Re: straight RO

[David Sanchez <barbax2@yahoo.com>]

"I was under the impression that straight RO lacks
> any trace minerals fish need"


Kelly very good question. This is only a concern with
DI water which completly desalinates the water(Calcuim
and Mg) DI water is just about 100% pure H2O, in
contrast RO leaves enough "stuff" Behind that is is
100% safe for fish that come from such water as most
of our Apistos do. I use 100% RO for all my Soft water
fish with no reservations.


"without some
> kind of buffer it is given to more fluctuation in
> the water parameters"

Kelly this is a point of great confusion among
hobbyist today. For some crazy reason many people
think that very soft pure water has a problem with pH
bouncing. The confusion comes from a lack of
understanding the pH buffer system. First of all lets
THROW the word buffer OUT! it just confuses people. A
better and more correct term in my opinion is KH. Or
Carbonate Hardness. The KH is of utmost importance to
us Apisto keepers. If we want to regulate or change
our pH we need to look at our KH. The point I am
making here Kelly is that pure RO water from a high
quality RO unit should have a KH of 0. Given that
lowering your pH will be easily accomplished by
natural methods such as Peat and Oak leaves. The so
called pH crash people experience is due to a lack of
water quality management. When water sits and DOC's (
phospahtes, Nitrates, etc) accumulate this all tends
to acidify the water and will lower the pH more and
more over time. It is my firm beleif pH crash is more
often associated with people using all sorts of crazy
chemicals to mess with their pH. As Don Z-man says
K.I.S.S. Just use 100% RO for most Apistos this will
breed them and you dont have top mess with anything
just keep the water quality high via water changes. If
you have a black water species a little peat some Oak
leaves Faggetabout it. Keep in mind Kelly that our
Little Apisto friends come from water that are almost
as pure as DI water so using 100% pure RO is the
common sense thing to do. I hope this helps you Kelly
and nice to hear from you.

Dave Sanchez

--- rabidchild43 <rabidchild43@home.com> wrote:
> I was under the impression that straight RO lacks
> any trace minerals fish need and that without some
> kind of buffer it is given to more fluctuation in
> the water parameters........Kelly
> 


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