Nitrate and PH problems... Help!

I just tested the RO water and it's Nitrate-0, Nitrite-0, Amonia-0, PH-6.8. What about the Alkaline and Hardness, do I have to worry about that? I can test it to see what it's at.

What about the light. How long can I leave the light on? I have been leaving it on for maybe 12-15 hours a day. THanks...
 
I'm not sure how to respond to the RO water questions. RO water works well in salt water tanks because you put the stuff that the fish need back in with the salt mix. I have never heard of anyone using RO water in a fresh water tank. I am not sure of the long term effects of have no minerals in the water for the fish, and I don't think you will be able to get your ph/alkalinity balanced correctly and consistently with additives. I am inclined to agree with the last poster who suggested just using tap water and a dechlorinater like Prime. As far as the light goes 12-15 may be a little long, perhaps 8-12, but if you aren't having an algae problem then you're ok.
 
I use the RO water because that's what I was told to do, and I guess it has a lower PH. The PH of my RO water is 6.7 and I think the tap water is like 8.4 or higher. I don't remember without testing it. I can test it again. I think the aquarium salt I'm using says it adds the minerals and stuff that the fish need. Well, I just tested the PH of my tap water using the High Range PH test kit and it's not showing up. It's like a bright red color and it doesn't match anything, so maybe that's higher then the purple? Maybe 9 something? I have no idea. I'm just guessing... I bought a digital PH tester, but it stopped working. It just died and I change the batteries and it's still dead. I think I got water on the top of it, so maybe it ruined it. Thanks..
 
What kind of test kit are you using?
 
Another thing about RO water is that it has no stability, the Kh will be at or close to 0. So any minor pH swing will escalate into a much larger problem.

There are special types of minerals that need to be added. Stay away from anything that says "Aquarium Salt" as it is not needed for FW fish unless treating for ick or other illnesses...

Try using a mix of tap and RO, that will lower the pH without completely getting rid of everything. It works for many people. However, with every water change you will need to get the ratio close if not exact to what you have in your tank.

But first we need a for sure pH reading.
 
I use RO in one of my tanks and like jpappy789 said I have to mix it the same every time because I don't want my fish to get 70% RO this time and 40% RO next time. The tank is stable only because I use significant tap in my mix to get the natural buffering that comes with tap water while reducing the total solids with the RO. I tried staright RO for a while and found that it was very unstable. I could move the pH of 20 gallons with 1 or 2 drops of the pH adjusting stuff. Trouble is that every time I did a water change to remove some nitrates, I'd get horrible pH swings. I have learned that lesson the hard way. No reason for others to learn it the same way, it was very hard on my fish.
 
When testing your tap water pH let some sit in a shallow dish over night and then test it...this will give a true pH of what your tap water will be once it is in the tank....many times it will test much lower after it sits out.
 
Updated Info...

Hmmm, I'm suprised at the results. I did a 50% water change last night. It looks like the PH went down to maybe 7.6 or 7.8. The Nitrates are maybe around 40 or higher. It's hard to tell on the chart between 40 and 80, they look about the same, but they are still at least 40. I am using the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Test Kit where you fill the vails and put the drops of chemicals into the vails and shake them up. Anyway, it took me like 15 hours to do a 50% water change, because it takes so long to fill up the 5 gal. jugs full of water from the RO system, because it's slow at giving out the water.

Also, the filtration system wasn't going for all that time because there wasn't enough water in the tank, so I'm worried that maybe the algae on the rotating wheel might have died? I vacuumed the gravel too. If minerals and stuff are taken out of the RO water then isn't there something you can buy to put them back in?

The big problem of using the tap water is the PH problem, unless I put in something to lower the PH in the tap water before I put it in the tank. Anyway, I thought I would get a much better result then I did. I was expecting it to be down to 20 or lower. Please let me know what you think is the best thing to do at this point. Thank you....
 
You can pull the biowheel off the filter and just float it in the tank while doing the water change or while cleaning your filter. That way the bacteria stay wet and survive the change.
I have some 5 gallon buckets that I keep full of RO so that when I want to make my water change blend I don't need to wait for the RO to make the water. It takes a day or so to fill them up but then I'm ready for a 15 gallons of RO and additional, for me 15 gallons, tap water change. Like I said in my last post you need to decide how much tap to mix in if you want stable water parameters.
 
I turn off my filters when doing water changes...with my biowheel, and my other HOBs I dont worry if that stays wet. You still have all that media inside the filter that is holding bateria (not aglae btw ;)) and not a lot of the colony will die off when you turn the filter off. If it was off overnight you may have to worry, but for only an hour or so you shouldnt see an increase in ammonia or anything
 
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