is my water suitable for CRS?

it would be perfect if you used half RO water and half conditioned tap water!

mordalphus said:

it would be perfect if you used half RO water and half conditioned tap water!

Click to expand...

i really would but seeing as i've already invested in a co2 system i would not be able to afford a RO system any time soon. so, they would not do well with the tap as is? my cherries do extremely well in it but as i've been reading on crs they seem to be more picky.

They'll probably survive just fine, but you might not see them breeding

My tap water is abit harder then yours and they still breed, but not very well. The girlfriend has a 6g fluval edge in her office and uses just straight tap water with conditioner and she has about 20 or so SS CRS in there. The only draw back is out of a full saddle of around 20-30 eggs 5-6 only survive.

rickztahone said:

i really would but seeing as i've already invested in a co2 system i would not be able to afford a RO system any time soon. so, they would not do well with the tap as is? my cherries do extremely well in it but as i've been reading on crs they seem to be more picky.

Click to expand...

I decided against investing into RO system (at least for now) and I buy DI water in Whole Foods. It is 39 cens per gallon. For some reason RO water in WF has pH 7 and DI water pH 6, so I buy DI.

Ph is a bit high. You could lower it with Aquasoil or peat filter media.

Also, it's best to always use a water conditioner with crs. Even though I mix tap and RO, I still use a water conditioner.

ro at whole foods is 7ph because it's remineralized for taste

RO water at Vitamin Cottage/Natural Grocers is also at 7.0 pH, costs $0.25 per gallon.

if its remineralized do you need to add anything to it like you do with regular RO water?

Baadboy11 said:

if its remineralized do you need to add anything to it like you do with regular RO water?

Click to expand...

Jeez my question killed this thread:eek5:

sry, i really do not know much about RO water and the like. hopefully someone chimes in here for you.

The adults will survive but the babies will more then likely no make it. I had the same problem for a couple of years because I was too stubborn to buy the ro unit. The tank had ADA AS I and still the babies did not make it. After I got the ro unit it was like a CRS explosion!

bsmith said:

The adults will survive but the babies will more then likely no make it. I had the same problem for a couple of years because I was too stubborn to buy the ro unit. The tank had ADA AS I and still the babies did not make it. After I got the ro unit it was like a CRS explosion!

Click to expand...

i'm assuming this was directed at me. i will just have to see how they do in the tank. i just got some in today and hopefully they make it the first few days without incident. they are not yet adults so i can see if babies will make it in my water.

If you want you can purchase ro water from a store in your area. I did this for a while but going to walgreens and getting 10 one gallon jugs of water every couple of weeks got old, and so did the expense. I got a great 4 stage ro/di unit from spectrapure for about $150.

bsmith said:

If you want you can purchase ro water from a store in your area. I did this for a while but going to walgreens and getting 10 one gallon jugs of water every couple of weeks got old, and so did the expense. I got a great 4 stage ro/di unit from spectrapure for about $150.

Click to expand...

Do you add any minerals back into the water or just throw it into the tank?

I use grumpys GH booster.

bsmith said:

I use grumpys GH booster.

Click to expand...

Thanks!