# RO Units and Planted tank



## kiloman (Dec 22, 2009)

Hello all

I have deceided in getting a softwater planted and will buy RO unit, i am choosing among several ones, others have posted here and i have some info on them now, changing either my 55gal or 30 Gal setups to softwater

the questions open to all are as below

1. what is the cost ( for all who have RO units) have u paid and is buying used worth? 

2. what size is optimum to buy ( bang for buck wise) assuming i do a 20-30% wc every week

3. I will be doing a DIY co2 first and then get a pressurised co2 later, should i stop a DIY co2 at night( i will have to let it go to waste but its better than kiling my fish with acid ( being softwater) or leave them gasping for breath
so do anyone have RO and co2 togather? their experiences??

4. I am not keeping a barebottom tank, planning to use flurite as substrate, but with ro the minerals in flurite can quickly make the water hard, ( or not??)
so only gravel?? Again one who has a planted softwater has the best answer but any info will be gr8

5.Finally what about the plants?? Where would they get their nutrients from, only fish poop> ammonia> Bacteria>Nitrate> plants?? Or do they need to be dose ferts too? But the downside is making the water hard, as soft water will dissolve any mineral immidiately, 

hope this thread is in the right place as it involves several questions 
thnx all for answering and or reading


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Can't explain the whole shebang to you but

*so do anyone have RO and co2 togather? their experiences??*

The two have nothing to do with eachother.

The R/O unit is used seperately to prepare water with the exact parameters you want. You never turn Co2 off.


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## kiloman (Dec 22, 2009)

*Ro Co2*

well i was thinking abt the fact that co2 in a softwater can cause ph swings , but thnx for not explaining to me

thank you appreciate your comments


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

Toronto tap water will grow just about any plant you care to try, so there's no point in RO. The lower the KH, the more extreme the pH-lowering effect of adding CO2. RO water has no buffering capacity so it's prone to pH swings anyway. RO water isn't particularly good for your fish or your plants -- you'd have to add some minerals back. Calcium and magnesium (the hardness ions) are both important nutrients for plants.

Look at some of the pics in the planted tank photos here and you'll see a lot of beautiful tanks that use tap water.

If your tap water doesn't come from Lake Ontario, it may or may not be hard. IIRC, K-W has hard water, but people still grow plants. Many plants tolerate or even prefer harder water.

As for CO2, it's beneficial under moderate lighting, but not necessary. It will make your plants grow faster (and require more nuitrients) but then you have to prune and thin them more often.


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

I agree,

I would put your money into lights and if you already have lights then CO2 can be a nice luxury and will grow your plants quickly, but you can run into issues with fish and inverts with CO2.


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## kiloman (Dec 22, 2009)

*the reason i want RO water*

well thnx all for replies, the reason i want RO water in the first place is i want to bree my fav fish, apparently it can be done its hard but not undoable

Cardinal tetra

i want a 1000 ( may be more) of them but can affort the price in lfs, rather want to try breeding them( also as a challenge on somthing i believe no one has tried)

all info i can gather is they need soft acidic water with lot of plants, so my dilemma, to get soft i need ro, to have lots of plants i need minerals, so how do i achieve this, dont they counteract each other ,also apparetly they shy away from too much light which is needed for plant growth

i am sure there will be many hardles, but someone said-- i have discovered 1000 ways how not to do it, i just need to figure 1 way to do it

all help is appreciated

so far as stocks go i have 20 ,1/1/2 group assorted from three places, so less chance of genetic mixing , and hopefully some females in the group

thnx all


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## kiloman (Dec 22, 2009)

*lights*

oh missed a point, i have lights on all tanks , so light isnt an issue, medium light , but planning on dimming it once everything is set up


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

someone in Ontario is already breeding them.

Do you have experience breeding other egg scattering fish? or any other tetras?

I have been told that breeding Tetra's is very hard thing to do.

I do wish you luck.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Neon tetras breed much eaiser than cardinal tetras, they also have a tendency to be cheaper.

Cardinal tetras don't breed very often, I've only had mine spawn once in a planted tank.

This was in my original post but for some reason it didn't show up:
*
5.Finally what about the plants?? Where would they get their nutrients from, only fish poop> ammonia> Bacteria>Nitrate> plants?? Or do they need to be dose ferts too? But the downside is making the water hard, as soft water will dissolve any mineral immidiately, 
*

You pretty much got:

fish poop> ammonia> Bacteria>Nitrate> plants

Spot on, some nutrients also come from your tap water, for example Calcium.

I'm not really a person who has any plants that are high maintence, the only thing I can really tell you is that Excel and many fertilizers kill shrimp. In your case, that really isn't necessary information, but shrimp help eat some of the algae off of your plants and tank so you might want to consider that.


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## Lee_D (Jun 11, 2010)

I've got three 50g tanks and I switched them over to 100% RO about three months ago. From what I can tell the fish are doing really well. The noses of my Rummy Nosed Tetra's practically glow in the dark and my glowlights have such startling colour they absolutely shine. I'm sure even my Ember Tetras would be burning with colour if they would ever come out of the weeds.

Please note, they are all fish that like soft water. If I were to add more fish, I'd make sure they like soft water. My crypts and giant vals are growing well, but slowly. That's ok because I think I've finally reached the point where the plants are using the available nutrients and there in none left for the algae.

For my purposes I think the fishfood supplies enough food for the plants. Just in case I picked up some Seachem Flourish "Trace" and I'll try that for a bit. If the Algae comes back I'll stop. The label doesn't mention copper so the shrimp should be safe.

Having said all that, what's the real reason I like RO? No more white crystals everywhere. All the calcium carbonate just washes away...


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## kiloman (Dec 22, 2009)

*discarded the idea*

still hunting things down, but dropped the idea for ro and planted togather

will probably try plastic ones, anyone selling a ro unit??

thnx guys


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

kiloman said:


> still hunting things down, but dropped the idea for ro and planted togather
> 
> will probably try plastic ones, anyone selling a ro unit??
> 
> thnx guys


I have some pretty nice plastic plants if you're interested


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

kiloman said:


> still hunting things down, but dropped the idea for ro and planted togather
> 
> will probably try plastic ones, anyone selling a ro unit??
> 
> thnx guys


I suggest you go with plants and think about RO later. Even if your cardinals spontaneously spawn the eggs and fry will be eaten. The way tetras are usually spawned is to separate males and females, feed them well until the females are full of eggs, put them together to spawn and remove them immediately afterward. RO would be useful when conditioning (feeding them up) and spawning them.

Live plants look good and are excellent for maintaining water quality. They take up ammonia faster than the bacteria do, as well as other pollutants.

If I were you I'd get some experience spawning and raising some easier species of tetra before trying cardinals. If all you want is a lot of cardinals, it would be cheaper to buy them, perhaps in a special arrangement with one of the non-chain LFS, than to buy an RO unit.


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## kiloman (Dec 22, 2009)

*but i want cardinals*

i did and doing some readings on tetras, and have a plan, but i will go for cardinals only, as i am not doing it for money but just the challenge of it,

someone did in new zealand and a batch, not just a few fry here and there, and by that persons info, i have to get a freshly imported stock not ones whose in tank for months, so will have to go for non chain lfs after my setup is ready,

trying to get a ro first, and i am not under a time line and trying to get a cheaper ro first( $50-$75 range)

eyes open and finger cross


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## Lee_D (Jun 11, 2010)

So, to get back to the original question. Does any one have any experience buying an R.O. Unit? I've been getting my water at the store and it's proving inconvenient. It's also proving rather galling that the fish drink better water than I do.


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