Gh 0

[MandyL]

So I’m in a new house, on well water, and setting up a new tank. My KH and PH are off the charts with my tap water. I measured and mixed and tested and eventually figured out that I need less than 1/4 cup of tap water to 1 full cup of RO water just to get to a KH 120 and PH 7.5 (or just below). So that’s ok, I already had an RO filter and I’ll use the same ratio for water changes. But my problem is the water softener makes the water GH 0. Do I need to raise this with an aquarium additive? What would be a decent number to aim for? This is just for a small planted community - tetras and the like. Also am I missing any essential nutrients using this much RO water, or are the numbers all I need to watch out for?

[Slaphppy7]

@Rocksor, please have a look at this post

[BluewaterBoof]

If you already have RO water why not just go with 100% RO for the tank? Would be a lot easier to just do it that way and add a bit of a remineralizer product like Equilibrium or Salty Shrimp GH/KH+ than it would to mess with mixing with well water that is going to give you wonky parameters.

[Rocksor]

Get water that doesn't use the water softener (which just replaces magnesium and calcium ions with either potassium or sodium). Putting more additives to raise the GH will raise the TDS of the water. The proper amount of general hardness will depend on the fish you are planning to keep.

[MandyL]

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping not to have to empty the tank over again (I already did that once! Stop jumping the gun Mandy!) It took a full day to get enough water out of my RO unit. Honestly I’m tempted to just buy the Equilibrium, raise the GH on the tank water, and then from now on out just use the plain RO water reconstituted for water changes after this point (with Equilibrium? Or do I need more things to make straight RO water work?) Things have changed since I was really into aquariums and it’s hard to make this brain remember even the things that are the same. ��

[MandyL]

As far as fish types, I’m leaning towards just neon tetras, cherry shrimp, and eventually a Betta (watching carefully for compatibility of course). Then judging whether I need any Otos or a nerite snail. I love Corys but leaning towards not having them for the bioload. If my store has some nice chill Rasboras, Pygmy Rasboras, or ember tetras I may be tempted to do one of those species instead of the neons, but from my understanding those might be more sensitive to water parameters.

[BluewaterBoof]

In my experience, using straight RO/RODI water - remineralized, of course - will open up lots of choices for stocking. All of those micro fish you listed should thrive in the soft, clean, and slightly acidic environment you'll get using straight purified water.

If you proceed with using the RO mixed with your well water, Equilibrium should be fine by itself. It does not contain carbonates but your well water is already really high in those, but it contains all the other general minerals necessary for healthy plants and fish. If you go straight RO water, you will need to add another type of carbonate/alkalinity buffer to the water along with the Equilibrium.

I personally used the Salty Shrimp stuff when I was breeding sensitive ornamental shrimp and using a straight RODI system. Here is the link to their GH/KH+ combo product: LINK

Not only did I have sensitive shrimp but also sensitive micro fish in the system and all absolutely thrived. It is a very clean product that keeps your TDS levels at a minimum and I have not once heard a single person express any issues/displeasure with the product. The price of around $20 turns some folks off, but when you look at it over how long it will last you it is a solid investment. A little bit of the powder goes a long way. It will also provide some of the minerals needed by the plants that you are planning on using in the tank. The plants may still benefit from some additional fertilizer supplementation for macro nutrients (nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous) but since the tank isn't going to be driven by loads of light you probably could get away with not really adding anything as the fish/food waste will provide some low levels of those macros.

As for starting over and refilling the tank, you don't have to wait on the RO to be made. Just head over to your local grocery store or Walmart and pick some distilled water. If prices are the same as they were a couple years back when I was changing over to purified systems in some of my tanks, you should be able to pick up the distilled stuff for about $0.88 per gallon. Grab yourself about a dozen of those and use them to do the brunt of the initial water change over to purified stuff. Then just use your remineralized RO for all your future water changes and you'll be golden.

[Liam]

If you already have RO water why not just go with 100% RO for the tank? It would be a lot easier to just do it that way and add a bit of a remineralizing product like Equilibrium or Salty Shrimp GH/KH+ than it would mess with mixing with well water that is going to give you wonky parameters.

Is this the optimal ratio for all aquariums? I am going to set myself a small aquarium and do not understand how much it is necessary to saturate the water with minerals so that my fish would be comfortable. Or will it depend on the type of fish? Such filters are not suitable for saturating minerals? I need to pour water from the tap, it passes through the filters and then pours it into the aquarium, it will be the easiest for me. If you do not know, tell me what you can read :)

[BluewaterBoof]

Is this the optimal ratio for all aquariums? I am going to set myself a small aquarium and do not understand how much it is necessary to saturate the water with minerals so that my fish would be comfortable. Or will it depend on the type of fish? Such filters are not suitable for saturating minerals? I need to pour water from the tap, it passes through the filters and then pours it into the aquarium, it will be the easiest for me. If you do not know, tell me what you can read :)

It really depends on what your filter/water softener does to your water. Each person’s situation is different. If your water purification system strips out all minerals then you’ll definitely want to remineralize it. How much you have to put back depends on how much is stripped out by the purifier. You need to get a hardness test kit that measures your gH levels to get an idea of how low your mineral content is. A lot of fish in the hobby can tolerate a range of water hardness but you don’t want water that is completely devoid of minerals or super hard water.