Hello everyone,

I have just purchased an Aquafx Barracuda RO/DI unit. I have done so much reading in the past week and possibly too much reading because I have heard so many different opinions. I hear that Seachem Equilibrium isn't enough on its own to completely remineralize RO/DI water. Is it that Equilibrium doesn't raise KH? I was experimenting with RODI today for the first time ever and made some water using Equilibrium and Neutral regulator with readings of 5dGH and 1dKH with 146 TDS . Is that safe to do a water change with? Or my question is can I make this work with what I have? I do not know what targets I need to meet. I will not be using dry ferts at the moment because I bought all these things first (not knowing) and want to use them up. I want to keep this as basic as possible but I'm super confused and am now afraid to put in any water that doesn't meets fishes needs. I cannot keep plants alive for the life of me, except dwarf water lettuce. I have been using tap water treated with Prime and the tank has been running since April 2020. I use 3ml of Easy Green on Monday and 3ml of Seachem Flourish on Thursday and 40%water changes every Sunday. Plants that I put in start turning pale with holes in them or grow brown algae that looks to be diatom. My goals are to Not use tap water and eventually have fully planted tank understanding how the basic chemistry works with fertilizers and minerals. Please feel free to ask anything I may have left out.
Thanks

Current Fish
3 Med size angelfish
1 Keyhole Cichlid
5 Black Phantom Tetra
4 Julii Cory cat
2 Petricola Catfish
1 Blue Phantom Pleco
1 5" Weather Loach

33 Gallon Aquarium
Tidal 55 HOB
Nicrew LED 36" (May be the problem)

Current water Param in aquarium:
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 10-20 ppm
4dGH
3dKH
TDS 136 ppm


My Current products to work with are:
Seachem Equilibrium
Seachem Neutral Regulator
GH+KH API Test kit
Master Freshwater API Test kit
Seachem Flourish Comprehensive
Aquarium CO-OP Easy Green

Starting at the top, so to speak, my problem with using Equalibrium to re-mineralize RODI is to get to 4-5 dGH you end up with a huge amount of K (potassium).
Just for reference, I have a RO system. I add CASO4 for Calcium, MGSO4 for Magnesium and some K2CO3 to get the water at/above 1dKH. I am dosing to 16ppm Ca, 6.5ppm Mg and this generates on 70ppm TDS.


What you mixed up likely will be ok for a water change. Really depends on what the water is like in the tank before you start. If your tank currently is 12dGH and 8dKH and you do an 80% water change your tank may not be very happy (very big change). Looking at what you listed as "in aquarium" what you mixed up will not be a very big change (this is good).


I would have to do more research on the Easy Green, but I suspect it would be supplying Macro nutrients. The Flourish, if I remember right, would supply many of the micro nutrients. Likely the levels you are dosing may not be enough for the plants.

See I don't understand why some products have to be so unbalanced. You say there are excess amounts of K in Equilibrium just to get 4-5dGH but then again it doesn't have any phosphate. Frustrating... Can you explain a little what you mean by " I am dosing to 16ppm Ca, 6.5ppm Mg " how do you know you get a result of ppm in measurements? Something I don't understand yet.

Ok, will do my best to explain;
First off, are you familiar with any of the on-line fertilizer calculators? Probably the most used one is https://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php
Using their program, you can enter your aquarium size, then add in other information.
For starters, Seachem Equalibrium - if you added enough of it to RODI water to get to 16ppm Ca, you would have 4.82ppm Mg, 0.22ppm Fe, and 39ppm K.


In my case, I have 50g of RO water. To get 16ppm Ca, I would need to add 13g of CaSO4.2H2O. That would also give me 2.24 dGH. I would also like 6.5ppm of MgSO4.7H2O. That would also give me 1.5 dGH. Together, those 2 would equal 3.74dGH. There is a formula that basically says multiply your dGH by 17.86 and you will get the approximate ppm TDS which in this case would be 66.8ppm Add to that the 3ppm TDS from my RO system and I end up with around 70ppm TDS. Oddly enough, my TDS meter shows about 70ppm TDS after the salts dissolve.


As for the Equalibrium, my guess is that it is intended to be used in combination with their other products (i.e. spend more $ with Seachem). Most of us have figured out it is MUCH cheaper to buy the salts and adjust your fertilizer dosing as needed.

Ok So if I were to buy all of the salts required for re-mineralizing what ones would I need and that also goes with fertilizers. Another thing is I live in Canada and there are only a couple places I've seen online that sell dry ferts. Any help is much appreciated.

My first thought would be Collin at NilocG https://www.nilocg.com/
Looking thru his site gave me this information; https://www.nilocg.com/find-a-dealer/ - so it would seem you have Canadian options.


Re-mineralizing RODI water typically would require the following;
https://www.nilocg.com/shop/caso4-fe...uarium-plants/ - This is the Calcium salt. This bag will likely last you 3-6 months depending on how much you add to your RODI.
https://www.nilocg.com/shop/mgso4-ma...uarium-plants/ - This is the Magnesium salt. Again, it lasts a long time.
K2CO3 - this is something you will have to find on Amazon or a similar site. this salt will add dKH to your RODI. It will also add Potassium (K).

Once you decide how much of each (i.e. XXppm of Ca) you want to add, go to the Rotalabutterfly site and add in the various infomation to figure out how many grams to add.


Macro dosing your water column would require the following;
https://www.nilocg.com/shop/potassiu...uarium-plants/ - This is one version of Nitrate. This one also adds Potassium (K)
https://greenleafaquariums.com/produ...2-1lb-bag.html - This is another version of Nitrate. This does NOT add (K), but instead adds more Magnesium. More later.
https://www.nilocg.com/shop/kh2po4-p...um-plants-1lb/ - This is the Phosphate (PO4) salt that is typically used.
https://www.nilocg.com/shop/k2so4-fe...um-plants-1lb/ - This salt adds additional Potassium (K)
For some, who use tap water, it may make more sense to use the KNO3. But for some who are using RODI and re-mineralizing, the KNO3 may generate too much K, so MGNO3 is used instead.
For some, who use tap water, you may need some additional K to meet your needs so the K2SO4 comes in handy.


Micro dosing your water column would require the following;
https://www.nilocg.com/shop/plantex-...uarium-plants/ - many use this. Some of us have gone down a deeper rabbit hole by generating our own mix of micro nutrients. If you do wish to go that deep, @burr740 sells a really nice micro kit.

Probably should also add, the above salts are typical to either the PPS Pro dosing method, or the EI dosing method (both could be considered good starting points). Several of us on this forum are dosing modified versions of EI based on the particular needs of each tank.

Thank you so very much. I will study this Tomorrow with a clear head.