RO = Stability?

[Augus]

If you use RO water, do you still have to use water conditioner?

[John N.]

Originally Posted by Augus

If you use RO water, do you still have to use water conditioner?

RO only removes minerals from the water. So the chlorine additive that's injected by our water districts are still present. You'll want to use a water conditioner.

-John N.

[John N.]

I wonder what type of water Takashi Amano uses for his tanks?

-John N.

[George Farmer]

Originally Posted by John N.

I wonder what type of water Takashi Amano uses for his tanks?

-John N.

I wondered that too. His tank stats and literature state a very low GH under 10-20ppm, so I assume RO. I would have though low Mg and Ca may cause issues, but apparently not...

I use my tap which is around KH 7, GH 14, NO3 20ppm and PO4 5ppm.

Never had any issues with almost all plants I've tried, and little/no algae.

I do use a de-chlorinator that deals with chloramines and heavy metals though.

[altaaffe]

Originally Posted by George Farmer

I wondered that too. His tank stats and literature state a very low GH under 10-20ppm, so I assume RO. I would have though low Mg and Ca may cause issues, but apparently not...

I use my tap which is around KH 7, GH 14, NO3 20ppm and PO4 5ppm.

Never had any issues with almost all plants I've tried, and little/no algae.

I do use a de-chlorinator that deals with chloramines and heavy metals though.

Blimey, my tap water is kH 2, gH 6 constantly, NO3 & PO4 negligble. Perhaps everybody should move to the North of Scotland ?

I've never had any issues with water changes but know of a few people after pipe maintenance was carried out. As for dechlor, we have chloramine in the water so I dose accordingly before I add the water back to the tank, don't most dechlor's require a double dose and let the water sit a while before adding ?

[riverrat]

Originally Posted by John N.

RO only removes minerals from the water. So the chlorine additive that's injected by our water districts are still present. You'll want to use a water conditioner.

-John N.

I was under the impression that if the RO filter has a carbon block filter before the RO membrane that removed chlorine. Chlorine would harm the membrane I thought. If chlorimines are used in your water usually two carbon blocks are used in front of the RO membrane to remove them.

I thought that about 98 or 99 percent of chlorine was removed during this process.

???


Dave

[John N.]

Yup, Dave you're right. I misread the question and thought it was talking about the reverse osmosis filter itself removing chlorine.

RO units work in three (sometimes four) filter stages. Tap Water flows first through a prefilter/particulate filter > chlorine/chloramines > chlorine/chloramines (supplemental) > reverse osmosis.

-John N.

[MonoBarrientos]

Hi!
in my opinion (observation) , the gh value is not a "great" decisive factor in the growth of the mayory of aquatic plants (with some exceptions..Tonina species?) . In my case, the gh normally is +- 15-20 (considered a high value) with a little fluctuations in the time... and the plants (stem plants like as rotalas, miriophyllums, ludwigia , eusteralis and other species, foreground plants, cryptocorynes, aponogetons, anubias, etc) have a good development.
I use the drink water, non-modificated .

(please forgive me if i write with mistakes!!! no acostumbro escribir mucho en ingles, me faltan palabras para expresarme con mas claridad! )


Gmo