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What supplement should I be using with my RO/DI water?


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Hi All,

 I have a 20 Long that has been up and running for about 8 months. It currently houses about 40 cherries,15-20 Tigers, a few wild bees and a single crs{I lost all the others;( }. I have been using tap water with prime which has my pH at 7-7.2,

gH and kH both at 4. 

 

I plan on switching to RO/DI but need advise on what supplement to pick up. I have noticed a huge decline in the reproduction rate of my cherries and I would like to help them get to ideal-ish param's while doing the same for the Tigers. Any help is greatly appreciated, Thanks! 

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well first you can slowly start switching RO water into your system. since you've been using Tap water you have a lot of excessive minerals already. 

once you feel you are comfortable that you've swapped out all the tap for RO there are a few different remineralizer options. 

 

next choice is do you want a liquid you dont really have to mix or a powder which requires minimal mixing.

 

from there you can chase down the best option vs price.

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A word of caution while switching to full RO use, you will need to remineralize the RO anyway. Don't make the switch from tap to just RO as it will mess with hardness which seems already low and might explain why the neos aren't doing well.

For neos, a gH of 6-7 is quite ok, lower and they start to have molting issues or shell issues.

First, I would try to increase the gH in the tank to something close to 6 dgH. SaltyShrimp Bee Mineral raises just gH with minimal impact to TDS. Start doing water changes of about 5% every couple of days with tap water having a gH of 6. Afterwards, you can switch to RO remineralized to the same 6 degrees of hardness.

You might want to consider buying a TDS meter if you don't have one already.

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If you want to keep tigers and your cherries together I would suggest going with Salty Shrimp Bee Shrimp GH+, it is the best value for your money and seems to be peoples current favorite. 

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They are more difficult but only because they don't thrive in as wide of water conditions as Cherries do. If you use RO water and Salty Shrimp GH+ to remineralize I have found them pretty easy.

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Agreed with the above. BKKs are doing well in full RO treated with Bee Shrimp Mineral GH+. I'm hoping they will breed at some point. I'm new to them as well. Just got around to take some pics of them tonight. Will update the gallery album when I have enough time.

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