GBR's: RO/Tap or RO/Trace Elements?

Hey guys/girls, I was recently given a pair of German Blue Rams which I am currently housing alone in a +/-50l Jebo. I keep Mbuna where my hard tap water is a bonus but it is obviously not so with the GBR's. I am planning a 324l Discus tank for the near(ish) future and wish to provide the GBR's with optimal conditions not only for their benefit but also as a prelude to the Discus tank. Having said this, is an RO with Tap water mix or RO with added Trace Elements better? Who is using what? I am located in Kempton Park, Gauteng and also wonder where to find a good supplier of trace elements? Your help will be much appreciated.

 

Hi, I use RO water and add Kent's RO right salts to the water. I keep Zabra Pleco's and there water chemistry is the same as the Discus. Hope this helps. Kent has good products for Discus.

 

@Laracroft, Thanks! Where are you getting your RO right? How much does it cost? I really don't want to offend any sponsors so PM me if necessary. Anybody else have any suggestions?

 

Daryl, you can get RO right from @JungleAcquitics. Although they are in JHB they do postals, go and look under the sponsor tab for JunglAcuitics.

 

Sorry it is @JungleAcquatics

 

Thank you again. I will check it out.

 

Hi @DarylA

I am from the same area as you and would also be interested in RO water.

Let me know if you managed to find a good source of RO water.

 

Hi @gdt78, I haven't bought any yet but will be doing so shortly. I found a place in Elgin Mall(Birchleigh) that sells it at 80c a litre. They sell a 25 litre container(no water) for R130. I need a container so it will cost me R150 the first time and R20 for every refill. I'm not sure how competitively priced this is but it is convenient to where I live and I only need 25 litres a week at this stage. I am new to RO but they claim 0TDS but I'm not sure on PH and will test this weekend. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks @DarylA,

Is it the lfs which sells the water ?

 

@gdt78 No, not the LFS, it is Absolutely Water on the outside near Meat Factory.

 

I used RO tap mix and it worked well, using trace elements should probably be better but it will get expensive when you start doing large water changes for your discus in the future.

 

@Singularity. Yes, the cost had crossed my mind but I want to do this as best I can. I saw the pics you posted of your Rams - great pics but also great fish showing nice colour! Do you still have them? How old were they in the pics? Mine are still pretty young and aren't showing that sort of colour. Did you do anyything special to colour them up?

 

They were actually preparing to breed, they were getting the sand nest thingy ready etc, thats why they colored up like that, same with discus, they have the best colors when they start pairing of and doing their vertical shake dances...

They like things stable, so if you age your water for 2 or three days with lots of aeration you will be fine with RO tap mix.

 

Hi DarylA

In my early fishkeeping days, I used to mix R/O with Tap Water, but stopped doing this, as It seems to defeat the object. My Tap Water is very, very hard, and can also be inconsistent. Also, If going to the trouble to produce or purchase such pure water as R/O, why then ruin it by mixing it with very poor quality tap water?

These days I use Pure R/O re-mineralised with a product called 'Micro-Libe', which is an American product, and works very well for me. After a little experimenting, you can calculate how much to add, and this 'liquid' is preferable to other 'solid salts' on the market, as it does not need to disolve.

With regard to getting good colours in your Blue Rams, they seem to respond positively to live food. Quality is always an issue with Rams, with many poor quality Rams originating from South East Asia. The best Rams are those 'Wilds' imported from Colombia. The 'rubbish' produced in South East Asia, (sometimes laughingly described as 'German' Blue Rams in LFS) will only ever disappoint even the most experienced fish keeper.