Don't Use RO Water in a Planted Tank. Floating plants. 130 63

Discus 13 years ago 31,737 views

GET AN AWESOME TANK! Free Top 10 Planted Tank Secrets on website: http://www.dustinsfishtanks.com How To Do Water Changes in your Aquarium Fish Room. "Gary Don't Carry" https://youtu.be/oYZXfdn0Usg How to Clean your Aquarium, 220 quick water change https://youtu.be/3u731Sj2Mwk Aquarium Equipment Good, Ghetto and Classic Equipment https://youtu.be/zc3hg-WYPOk HOW TO Run CO2 In a Planted Tank https://youtu.be/YjSLekzSvBw Don't use RO (reverse osmosis) water in the planted tank unless you plan on adding some more fertilizer to the tank. Plants like tap water and take the metals out of it.... https://goo.gl/bRejwR/ Welcome to Dustin's Fish Tanks YouTube Channel. My channel is made for FISH TANK PEOPLE! I try to focus on Planted Aquariums, how to grow aquarium plants, dirt as the planted tank substrate and low light aquarium plants. Planted Tanks shouldn't be difficult. My goal is to make the planted aquarium hobby easy. "Planted Tanks Made Easy" Dustin's Fish Tanks. TANK ON! Click here to subscribe for more great videos every week ! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=dustinsfishtanks Support your boy! Check out my Aquarium Plants and Aquarium Stuff for sale! https://goo.gl/Bmmm4G Facebook: https://goo.gl/gkDOxP Instagram: https://goo.gl/a5ZOIG Fish Tank People Social Community http://fishtanktv.com/

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for Don't Use RO Water in a Planted Tank. Floating plants.

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Cory Summers - 7 years ago

I use tap, it comes out a 7 but then climbs to almost 8 in my tank, why???//

si bland - 7 years ago

What is that oil like sheen on top of water. I have many thanks but only seem to get it with the fighter fish tank. Maybe Food?

gustavo peña - 7 years ago

very unwise and incomplete info

Vinay Kashyap - 7 years ago

That was great tip to use the waste RO water!! I'm gonna try it out...

Jeremy McReynolds - 7 years ago

What about lead? Nickle? Do plants eat that? Pretty sure most dont....

Jared - 7 years ago

I know this video is old but to anybody knew, If you are targeting a specific set of parameters, or simply want to be in control of the biotope you have. RO water is the only way, picture trying to turn mud into drinking water. not going to be easy. now picture adding mud into drinking water. pretty damn easy. With RO water you control 100% of the contents. so yeah add pure RO to your tank and you will have problems. No different than drinking RO water. It has nothing in it, our bodies can't use it for anything. You have to add your own parameters back into it. such as EQUILIBRIUM, ALKALINE BUFFER, ACID BUFFER, and more. you add your own heavy metals back at the levels you want to and need them. like IRON. you can control how much COPPER there is. When i lived in the big city a while ago i killed a Lucky Bamboo by keeping it in the cities tap water. among other things it was poisoned by copper. high amounts of copper. i have learned a lot since then. Bottom line, RO or RO/DI water is the cleanest purest way to go.

Aslmx - 8 years ago

This was great info. I'm going to try my waste ro and see what happens.

M K Ultra - 7 years ago

Aslmx I like Dustin's videos but I think that would be disastrous.

Dustin's Fish Tanks - 8 years ago

I have been doing a bunch of Facebook LIVE as
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Jared - 7 years ago

you're dumb

STEVEN CHARLES - 8 years ago

You know what else also loves all that bad stuff in tap water? Algae. Will never use anything but RO water in my tanks ever again. Add some GH booster to get some minerals back into the water. Fish love it, plants love it.

10. comment for Don't Use RO Water in a Planted Tank. Floating plants.

augustyn1967 - 8 years ago

Sorry man. I love your videos, but I have no choice. I can chew the water coming out of my tap. 240+ppm nitrates. 8.6 ph. 250+ppm KH and GH. 2.5ppm phosphates. 2ppm ammonia. When I moved to my new house before having an RO unit my entire tank was taken over by algae not to mention a few tetras I lost too. I quickly got an RO unit and was running a 5:1 RO:Tap mix. still was not enough. now I have made the switch to 100% RO plus the needed minerals and buffers.

augustyn1967 - 8 years ago

I have my own well. not sure how the legalities work with that. it's below the limit in order to sell a house. I live in the middle of a bunch of potato fields and DON't drink the water lol.

ss ss - 8 years ago

240ppm of NO3? Surely that's illegal??? In the uk our limits are 4 times lover than that.

augustyn1967 - 8 years ago

Central Wisconsin Felix.

Felix Dzerzhinsky - 8 years ago

+augustyn1967 Do you live in Flint, Michigan?

dinko basa - 9 years ago

hey dustin just a newbie question. do you use airstone on your planted tank??

Vironex - 9 years ago

You cant even use pure RO in a fish only tank.... jesus christ
You put what you want/need in the RO to create a controlled environment, not sterile at all

Criterion515 - 9 years ago

Dustin is speaking as if you use the RO water without doing anything to it before putting it in the tank. If you are going to use RO water, you have to know how to use it. RO water is used to allow you to precisely control your water parameters by starting off with a blank slate which you then MUST remineralize to what you need before using it unless you are simply topping off evaporation. You never, ever, use raw, unmineralized RO for water changes.

saverimuttuwhat - 9 years ago

There is no chlorine in the water at 96025 and my anubias grows like anachris!

A Wilson - 10 years ago

Unless you plan on fertilizing your plants, don't use RO (reverse osmosis) water. Enough said, do we need a long video?

FrostByte - 10 years ago

I think you can. Just have to buy a product powder that puts back mineral. I think seachem makes some.

Why - 10 years ago

Tap water can be good but not all the time and when you say plants eat yeah they do but not as fast as you would think. Especially if your trying to keep shrimp and the ammonia coming out of your tap is high. I'd say use ro water and just put what your plants need back in. Thats what im going to do. Good video but not everyone has the same tap.

Mike Kollin - 10 years ago

Actually Dustin is right on this one!! There are a lot of minerals, etc. in the tap water that plants feed off of. And RO water takes that out and your tank over time will be depleted of minerals, etc. The only reason you should use RO water is if for some reason your water in your area is absolutely terrible. Where I live, the PH is unbelievably high, ridiculously high. But there are methods to lowering the PH. I have it down to 6.5 - 6.8 on all my tanks. The Mineral content / hardness is super high here too, but I have it at medium right now, so it's all good… You might use a tiny bit of RO to lower Ph and slightly lower Hardness, etc. I mean like a Gallon or 2 if you have 30 + gallon tank. I personally don't use RO Water at all… I have Cardinal tetras, Cory Cats, Gara Ruffas, etc. low ph fish tanks!

BrentoftheUTube - 9 years ago

+Mike Kollin He's not right, because you can't just throw out a blanket statement like that without qualifying it. If you're too simplistic and lazy to explain why you would want to use RO in some situations and Tap in other's don't just throw out a blanket generalization like that. I have over 150 ppm sodium and almost 700 TDS out of my Tap, if i just listened to that and took it to heart without understanding what is going on I would be in bad shape. Alot of people can use their tap water to great effect in a planted tank, but alot can't. You have to know what you are dealing with. God Bless you if you have usual Tap water, unfortunately I don't. So I have to use most RO water that I treat with Seachem Equilibrium and Alkaline Buffer. I can use at most 20% or so Tap, but most of the time I don't just cuz its a pain in the ass to keep up with where i'm at. I'd rather just use RO and know exactly what I'm dealing with.

AnnyaKatalina - 10 years ago

what is the oil looking layer on teh surface? and is there a way to combat that???

Nicholas Lee - 9 years ago

+son dinh yes surface skimmer kills it. i had that problem for my high tech tank also and skimmer solve it

son dinh - 10 years ago

I believe most of the planted tanks had that. especially the high-tech tanks. im having them right now, there are a few ways to combat that are increasing more surface ripple, using paper tower or surface skimmer. as I have found that using the surface skimmer is the most effective one for that.

20. comment for Don't Use RO Water in a Planted Tank. Floating plants.

Mik Orf - 10 years ago

You dont need to use ro system if you have good quality tap water.Dustin is right in this case.
But what if the tap water is so hard that there is no way lowering the ph other way than ro?
My tap water is 8.2 ph .i have tried to remove stones and add driftwood to my 100L fresh water tank but the ph stays at 8,2.I add so many driftwood in the aquarium that i needed to make every 2 or 3 days waterchange to keep it from the tea color water turn green and ph keeps staying over 8.
i tried also co.
In this case isnt it better to use ro system and add mineral to the water so i can stabilize the ph at 6,5?

sn9696 - 10 years ago

RO water is good for tanks... Been using it for years!

Bourne Vengeance - 11 years ago

Hiya Dustin, I really enjoy your videos, you make them so interesting and fun to watch. On the subject of RO water, I get great results from a 20% tap water to 80% RO reason being the tap water in my area of the UK has high levels of everything you wouldn't want in your aquarium, it makes the fish sick over time and encourages all kinds of algae blooms, if this wasn't the case I would definitely go for tap water. keep the videos coming, great work!

MMODoubter - 11 years ago

Keep an eye out for leaks.

TheReal MVP - 11 years ago

Dustin I have a question because I can't get my ph down with out RO water it runs upto 7.8 depending on time of year. My ro runs exactly where I need it for some of my fish which is 6.2? I've tried just about everything to lower it without ro but hasn't been possible once it hits 7.2

joel Kletke - 11 years ago

I got a 125 gallon with a stand for $60. It was a lizard tank but i transformed it in to a BAD ASS planted aquarium.

MonopolyBag - 11 years ago

I use RO water, not RO/DI in my planted tank. It is a Walstad Method, and I do not fertilize it other than Potassium. Plants are doing great, growing, and I have little algae growth.

loveinreturn - 11 years ago

Was Dr. Tim sick? Is he better yet?

rosseaualfa - 11 years ago

What a useless and stupid comment..

Lisa Foster - 11 years ago

And dirt, of course.

30. comment for Don't Use RO Water in a Planted Tank. Floating plants.

Lisa Foster - 11 years ago

My plants are doing well with RO, API Leaf Zone (going to switch to Flourish Iron and Flourish Potassium), Flourish Comprehensive, and Replenish. I intend to get the Equilibrium to replace Replenish, and Fresh Trace. I will never to use tap water again, because I have had a disaster with contaminated tap; I'm finding out that the supply here is unreliable. I just had water show up in my tap that looked like it did when my fish died so it could've happened again just now had I not switched.

WolleytheMonster - 12 years ago

Actually ro di water is great if you have fluoride and chlorine in your tap water. Its keeps your fish healthier especially discus. now i understand there is nutrients that a ro di system takes out but you can add the specific nutrients with seachem. besides you dont need prime anymore if you are filtering your water. not trying to argue its just my opinion.

ADU Aquascaping - 12 years ago

Agreed. If you have extremely high carbonate hardness, alkalinity and general hardness perfect for African Cichlids you should do a 20:80 Tap/RO mix for planted and you should be fine. Some plants that can do well in extremely hard water: Vals,Crypts, sword variants, hygro if dosing K, bacopa, anubias,java/fern/moss. Essentially any plant that can efficiently utilize carbonates, etc... I live in an area that has the hardest water in the Nation. Great videos Dustin. I'll be watching for years.

MIAfishing1 - 12 years ago

Yo Dustin, quick question bro... You see that white greasy film on your tank at the beginning of the video, I got the same thing. Do you know what it is and how to get rid of it?

Ronald Kalman - 12 years ago

Bro make a video of your filter system of your tanks I love your videos is cool all good I got 2 planted tanks 1 full of anubias and alot of cryptocorynes and what we call vallisneria gigantea. Another tank with all sort of types of Cryps, Nice work great information all the way from Costa Rica.

Chuck Petrosky - 13 years ago

@partyonman1959 also would like to add, the machine set up to despence water in your local super market is usually r/o water. It's totally safe for drinking.

genemcgurts - 13 years ago

I don't understand how you can make a video like this, get so much criticism about your opinion on RO water, yet you make no attempt to recant or make an effort to understand what you claim is "bad", yet have no experience using.

John Glabe - 13 years ago

I and many other viewers would love the hell out of that 610G like it was our own child, but, of course, a rich guy who doesn't even enjoy maintaining tanks is going to buy it for his household decor... because he can afford it. I'd be so happy to be that rich guy's housekeeper...

John Glabe - 13 years ago

putting freshwater organisms in RO water is like putting saltwater organisms in freshwater. end of story.

Dustin's Fish Tanks - 13 years ago

@aopdjasldksa i'll go with that

Big Rob - 13 years ago

That's a huge tank with massive water changes ... But It would be so sweat to have it

SlowChromeHand - 13 years ago

@leannvlewis corys wonteat snails, but clown loach do!

leann lewis - 13 years ago

I've got a physa snail outbreak in one of my small planted tanks. Any suggestions on which small, inexpensive fish will eat them? Cory's perhaps? Thanks.

Jamer - 13 years ago

RO water isn't so bad to drink, but DI water shouldn't be drunk. Can cause lacerations in your stomach because pulls the salt out of the cells by osmosis

Chuck Petrosky - 13 years ago

The purpose of using ro water is to strip out all the unwanted contaminates in water which cause harm to your fish. Removing thoes contaminates helps promote the health and breeding in many fish. Using ro water without re-introducing the minerals will cause osmotic shock and can kill you fish. After re-introducing minerals (seachem equiliberum) ro water is perfect for you fish & plants. Much better than the crap coming from your tap. See my tank videos. Ro water is your best friend!!!

dudev - 13 years ago

@EvergreenAquaria As if me and my aquarium hobbyist thugs were going to come over and force you to down a gallon. :) But seriously, I try to get my scientific facts from actual scientific sources, not forums. I've been in the hobby for decades and it's filled with misinformation and useless fraudulent products. Take advise from aquarium store people with a grain of alcohol.

dudev - 13 years ago

@EvergreenAquaria I just read the World Health Report on RO/DI water consumption, linked in a reef forum. The concerns over drinking RO/DI water relate to malnourished people in 3rd-world countries, people who already suffer from mineral deficiencies. That RO/DI water is aggressive on metal pipes and containers, releasing toxic metals. And has no anti-microbials like chlorine, which would be dangerous in a diseased country. So under normal conditions, it's safe to drink.

Bechertanks - 13 years ago

do you run an air rator in your tanks or c02?

Josh Abbott - 13 years ago

@MrPrototype16 its happens when you put your hands in the water before you wash them, or it can come fro the fat in your fish food. Nothing bad really, just doesn't look nice.

genemcgurts - 13 years ago

Controlling a nutrient rich water column does not require "tap water". Tap water can be quite volatile (especially people who received water from public water supply). RO water can be reconstituted via chemicals to get appropriate levels that tap water may pollute if used in some areas of the country. The point of this video should have revolved around sustaining a balanced water column not persuading people to not use filtered water. RO water DOES NOT "cook" plants. Improper nutrients does.

50. comment for Don't Use RO Water in a Planted Tank. Floating plants.

Tyler de Jong - 13 years ago

no scuba adventure in this vid? damn

dudev - 13 years ago

I used RO/DI water on a planted tank for years. The reason is because my tap water contained huge amounts of phospate which caused algae. Of course, I had to re-mineralize the RO water for general hardness and carbonate hardness (Seachem Equilibrium). Once I had a good level of plant growth to compete with the algae, I switched back to tap water. I guess the moral of the story is to plant the hell out of the tank from the start.

fishdude3213 - 13 years ago

Thank you for making this vid I was gonna buy a ro unit this weekend

dudev - 13 years ago

@EvergreenAquaria "so if you drink it it steals them from you so that it can have them and then you get sick and get the runs" Sorry, but that's completely untrue. You can drink RO or RO/DI water with no problems. The cells lining the intestine absorb water, they don't expell it. And the kidneys filter urine. The human body is quite good at regulating itself. And the difference between RO and RO/DI is usually 10 ppm or less, which is nothing. DI is used to remove things RO can't.

AZNWOKZ - 13 years ago

Can you do a video of " WHERE & How to properly cut to make a new plant, trim off bad plants, etc. I know you mention them before for the Lugia Nana and swords. thanks

Penny Duong - 13 years ago

@Bazil1869 :O dude my tank is filled with water sprite, i can't seem to grow anything but water sprite.

iAzmax - 13 years ago

Thanks for the shoutout,im now looking for some water sprite its kinda hard to find down here atm.

Jordan Royal - 13 years ago

Do you use water conditioner (chlorine, ammonia remover) when you do water changes in the planted tanks?

mybackpocket - 13 years ago

god your tanks look better everytime you video them :D not sure wayne will like the dig at the reef tank lol..think you should get one going again...

P Paul - 13 years ago

sorry i thought it was in the tank

chicktapus33 - 13 years ago

First! Nice video!

About Don't Use RO Water in a Planted Tank. Floating plants.

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