Re: Mixing water : ionic-balance

[Randy or Deb Carey <carey@spacestar.net>]

Water softener water is detrimental to at least some species.  A friend lost all
of his Synondontic multipunctatus spawns once he added his water softener unit.
A year later he by-passed the unit when filling the catfish's tank and the spawns
returned!

So I am investigating some of this for my use with the sensitive tetras.  I'm
reading about experiements in which egg development in one species was hindered
by an imbalance of calcium vs. magnesium!  Joe Gargas (see his TFH articles over
the past year), was the first to present such information to me.

I contacted certain people who have had luck spawning more challenging characins
and found that not one used water from a water softener unit.  (But the sampling
was too small to be conclusive, it's only suggestive.)

But dwarf cichlids are easier to induce into spawning, so the criticalness of
water-softener water is less.  I have certainly had good luck when I added some
of this to my mostly r/o tanks.  _Perhaps_ the better solution is to use all r/o
and add the basic chemicals in the proportions you want: calcium sulfate, calcium
chloride, magnesium sulfate, potasium chloride, and even baking soda has been
recommended to me.  I got mine from either the grocery store (Epsom Salt is
magnesium sulfate) or from a medical supply store at affordable rates.  By using
these chemicals you can experiment to see what ratios work best.

Perhaps R/O Right will be fine for cichlids, but Joe Gargas recommended that it
would not be good for my use.  He didn't come out and say it directly, but
apparently the various chemicals that are in the product shift and settle so that
each spoonful contains a different mix of  ionic ratios.  I haven't read how much
ionic-balance affects cichlids, but I do know of a demonstration about its affect
on a tetra species' willingness to spawn.  If you want to emulate the ionic
ratios that are in the wild, refer to Mayland/Bork who list several charts of
such statistics:
http://www.characin.com/carey/reviews/books/mayland_dwarfs.html

--Randy
    www.characin.com


Tim R wrote:

> When mixing my RO water with 5% to 10% of tap water, does it make a
> difference that I only have tap water that has been through a water
> softener?  Or should I start thinking about placing a tap before the
> softener.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@majordomo.pobox.com.
For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
email apisto-request@majordomo.pobox.com.
Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!