# RO water top ups?



## shrimp76 (Nov 24, 2014)

just curious if I should be doing top ups with pure RO? for wc I use mix RO/tap but im reading some places to do top ups with pure RO. just wanted to know from some more experienced shrimp keepers what I should do for the top ups.
thankx


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## Atom (Sep 17, 2014)

I was curious about this too when I was first starting my tank. I've been told that once you get your water chemistry where you want it, you should top up with RO to roughly maintain that chemistry. The nutrients and minerals would remain in the tank water and only "pure" water is evaporated from the tank so adding RO water shouldn't change the water chemistry much it would just dilute the concentration.

Water changes can be used to alter the water chemistry if needed (adding more or less minerals to the mix, pH, etc). If you used pure RO water to fill up your tank initially and then supplemented with bottled minerals, I think RO top ups are still used and then water changes would consist of RO water with the bottled supplement (though maybe even tap water would be ok if you know what the mineral concentrations are).

Tl;dr: Top ups are best with RO. Water changes should aim to be similar to what you initially filled the tank with.


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## shrimp76 (Nov 24, 2014)

*@atom*

thank you atom. what you said is what I read but I don't see that too often about pure ro top ups on the net so I was not too sure about it. I will do that from now on for top ups and mix 3-1 ro/tap for my wc. 
thanks again


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## Atom (Sep 17, 2014)

No problem  to be honest, I'm not that experienced myself. I asked similar questions on this forum over here if you want to check it out:
http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114649

A bunch of people weighed in on RO and tap water for shrimp tanks.


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## shrimp76 (Nov 24, 2014)

thanks again. I will check it out.


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## bettaforu (Sep 6, 2009)

Unless I was breeding Taiwans which need a lower PH than my tap water, I never used RO for my shrimp tanks. 

This time I am using strictly Bee shrimp soil for the Bee tanks which keeps it at PH 6.2-6.4. I use plain old gravel for the Neo and Tigers and all are doing fine in PH 7.2-7.5

My tap water in Burlington is 7.5 and even when I am topping up the Bee tank
I still use this water. The soil will buffer the PH quickly back to 6.2- 6.4 

I have had several molts in the last 2 weeks in this tank, even my newly acquired White Bee shrimps (which are very finicky) have molted and they are doing just fine.

Unless your soil isn't buffering the PH low enough then using RO isn't really required for shrimp tanks. If you've started the tank with RO water, you will have to continually add mineral supplements of some sort, either liquid, or mineral powder, or mineral stones as the RO doesn't have anything in it.

This is why I prefer the actual soil used overseas for the crystal bee shrimps
as it already has the ability to keep the PH low enough for this type of shrimp.

Neos and Tigers are not as fussy and can/will live in any kind of water, but prefer the higher PH from 7 - 8. I have kept Yellow Neos in my Sulawesi tank which was PH 8.6 and they were breeding in there 

You can use RO for top ups on your Tap water tanks no problem, but you should occasionally add back in some type of mineral additive. 

Most shrimp tanks do much better with less tampering. Shrimps won't breed in a tank they are not comfortable with, so constantly adding water (unless your level is going down dramatically) is just stressing them out.

Just check your parameters for ammonia and your PH and if all are good, then leave the tank alone. If the water level is going down or you need to adjust something (ie ammonia/PH) then use the RO water if you want. Key to good shrimp breeding " keep it simple '


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## shrimp76 (Nov 24, 2014)

thank you bettaforu. your advice is much appreciated and I will keep an eye on all my parameters and try to keep it simple.


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