RO water

Hi
I came across a shop that sells RO water treated with ozone. Will this water be safe for fish?
KM

 

Update

Update time
Ozone RO water is much bluer than our normal tap water.
Did a 50% RO 50%jhb water mix. Left for about 4 days.
Did a 20% water change with it today 7 hours later, fish look fine.
Alls well

 

sounds interesting, so what do they suggest the benefit of ozone to fish is?

 

“The water holds more oxygen” so says the retailer

 

Ozone and Oxygen are different, not so? O3 vs O2...

I haven't googled this nor do I have a scientific background, but ozone can't be too stable and I would think it will always try to lose one of the oxygen molecules in other words oxidise something. Isn't this what H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) does? And for that reason people treat algae with it.

The danger is the oxidation process is non selective and could cause damage to any organic material, including fish.

I read somewhere also that UV filters cause some of the O2 in the water to become O3, which is how diatom algae gets detroyed when using a UV filter. But I read this a long time ago and I could be totally mistaken.

 

Ozone can also quickly kill off your whole tank....

 

ag dammit, i just had a whole post typed out and when i clicked the tab from the reference source i closed the window before posting...

anyway... henk, you mind elaborating please?

laure - you are correct, ozone is unstable and does oxygenate indiscriminately
here is a quick extract from a site that advs ozone utilizing water sterilizers

and a wiki extract on ozone

 

not really - go read up on http://wetwebmedia.com/ for more info

 

did a quick search on there, not gonna dig through it all, are you refering to the effect of ozone killing all bacteria?
extrapolating from this effect it could potentially kill ALL bacteria, effectively cleaning out your bio filter and resulting in an uncycled tank, is that correct?

 

My theory : Ozone disinfects the water. Ozone directly in a tank will kill everything
But left a few hours/days the ozone in the water dissipates. Leaving really clean water

Question: How long a period will ozone disinfects the water at what concentration?

 

Hi Can't recall the exact source(try to find it and post it if i do) but it is like Henk says.O3 Can kill /oxidize your whole live in a tank away. I can remember that, because mg /L too much can have devastating effects on Fisch and Bacteria it was strongly advised not to be used in AQ. They spoke about a special chamber to elliminate ALL produced O3 before bringing the water back into the tank.
For me too risky!!

 

Hi again
found one article on another site. Apperendly it can be toxic in different levels In air the max level is 1/10mg per m3.
the breakdown time is between a few seconds to 20 min.
It is again warned to be used in AQ without constant monitoring of redox potential.
Article is in german otherwise i would have posted it

 

As I recall, O3 used in UV filters to kill bacteria and diatom algae. It is most effective way to clear up green water. But no O3 passes back into the aquarium, as far as I know. I remains in the filter chamber where it oxidises organic material in the water. So UV filters are safe to use because they do their business OUTSIDE the tank.

 

so ozone treatment inside a sump would be ideal...

 

IMO maybe inside the last chamber in the correct quantities.
Never tried it myself, any marine guys tried it?

 

I would have to agree with the uv filter bit, I would rather use it over the water, I have a uv filter in my pond, and it does wonders for the water

 

Nooooo! You must not convert your tank water to RO!!!! Its is osmotically neutral, it has NO TDS, if you switch your tank water with it the water inside your fish (has lots of ions etc) will be sucked out, attracted to the osmotically lower water around it! You will dehydrate your fish.

This is why its so bad for us or any other animal to drink RO water! Sure, you can mix it with ordinary water in small proportions, but why would you want to if your tap water has been fine for so long??

and yes, marine guys use it all the time - to top up our tanks so our salinity stays the same, and also we mix it with special salt mix to reproduce oceanic conditions. Mixing it with the salt mix adds total dissolved solids, so its not free of tDS anymore

Also, whats the point in buying a bucket of ozone enriched RO water only to leave it to stand to let the ozone dissipate?

 

The only real use of RO in a FW aquarium is to soften the water where tap water is relatively hard, especially for South American species that enjoy softer water, but yes never use pure RO water, either add back minerals with commercial products (expensive) or just mix with tap water and age for atleast 2-5 days.

 

Ozone water
RO water
UV filtered water
are very different things, all used incorrectly will kill your fish

 

+1 to George for that one. Simple answer and full of knowledge!

In Jhb our water tends to be a bit hard... and some more delicate species, like the south american fish, perfer softer water.

Plant's also require certain macro-elements that is found in our tap water. If you using RO water in your planted tank, all you are doing is giving the plants completely nutrient deprived water, and will have to use the chemical products (expensive) to add these nutrients back in.

I have not personally tested the actual nutrients in the JHB water, but from conversations I have had with the Professor, we believe that the wate is hard due to the high Calcium content in the water, and that the magnesium is still low. (This is why when you use his fertilizers, he still advises you to use his hardening mix (at half the dosage) to try and compensate for the loss of magnesium)

Some people have extraordinary hard water because of their location, or possibly because they are using borehole water. If you are going the planted route, I would highly recommend you get the calcium and magnesium levels checked. And in this case you would, as George said, use RO water to dilute the harder water to soften it a bit.