What water to use?

[benji1174]

I have a question about water to use for a Freshwater setup. I have been very successful over the past 8 or so years with Saltwater but never with Fresh. I now have a 20 gallon freshwater tank and am wondering if I can use RO/DI or if the DI is too pure and will actually harm the tank? Should I be putting some addative in the water first?

Thanks for your help!

[Stang69]

I have just always ised tap water and buffered it to the right ph and such


Jeff

[Deborah]

If you have live plants I think the RO/DI would be too pure (unless you have some kind of nightmare water where you need to strip it and add back all the stuff plants need.)

I'm not sure but if you just have fish I don't think RO/DI would hurt...it's just not a necessity. But I'm going to have to Google that question, I don't have RO/DI but I've seen the question several times and I'm getting curious.

[Deborah]

The Krib \

From the Krib it seems that RO/DI won't hurt a freshwater tank...but the fishkeepers using it are keeping softwater loving fish in hardwater areas.

I'd say it's your choice (unless you have plants).

[benji1174]

Thank you for the advice! Right now I just have fish but I do plan on having plants eventually. I think for now I will use tap water for water changes and use my ro/di for top off since I have it in jugs for my saltwater.

I was also researching this on a freshwater forum and it seems there are addatives that are specifically for RO water. I might look into that as well.

Deborah, thanks for the link. I will look into those articles as well.

[Steve-O]

I always use store bought spring water. The pH stays up and my fish have no trouble with it. If you are on city or well, you need to run it through a ro/di. My well water is too heavy with iron to use.

[Tasher80]

My friend has a planted tank and he uses half RO/DI and Half tap. He did say RO/DI was too pure for his planted tank.