquariums need in small amounts, be a perfect additive to pure R/O or distilled water for fresh water aquariums?

This would be a pH neutral alternative to using tap water with chlorine/chloramine remover.

[MandyL]

I use the product "RO Right" to reconstitute my RO water. It's supposed to add all the nutrients needed as well as raise the PH and hardness to a reasonable level (but still keeping it very low PH and soft). I wouldn't think that salt would do the same thing, and many fish and plants are sensitive to any level of salt.

[garman]

I didn't know there was a product like that out there.

I believe that spring water, tap water, anything but R/O and distilled water has a small amount of salt in it. There is some discussion on using added salt in fresh water aquariums to aid the slime coat on some fish. I have fish that need a semi-brackish water to ward off bacterial infections and I also have lots of plants I wish to keep healthy, so I add just enough to keep my lilly pads ascending. If they stop ascending I do a water change and dilute the amount till they start again.

I'll bet that this additive has some salt, or sodium chloride in it.

I was thinking that only a very small amount of sea salt could be added to R/O or distilled water, not enough to hurt the plants.

Sea salt should logically have a concentration of all the minerals derived from fresh water percolating through rock strata, but I don't know if sea salt is a concentration of all trace elements with the right ratios, because things may happen to the elements in the sea. I guess organisms may interfere with the ratio, trace elements may fall out of solution or something. I'm not a chemist nor a water expert, which is the reason I posted this topic.

[MandyL]

Here it is: [Only Registered Users Can See Links.] You're right, it does contain sodium.

I definitely don't pretend to understand it all so I would prefer to buy the product that automatically does all that has to be added.

I would use tap water with the species I keep as they are not overly sensitive. However, my tap water has 2ppm Ammonia naturally so I don't want to add that to my tank. So, RO water it is.

[garman]

I would probably go the way you are if I had problems, but I seem to be fine with tap water right now and can't afford R/O or distilled water for my 100 gallon and other tanks. I have lots of live plants and I way over filter so I don't do as many water changes as a lot of people do. Nitrates are used by the plants as fertiliser.

I wonder why there would be ammonia in tap water? maybe it's a anti-microbial or disinfectant. Yuk!

I used to use artisan well water when I lived with my parents in upstate NY. The water just came out of a hose continuously under pressure without a pump, and it didn't require any additives at all.

I'll spread the news about that R/O additive. I have people who are having high pH problems with their tap water and that seems like a safe thing to advise them to use.

[MandyL]

Actually it's well water from our tap. I have a feeling there is something bad going on so I will send it out for testing for human consumption soon. We just moved out here to the farm and I don't know when it was last tested!

[garman]

Good luck with that. Hope it's not something huge you'll need to do. Maybe a geologist or hydrologist would be of help. I don't know. Peter