From: Randy Carey <carey@spacestar.net>
Reply-To: apisto@listbox.com
To: apisto@listbox.com
Subject: Re: water hardness
Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2001 08:07:37 -0500
I'll add to what Mike and David said.
Yes, R/O Right adds the ionic content that its company has chosen. For
Apistos, which are relatively easy to induce to spawn, this should not be a
problem. I do know that some very challenging species (Rummy-nose)
requires the right combination/ratio of ions to increase the likelihood of
them spawning and of the fry surviving. So I have a collection of basic
chemicals (CaSO4, MgSO4, CaCl, KCl,...) that, in theory, allow me to
produce just the right ionic balance. I don't use this method often, but I
have played with it a bit. But again, for Apistos, a little R/O right
should work for most species.
An R/O unit removes most everything, but it is not quite pure like DI water
is. I, too, often use pure r/o water for certain tanks with no
problems. The acclimation, though, should be somewhat gradual -- I've lost
fish from the abrupt change. But I think that straight r/o works because
some of the "impurities" are still present. What would be shocking is to
use straight DI water on a regular basis with no ill-effect.
David is right about the waters found in the native streams. Look at some
of the charts in good aquarium books and you'll find super low
conductivity, and pH reading that, in some localities, fall to the low 4's
and even below. Regarding my take on low pH:
http://characin.com/carey/articles/98/how_low.html
--Randy
At 04:50 AM 10/4/2001, you wrote:
Hi All,
just curious, How does one get their water down to a trace hardness
without adding strait RO? I heard adding strait RO was a bad thing. My
logic says that if there is already 150ppm then adding strait RO would
bring it down. Is my logic wrong?
JerryB
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