Dork Fish Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 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). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Fish Posted June 29 Author Share Posted June 29 @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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Fish Posted June 29 Author Share Posted June 29 @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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Fish Posted June 29 Author Share Posted June 29 @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. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 (edited) Before spending money on a reverse osmosis unit, test your tap water. GH, KH, PH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, phosphates… Gh, Kh,ammonia, nitrites nitrates would be items of highest interest to me if I were checking mine. Which I have…. Edited June 29 by Pepere 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Fish Posted June 29 Author Share Posted June 29 @Pepere Yeah I will have to look for test kits. Looks like the API kit only does ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 Api master test kit, Kh Gh is another kit. Phosphates not super necessary, but nice to have… my tap water is very low in chlorine, it chronically runs 1 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites, o Nitrites slightly basic ph, I forget the exact number. 1 degree gh, 2 degrees kh. very soft. I dose with water conditioner and Seachem Equilibrium to raise General hardness calcium and magnesium, and also boosts potassium. I also dose Alkalinity buffer which increases KH. In essence if you have water like mine a reverse osmosis unit would not be necessary. If your tap water is very hard, then you might have a harder time finding growing plants… and certain fish might not do quite as well.. reverse osmosis and remineralizing might be desireable…. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Fish Posted June 29 Author Share Posted June 29 @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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 I like the API liquid GH, KH test kit. Easy to read and correlates well with expected increases from dosing Equilibrium and alkalinity buffer… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galabar Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 (edited) 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 by Galabar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 (edited) 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 by Lennie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Fish Posted June 30 Author Share Posted June 30 I will see about testing my tap water to see if i even need an RODI 🙂 Thank you everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Fish Posted July 1 Author Share Posted July 1 @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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Fish Posted July 1 Author Share Posted July 1 @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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 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 👍🏼 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Fish Posted July 1 Author Share Posted July 1 @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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 Iam surprised to see the ph so high with a KH OF 4. I am somewhat at a loss to understand what could be raising ph in the absence of carbonate hardness. aeration would only potentially raise the ph further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Fish Posted July 1 Author Share Posted July 1 @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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Fish Posted July 1 Author Share Posted July 1 @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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 If you have a lot of limestone, one would expect you have hard water. Hard water deposits , lime scale on tubs sinks, faucets needing servicing etc. do you have your tap water treated with a water softener? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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