Wade Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Is it ok to use RO/DI water to top off a fresh water tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Yes, perfect for topoff. Just don't use RO/DI only for filling it, but assuming you knew that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted September 3, 2013 Author Share Posted September 3, 2013 yeah it's an established tank at work that I've just been using treated tap for top off. Good deal. I'm the fish will appreciate it. Thanks man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 dumb question im certain, but why wouldnt you use RODI to fill it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 I've been using RCA DI for topoff no problems. I use it for water changes, too, but that's because I'm trying to get low pH and hardness for West African fish (not cichlids). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 dumb question im certain, but why wouldnt you use RODI to fill it? There's a few reasons, biggest one in my experience is that it removes all buffering capacity in the water so PH becomes extremely unstable. Others are the lack of nutrients make it impossible to grow plants and fish are very susceptible to HLLE. Best bet is usually to go 50/50 with tap, or use a conditioner like equilibrium to add nutrients and buffering ability back into the water before using it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogdan Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 dumb question im certain, but why wouldnt you use RODI to fill it? RODI water would kill the fish and plants instantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euphoric Eulogy Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 dumb question im certain, but why wouldnt you use RODI to fill it?RODI water would kill the fish and plants instantly. Why would it kill everything? Just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 dumb question im certain, but why wouldnt you use RODI to fill it?RODI water would kill the fish and plants instantly. Why would it kill everything? Just curious. No, I don't think it would. I do 25% water changes with RODI all the time (really just DI from RCA but filtered water). If I took a crustacean from my tank and dumped it in a bucket of DI water, it would have the same acclimation issues as from a pet store to your DT: temperature difference, pH 7.4 to pH 6, etc. I said crustacean, because they seem to be more sensitive to acclimation issues than a lot of fish. But fish have similar issues. Only there's not a salinity issue. I'm pretty sure my plants wouldn't care. When RCA cleaned out my LR and DT to convert from SW to FW, I filled with straight DI. I knew that the calcium build-up in my return lines, etc. would buffer the hardness, and it has. I haven't added a single drop of tap, and everything's doing great. But I have KH, GH and pH higher than I actually want due to the stuff leftover from being SW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 It's ok to use if you reconstitute it with some form of gh and kh buffer. For my fw tank I do water changes with 75% RODI and 25% tap. I put a tablespoon of 3:3:1 gh booster in the RODI water to get some minerals back in. Helps me keep the water soft, and nail in both GH and KH at about 5 degrees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 I used tap water for 11 years and never had a problem. When I did a FW planted discus tank, I buffered the water to bring the Ph down closer to 6.5, but that's about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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