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Hi all

Can anyone explaine the practical side of 'ro'. Does the ro water go from tap to an individual tank. Also if tank already set up do you gradually add ro water to the tank or do you have to replace whole tank ie start from start new tank setup. Also can anyone say which tank salts etc, to add to the new ro water.

thanks jeves.

Hi Jeves,
Welcome aboard Fish Profiles...!

Practically speaking most of the RO filters are attached
to the kitchen sink through the house plumbing under the
sink.
There are two "faucets" on the sink. One is the regular
house hold tap water, and the other is the output of the
filter.

Most RO filters are designed to produce small amounts of
water for drinking, or for "Incidental" use. The larger
installations turn on and off, automatically, to keep
a larger tank of dozens to hundreds of gallons, filled.
Obviousily these are for commercial use in places such
as hospital use.

In a normal home instalation you would put a container
in the sink, under the RO tap and turn it on, fill
a container, such as a gallon jug, and then turn it
off, carry the jug to the aquarium and pour it in.

Now, with RO water, depending upon the membrane
installed, its darned near like Distilled Water
in that it has no or next to no impurities in it.

If you fill a tank with only RO water eventually the
fish would sicken and die as they need the impurities
to live, kind of like the electolites in our blood.
So, before you start using the water in your tank you
have to arrive at the correct ratio of RO water to
Tap water to achieve the desired balance.
When using an RO filter we are striving to
hold the pH or GH/KH at a specific value. The easiest
way is to get a large container of a known value capacity,
such as 10 gallons. Put a gallon of tap water in, and
measure the values. Add 4 cups of RO water, mix, and
test again to see what the change is. 4 cups = 1 quart.
and 4 quarts = 1 gallon. Once you determine the ratio
of RO to Tap water you need for your aquarium, you can
shift that ratio into gallons, and then fill the aquarium
to that ratio, say for a 30 gallon tank, you might need
10 gallons of RO and 20 of tap water.

When doing WATER CHANGES, add the replacement water to
the tank in that ratio but in smaller amounts say 1/2 cup
to 2 cups of water. You would add salt (if used) to this
water, in smaller amounts but at the same ratio as you
would to the aquarium. With water changes you are simply
removing and replacing water gallon for gallon, and if
you add a teaspoon of salt/gallon to the tank, then keep
that ratio for the salt.

When TOPPING OFF a tank for evaporation, the impurities,
like salt, do not evaporate, so you can simply top it
off with RO water back to your "fill line."

Hope this helps...
Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thanks Frank. Much clearer now to experiment with the ratio's.