Which mineral water is best?

[keluar]

I am planning to top up water with bottled water.
When I look at their content info, each brand has different pH, mineral content, nitrate level.

I am not sure which to go for.
The only one I see with negligible nitrate content is buxton brand

[MananaP]

Mineral water, you mean RO water? RO water should be reading all parameters zero and should have a low PH level...

[keluar]

No, I do mean bottled mineral water like evian, volvic etc

[imi_sky]

No, I do mean bottled mineral water like evian, volvic etc

You shouldnt be topping off water with minerals in them but we all do it. What ends up happening is the mineral content starts to creep up in your tank from the top off.

imagine daily evaporation of 200ml (thats quite a bit) and you top off with 10TDS water daily: (math will be totally wrong and dependent of tank size and water volume but it gives an example)

day 1: 150 tds
day 2: 155 tds
day 3: 165 tds
...
...
... and so on

Best waters for topping off are those without minerals because it doesnt change your overall dissolved solids in your water. RO/ or RODI works great, if that's not accessible distilled works just as well.

[keluar]

You shouldnt be topping off water with minerals in them but we all do it. What ends up happening is the mineral content starts to creep up in your tank from the top off.

imagine daily evaporation of 200ml (thats quite a bit) and you top off with 10TDS water daily: (math will be totally wrong and dependent of tank size and water volume but it gives an example)

day 1: 150 tds
day 2: 155 tds
day 3: 165 tds
...
...
... and so on

Best waters for topping off are those without minerals because it doesnt change your overall dissolved solids in your water. RO/ or RODI works great, if that's not accessible distilled works just as well.

Thanks.. Unfortunately, I don't have the space for R/O and usually topping up with my tap water (properly treated) will result in some deaths. hence I thought mineral water as I gathered from other site is an alternative

[mordalphus]

Distilled water is just as available for purchase as mineral water, and it contains almost nothing. It is a great alternative, and is often much cheaper than mineral water.

[marimo]

No mineral water for shrimps, evian is too luxury for shrimps .. lol
it increase gH

distill water is the best option, of course it will be expensive in long run using that for top ups
pH is usually lower around 6+ pH

usually ppl mix 50/50 Ro and treated aged water

generally top up evaporation with distill is not a plan
I used to do that but I finish 2 litres in a fortnight
it a hassle and costly

back to tap water, you need to know it well enough and how to use it
I do not know what are your water parameters from UK (gH,kH,nitrate..etc), but you have to find out how from other fellow mates at your area

You have to identify why your livestocks are dying after top ups.
you may also wish to share how much top ups, how often and how you treat the water
there's just too many reason shrimps could die from water top ups (not water change)

this is a valuable article hopefully you will find useful
http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/108

[MananaP]

Actually, to be honest. It is more costly if you buy RO water by 5gallons at a time. What i did and my friend we bought an RO unit, yes it might be a little expensive at 100+ dollars when you buy a unit BUT this will last you for years and unlimited RO water supply.

[Dincho]

Thanks.. Unfortunately, I don't have the space for R/O and usually topping up with my tap water (properly treated) will result in some deaths. hence I thought mineral water as I gathered from other site is an alternative

Your LFS should sell RO water, it costs me £3.50 for 25l.

[Soothing Shrimp]

Actually, to be honest. It is more costly if you buy RO water by 5gallons at a time. What i did and my friend we bought an RO unit, yes it might be a little expensive at 100+ dollars when you buy a unit BUT this will last you for years and unlimited RO water supply.

Is there a tutorial on how you built your unit?

[keluar]

Thanks. I might ask local LFS. But I don't think I can carry a barrel in middle of london let alone space to store them

[keluar]

Sadly, when I came back from work today, my dark blue tiger is dead.. 48 hours after topping up approx 1L of tap water (36L tank). Treated with API stress coat +
Very Frustrating... may be I should put a glass cover to reduce evaporation.
Also, anyone has nice shrimp to sell, pls PM me....
http://i51.tinypic.com/nmddnl.jpg
RIP Blue Tiger and my £10 !! ( Photo taken Yesterday)

[keluar]

http://i54.tinypic.com/23s6tdj.jpg
My Tank of Death !!

[MananaP]

Is there a tutorial on how you built your unit?

No because they come as is, just plug and play kind of thing. It is fairly cheap and my friend has been using it for over 5 years because he has to do 2x water change in his salt water tank every week so he needed one.

[imi_sky]

feel free to ask me if anyone wants to know more about ro units as i have to use one for my sw tank. ro units are fairly cheap online. I would advise from buying local as they are more expensive and perform the same. Tue only downside with all ro units is that they produce waste water in different ratios. the best of the units can only produce 1:1 ratio. that means for every 1litre of ro water it will reject 1litre of "bad" water. most of the units online on eBay and the like sell units generally with 1:4 or 1:3 waste so it'll waste alot of water. booster pumps can be used to up the ratio but most depend on the ro membrane itself.

[keluar]

I have topped up with my Brita Filtered water .. so far no death!!
Water is filtered 3 times and boiled... (essentially, it is my drinking water)

[keluar]

After seeing more shrimp died when no planaria is given, I decided to wash my fluval filter..
To be surprise, I found my Dark Blue Tiger Shrimp inside the filter alive and active !!!!
Some consolation !!!

[Dincho]

Can I ask a little about the tank....

How long has it been running?
What filtration?
Did you add any sort of minerals under the substrate when the tank was set up?
Have you tested for copper?
What are your parameters?

I just hate to hear of people struggling!

[keluar]

Can I ask a little about the tank....

How long has it been running?
What filtration?
Did you add any sort of minerals under the substrate when the tank was set up?
Have you tested for copper?
What are your parameters?

I just hate to hear of people struggling!
Thanks Dincho,

I have set it up now for over few months... it is a 35L tank with Fluval 205 External Filter.
It is a planted tank and I now do not change water but only top up water regularly.
No minerals added to my tank apart from small stone.

My shrimp usually died when I changed water or top up water..
I used treated tap water before but now I find my own drinking water (Water which has been filtered once via Brita jug, then boil with a brita kettle and then refilter to another brita jug) results in less/ no casualty.
Recently, add some No Planaria to my tank and now found 2 shrimps dead.
my CBS is berried atm.

I do check water occasionally and it is ok but hardness is on the high side due to UK water.

[Dincho]

Well your last post just explained the problem, either the water your adding or the way your adding it. The brita filters are not really a great idea, they can contain heavy metals. As you are only doing top ups i suggest you check on your phosphate levels too. Certain products are available that can absorb metals etc, it may be worth investing in one of them as a short term fix.

[keluar]

Thanks. I will look into that

[Ecalyte]

Am I the only one who's scratching his head over why TS is mixing Tigers and CRS? Don't they require very different water parameters? I mean, when I saw that his tank was full of CRS and is using acidic soil (from the looks of it) I wasn't very surprised at the Tiger death.. or am I very misinformed? Please enlighten!

[keluar]

They are some micro crystal i think, not acidic soil.

[Noobisme]

Hi Keluar,

What is that plastic thing on the left?

[keluar]

Hi Keluar,

What is that plastic thing on the left?
It is the CO2 Kit from fluval.

[Noobisme]

Well your last post just explained the problem, either the water your adding or the way your adding it. The brita filters are not really a great idea, they can contain heavy metals. As you are only doing top ups i suggest you check on your phosphate levels too. Certain products are available that can absorb metals etc, it may be worth investing in one of them as a short term fix.

Oh oh . . . I'm using Brita jug filter at the moment, I guess I have to monitor my shrimps closely from now.

[blahdeblah]

Hi Keluar - I had similar problems until I invested in a HMA filter. Does a similar job to RO, but much cheaper at around £40 a unit. Doesn't need permanently fitting in, but removes any heavy metals etc that could be present in your tap water, but leaves mineral content. Worked a treat for me and i now have my first ever batch of crs shrimplets that have lived past 2 weeks!

Good luck.

[kermit01]

Hi Keluar, I think I know what causes your shrimp deaths. I think it's your filter suction from the picture, you need to replace that attachment to a sponge so that it won't suck up your baby shrimps. :)