Kent R/O Right vs Equalibrium?

[Brugmansia]

I am concerned about sodium in whatever product I use to remineralize my R/O water. This is the first heavily planted tank I have set up. I know from a life spent in hortuculture that most plants are sensitive to salt.

Any insights on the various formulas re plant health? The tank, a 90, will be high tec, with a medium fish population eventually. I don't want to buy a big jug of something that turns out to be unuseful.

[HD Blazingwolf]

Kents does have a little sodium in it if im not mistaken. Shrimp keepers use it a lot. Equilibrium does not. Either works fine
I personally prefer gla's gh booster but its very similar to equilibrium

[sayurasem]

What are you keeping? If its fish tap water is fine as long your water is not very very hard. For shrimp I use Hagen Nutrafin Arrican Ciclids Conditioner to remineralize RO water.

[Brugmansia]

My tapwater tests deep purple on PH, also very hard. I am inclined towards S.A. dwarf cichlids, tetras, other soft water creatures. I kept Africans for years. They loved my tap water, bred happily in it. Also want lots of plants, so will be dosing ferts.

How do the minerals in the ferts combined with the R/O remineralizer work? is this duplication?

[HD Blazingwolf]

R/o remineralize as far as this hobby is concered is pretty much the same as gh booster...

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Originally Posted by Brugmansia

I am concerned about sodium in whatever product I use to remineralize my R/O water. This is the first heavily planted tank I have set up. I know from a life spent in hortuculture that most plants are sensitive to salt.

Any insights on the various formulas re plant health? The tank, a 90, will be high tec, with a medium fish population eventually. I don't want to buy a big jug of something that turns out to be unuseful.

Hi Brugmansia,

Here is some information on Kent R/O Right:

Kent Marine will not disclose anything beyond the MSDS which simply has:

Ingredient Name - (CAS Number) - %
CALCIUM SALTS (10043-52-4) < 0 - 20
CARBONIC SALTS (144-55- < 0 - 20
MAGNESIUM SALTS (7786-30-3) < 0 - 20
SODIUM SALTS (7647-14-5) < 0 - 40
SULFATES (7757-82-6) < 0 - 20

I even emailed tech support, in short their reply:

This is the extent of what I am able to give out except that a major part of the salts in the product is sodium chloride as this is the highest occurring salt found in nature. The specific ingredients are held proprietary. I am not even allowed to see the breakdown formula.

Sodium chloride is just plain salt, not something we typically add to a planted tank.

I use Seachem Equilibrium; here is the information on it:

Guaranteed Analysis
Soluble Potassium (K20) 23.0%
Calcium (Ca) 8.06%
Magnesium (Mg) 2.41%
Soluble Iron (Fe) 0.11%
Soluble Manganese (Mn) 0.06%
Derived from: potassium sulfate, calcium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, ferric sulfate, manganese sulfate.

Elemental potassium is present at a concentration of 195,000 ppm (19.5%). Archaic fertilizer laws force us to list potassium in terms of equivalence to a material that is not present (K2O) rather than the more scientifically sound method of simple elemental equivalence.

Please note, no reference to sodium chloride.

Question? Just ask!

[Diana]

If your tap water is pretty much OK, just too hard (high GH, KH, pH, TDS) then start with a blend of tap water and RO.
Get the GH and KH where you want it. Maybe 25% tap + 75% RO? Whatever works!
Then filter it though peat moss to get the black water, organic acids that many soft water fish like.

[jschwabe5]

I use Seachem Equilibrium. I have tried Kent RO Right a couple times and had horrible results, the last time I lost a tank of fish, it happened within minutes. I got mad, decided I would never use that product again and started dumping it down the drain. At the end of the bottle a brittle white precipitate came out. Even with a good shaking before use this stuff would never mix. I saved the bottle, and I emailed Hagen and never heard back. Not even a automated response. Bad product bad customer service.

[Brugmansia]

Thanks everyone, for all the feedback. My GH KH test kit got lost in shipping, so I am waiting for a replacement. When I get it, I can test my tap water. Then, I will have a better idea what I need to do. It sounds like Equalibrium is the better of the shelf product.

Just got the box of Flourite, now to rinse. I have been testing rocks with muriatic acid. Most of our local, beautiful, river rock seems fine. Just because, I tested my old gravel from Petco, their econo grade. It contains a fair portion of light color material that bubbled away.