Is RODI recommended for freshwater?

[Dork Fish]

I have been reading up on RODI systems and it appears that you have to dose minerals back into the water if you use an RODI.

Is there any real advantage to a RODI over just using, for example, a Brita filter?

I am on city water and chlorine is used (which is easy enough to remove).

[Lennie]

Depends what kind of a tap you have, and what kind of fish/shrimp you wanna keep, or even more specifically you wanna breed, if you want to.

some fish can manage to live in a bigger range of parameters but to breed they need more specific ranges. Like I have been keeping my rams on 8.0 high kh/gh tank but they won't breed there. Now I'm setting them a breeding tank and using RO for it because they usually breed better in softer low ph water.

Some fish can be wild caught so you may need to imitate their natural environment and your tap may not allow that.

Your tap may have unwanted stuff like ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, or super high or low ph like above 8.5 or lower than 6. Your tap can be rock hard but maybe you really need that soft water. Or, for example when you wanna keep majority of caridina shrimp, you will again need to have RO ideally. Because their ranges are veery limited.

[Dork Fish]

@Lennie Good to know. Sounds like RO and dosing is really the ideal.

When an RODI is used, you do have to add the minerals back to the water that you want correct?

[Lennie]

On 6/29/2023 at 9:33 PM, Dork Fish said:

@Lennie Good to know. Sounds like RO and dosing is really the ideal.

When an RODI is used, you do have to add the minerals back to the water that you want correct?

Yes. That way, basically you have a chance to reach target gh, kh and ph with the products. 

For example, if you wanna keep red crystal caridina shrimp, you can use gh+ products to aim the 4-6gh, keep the kh between 0-1, and acidic 6ish ph. 

Like my tap reads 8.0 ph, 20kh, and 0 gh. It is mission impossible to keep crs if I didnt have my RO.

 

However, in my experience, as long as you are not keeping stuff like caridina shrimp, or wildcaught fish in general which usually require more specific ranges, and if you do get your fish locally they would usually do okay in your parameters as long as your water is not on extreme sides

[Dork Fish]

@Lennie Okay, that makes a lot of sense. I was considering shrimp in the future and really have no idea what would play nice with my betta for now LOL Have to figure out which fish I will be keeping.

In general, is there an RODI that you recommend?

[Lennie]

On 6/29/2023 at 9:49 PM, Dork Fish said:

@Lennie Okay, that makes a lot of sense. I was considering shrimp in the future and really have no idea what would play nice with my betta for now LOL Have to figure out which fish I will be keeping.

In general, is there an RODI that you recommend?

neocaridina shrimp are much easier to take care of and more flexible when it comes to water parameters. Would be a much nicer start.

 

I have success with keeping black roses and green jellies with my bettas. As they blend better and don't have flashy colors, my bettas don't seem to care about them.

But again, everything depends on the temperament of your own betta at the end of the day

[Dork Fish]

@Lennie Black rose would be nice, I am using carib sea moonlight sand at the front of the tank, so they would contrast nicely when in the sand. 🙂

[Dork Fish]

@Pepere Yeah I will have to look for test kits. Looks like the API kit only does ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH.

[Dork Fish]

@Pepere Yeah I had not thought about that. That is very useful information, would save good money as well LOL

@Pepere What kit do you prefer for GH and KH?

[Galabar]

On 6/29/2023 at 11:33 AM, Dork Fish said:

@Lennie Good to know. Sounds like RO and dosing is really the ideal.

When an RODI is used, you do have to add the minerals back to the water that you want correct?

You may need to add minerals for tap water as well.  It depends what is coming out of your tap.  My water is extremely soft and has almost nothing it it.  I "re-mineralize" it to get specific values. 

Edited June 29, 2023 by Galabar

[Lennie]

On 6/30/2023 at 12:06 AM, Dork Fish said:

What kit do you prefer for GH and KH?

I really like sera ones myself. I use test strips ( currently 6in1 Tetra ones, being one of the most recommended ones that is also available in EU) to check nitrite, nitrate, kh. I use liquid kits of Sera for gh, ammonia/ammonium, and ph. Very happy with all of them.

On 6/30/2023 at 1:10 AM, Galabar said:

You may need to add minerals for tap water as well.  It depends what is coming out of your tap.  Why water is extremely soft and has almost nothing it it.  I "re-mineralize" it to get specific values. 

That's a good point Ive missed to explain! 

Edited June 29, 2023 by Lennie

[Dork Fish]

I will see about testing my tap water to see if i even need an RODI 🙂

Thank you everyone.

[Dork Fish]

@nabokovfan87 @Lennie @Pepere @Galabar

My tap parameters are:

-- without brita:  pH: 8.4 | GH: 7 | KH: 4
-- with brita:  pH: 8.2 | GH: 7 | KH: 4

[Lennie]

On 7/1/2023 at 6:44 PM, Dork Fish said:

@nabokovfan87 @Lennie @Pepere @Galabar

My tap parameters are:

-- without brita:  pH: 8.4 | GH: 7 | KH: 4
-- with brita:  pH: 8.2 | GH: 7 | KH: 4

Hey again,

Are these results right out of tap? If so, could you please test the ph again after aerating your water? This would help us to understand actual ph better after the water is aerated. Put your water in a container and run an airstone for some time, and test it afterwards to see if you read any ph difference.

 

Speaking of 8.4 ph, that is high for majority of fish. And plants. You gh and kh looks pretty good as it is to me for majority of fish. But with such high ph, you will potentially have harder time to grow plants and you will ideally not be able to home a lot of species.

 

When you test after aerating the water, let's go over your stocking options and stuff again together. 

[Dork Fish]

@Lennie Yes that was tested straight from the tap without aeration. I do have a pump, but no air stone. Will need to look into picking one up for aerating the water.

[Lennie]

On 7/1/2023 at 7:27 PM, Dork Fish said:

@Lennie Yes that was tested straight from the tap without aeration. I do have a pump, but no air stone. Will need to look into picking one up for aerating the water.

No need. If you have an air tube, just put the air tube inside the container and keep it on ground (otherwise it directly comes to surface if left alone 😄 ) , so with bubbles,it creates surface agitation.

Surface agitation what makes the gas exchange occur.

You don't have to go buy anything for it. But keeping an airstone around can be a very low investment for the future, as it helps a lot when you use medication and stuff to increase oxygen content 👍🏼

[Dork Fish]

@Lennie I will pick one up just in case I end up needing it. I do have a Fluval FX4 and spray bar for the tank, which should create tons of surface agitation. Just doesn't do me any good in a bowl LOL

Also I have chlorine in the my water (city water), should i be putting the seachem dechlorinate in the water for testing?

[Lennie]

On 7/1/2023 at 7:58 PM, Dork Fish said:

Also I have chlorine in the my water (city water), should i be putting the seachem dechlorinate in the water for testing?

I think yea, as this will be the way you will use the water in your tank. @nabokovfan87 right?

[Dork Fish]

@Pepere I don't know too much about any of it yet LOL

that was straight out of my tap though, and we have a bunch of natural limestone in the area, so maybe that is it.

[Dork Fish]

@Lennie Well I have only been running the air for about 20 and the pH is down from 8.4 to 8.0 (without the seachem dechlorinate), how long should I aerate before final testing?

After final testing I will test base water then add the dechlorinate and see if that affects pH at all. 🙂

@Lennie Also what would you say is an ideal pH for most fish?

[Dork Fish]

@Pepere No it just comes straight from the city tap.

@Lennie @Pepere @nabokovfan87 My tap parameters after aeration for about an hour are:

pH: 7.8 | GH: 7 | KH: 4

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/1/2023 at 8:44 AM, Dork Fish said:

My tap parameters are:

-- without brita:  pH: 8.4 | GH: 7 | KH: 4
-- with brita:  pH: 8.2 | GH: 7 | KH: 4

What @Lennie was mentioning is called an off-gas test. Essentially, the oxygenation and PH of the water can change depending on how stable the ions are. Using an air stone and testing after 24 hours is going to give you an accurate PH and then we can compare that to the tank.

So.... KH is around 4. Mine is at 3-4 and I'm sitting right at 6.8-7.2 PH on average. Ultimately, the KH is high enough to keep everything stable, and so your water is actually pretty perfect given the GH:KH ratio as well.

On 7/1/2023 at 12:04 PM, Dork Fish said:

@Lennie Well I have only been running the air for about 20 and the pH is down from 8.4 to 8.0 (without the seachem dechlorinate), how long should I aerate before final testing?

After final testing I will test base water then add the dechlorinate and see if that affects pH at all. 🙂

@Lennie Also what would you say is an ideal pH for most fish?

24 hours minimum.

7.0 is what I think a lot of people consider as "ideal" but your PH need is going to change based on what the fish you're keeping require.

Edited July 1, 2023 by nabokovfan87
typo

[Dork Fish]

@nabokovfan87 So since the GH/KH is good, even if the pH ends up being a bit high, I could just add seachem PH down solution correct?

That would allow me to use my tap water without an RODI.

I cannot run the aeration at night because without an air stone, the bubbles are obnoxious LOL but I will resume running in the AM and see what the pH is.

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/1/2023 at 7:36 PM, Dork Fish said:

@nabokovfan87 So since the GH/KH is good, even if the pH ends up being a bit high, I could just add seachem PH down solution correct?

Seachem acid buffer, yes.  or you do water changes with RO / Distilled water.

 

 

On 7/1/2023 at 7:36 PM, Dork Fish said:

I cannot run the aeration at night because without an air stone, the bubbles are obnoxious LOL but I will resume running in the AM and see what the pH is.

you mean soothing and enjoyable!

[Lennie]

On 7/2/2023 at 9:43 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Seachem acid buffer, yes.  or you do water changes with RO / Distilled water.

But this will drop kh down to change ph, no? 

So you will lose that ratio anyway, except for gh.