Jump to content

DIY Remineralisation for RO or Rain Water


jayc

Recommended Posts

Here is my formula for re-mineralising RO or Rain water:

 

Powdered compound Grams needed:

Calcium Sulphate CaSO4

Heptahydrate (so it dissolves easily)

or Dihydrate if you can't find it, but dihydrate is not as soluble.

58gm
Magnesium Sulphate (Epsom Salt) MgSO4 37gm
Potassium Sulphate (aka Sulphate Of Potash) K2SO4 11gm
Iron Sulphate (optional) FeSO4 0.30gm
Manganese Sulphate (optional) MnSO4 0.16gm
Total weight  106.46gm

Multiply accordingly if you need to mix bigger batches.

 

Alternatively, Iron and Manganese can be replaced with a Micro-nutrient (trace element) mix of 0.46gm. Again micro nutrients or trace elements are optional, but a small amount of these minerals can be beneficial for shrimps. They will get it elsewhere if it is not added here.

 

You can either use it in powder form, adding small teaspoons to your water change until a TDS of 140-160 is reached.

OR

You can premix this in 500ml bottle of RO water, and drip it into your water change until the desired TDS 140-160 is reached.

 

If you have a TDS pen, you can check how much 1gm will raise TDS in 1L of water.

Similarly you can also test GH/KH raise in 1L of water.

 

It is very important you test this yourself, since there can be a number of variables between your mix and my mix.

 

This mix will not alter pH.

 

You will be able to find all you need at www.aquariumonlinestore.com.au    <--- Back in business as of Jan 2018!

It is getting more difficult sourcing Calcium Sulphate heptahydrate. The best source I can find is from home brew shops.

keg-king.com.au/calcium-sulphate-1kg.html - $9.75 for a kilo. This is food grade stuff. removed - never seem to be in stock.

https://www.keg-king.com.au/calcium-sulphate-caso4-300g.html.html

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/111974621019 - $20.89 for 1kg of Calcium Sulphate.

 

https://www.bunnings.com.au/manutec-1kg-epsom-salt_p2960980 - 1kg of Magnesium Sulphate.

 

https://www.bunnings.com.au/richgro-1kg-soluble-powder-sulphate-of-potash_p2980321 - 1kg of Potassium Sulphate (Potash).

 

Alternatively, if you need a remin mix for Neocaridina or Tigers, you can replace 15g - 20g of Calcium Sulphate with Calcium Carbonate or Calcium chloride. Calcium chloride is probably easier to dissolve in water and that would be the preference.

This will raise KH a bit.

 

http://keg-king.com.au/calcium-carbonate-caco3-300g.html - $4.95 for 300g of Calcium Carbonate.

 

 

Edited by jayc
Added new sources
  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow dude, that looks very cool, you must have done some serious research for that mix, well done! :thumbsu:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, and a lot of trials, measurements and water parameter testing.

 

I've also researched Potassium.

 

I'm putting it out there that along with Calcium and Magnesium, the 3rd essential mineral is Potassium.

Potassium is not only a macro nutrient for plants, but is also essential for shrimps in low quantities.

 

Please note that you can get Potassium as Potassium Nitrate. But using KNO3 (Potassium Nitrate) will introduce too much nitrates into the tank, and that might harm the shrimp.

Steer clear of KNO3 for shrimps. 

Potassium is also found in the form of Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4). Adding too much phosphate could lead to other issues like algae.

 

I'm doing more research on Potassium. I'll post an article in Water Parameters to go along with the threads on Ca and Mg soon.

 

Also found evidence that Potassium (K) inhibits cyanobacteria growth.

http://ag.arizona.edu/azaqua/ista/ISTA8/FinalPapers/pond%20managment%20PDF/10%20MOSTAFA%20ABDEL%20M.pdf

Edited by jayc
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you done any reading on Montmorillonite powder used in cosmetics? It is 100% and food grade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you done any reading on Montmorillonite powder used in cosmetics? It is 100% and food grade.

Montmorillonite is chemically made up of hydrated sodium, calcium, aluminium, magnesium, silicate hydroxide. Sometimes Potassium, iron, and other cations are common substitutes, the exact ratio of cations varies with the source the Montmorillonite is from.

Montmorillonite or Bentonite are clays, and like most clays is great at absorbing minerals. Their absorption capacity is as much as 8 times greater than other clays.

Montmorillonite is effective as an adsorptive of heavy metals.

So while Montmorillonite or Bentonite are made up of a lot of good stuff that shrimps or fish might need in their bodies, the minerals are locked away in the clay. How much of these minerals are released is the question no one has determined yet. 

How Montmorillonite or Bentonite is beneficial to the shrimp hobby is not it's mineral make up, but it's ability to absorb heavy metals and contaminants.

HOWEVER, since its got great abilities as an absorbent, what it's already absorbed (contaminant or otherwise) will be added to the tank unless you can be certain it's pure Montmorillonite or Bentonite.

 

In conclusion, If it's primary benefit is it's absorptive capabilities and not release of those minerals, isn't cheaper alternatives like activated carbon or Purigen, Macropore better ?

 

I'll leave that question for you to ponder.

 

 

Can't wait dude, very exciting stuff! :thumbsu:

 

You bet dude.

 

Did you know that apart from Phosphorus and Calcium, Potassium is the 3rd most abundant mineral element in the body (human, animal, fish or shrimp)?

Edited by jayc
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did not, but I do know you need it & bananas are a good source for us! :jig:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

have you looked at K2SO4.2H20 Potassium Sulphate

 

Feed Grade

 K=42%w/w min

 

i chuck it in for my stem plants

 

Umm ... that's what I am using as per the first post above. Potassium Sulphate.

K2SO4.2H20 is just Potassium Sulphate dihydrate.

The dihydrate molecules just make it easier to dissolve in water.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome write up, I like how you and a few others take shrimp keeping to the next level of understanding.

Can't wait to see what's next.

Cheers mick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What's next?

I'm testing CRS in low pH. To see if the low pH will alter ... well, anything.

pH is about 5.5.

So far ... I'm not sure if it's my imagination ... but whites seem whiter, and I'm noticing more Pretty Legs, where they used to be plain before (I think). I can't be sure cause I have too many shrimp in the tank, so it's not like I see one shrimp change. Instead I see many shrimp, but the general impression is more pretty legs colouring up.

 

I'm continuing to adjust this RO remineralising mix a bit more ... who knows, maybe I'll release it for sale. 

Edited by jayc
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What's next?

I'm testing CRS in low pH. To see if the low pH will alter ... well, anything.

pH is about 5.5.

So far ... I'm not sure if it's my imagination ... but whites seem whiter, and I'm noticing more Pretty Legs, where they used to be plain before (I think). I can't be sure cause I have too many shrimp in the tank, so it's not like I see one shrimp change. Instead I see many shrimp, but the general impression is more pretty legs colouring up.

I'm continuing to adjust this RO remineralising mix a bit more ... who knows, maybe I'll release it for sale.

Dean did a similar trial way back in very low ph <5 if memory serves and had great success.

I have my pinto project in ph 5 and they seem to be doing great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dean did a similar trial way back in very low ph <5 if memory serves and had great success.

I have my pinto project in ph 5 and they seem to be doing great.

Ahh, so good to know others have tried it. I'm on the right path then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

wow nice, so whats the difference between this and Salty Shrimp?

 

same minerials but you just changed it around abit?

 

trying to work out if i make my own or buy salty shrimp,

 

are they expensive to buy? i should just go down the road and ask

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wow nice, so whats the difference between this and Salty Shrimp?

 

The price. It's about a $30-$40 saving on equivalent weight.

 

same minerials but you just changed it around abit?

 

Salty shrimp doesn't list what minerals it contains.

Probably because if it did, you would realise you could do it yourself for cheaper.

 

I believe it's the same minerals, except I also believe my ratio of Ca:Mg:K is better.

Plus I add a little iron and trace elements into my own mix.

 

I don't think SS uses any Potassium or trace elements.

 

Note: I added trace and iron, for the plants I have in my tank specifically.

 

 

are they expensive to buy? i should just go down the road and ask

 

 

Nope, I don't think so.

Considering you can get kilos of  it at Aquotix Aquarium or Aquarium Online Store for one bottle of salty shrimp, it's a bargain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ok, well ill go down the road tomorrow and see how much id have to buy at once.

 

ill just leave the Iron out i think

 

you said you can put it in a bottle and drip it in till you get the right TDS, im guessing you can put to much into the bottle? and wont dissolve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Sounds good.

 

Be sure to test one drop to see how much it increases TDS by.

Use 1L of water and add a drop.

Test with a TDS pen.

 

Then write it on your bottle.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

so far so good!

 

with in 1 week, ive noticed the CRS colour up so much more, reds deeper and whites more white, they seem to be happy :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Thank you for this - I have needed this information for at least the last year :) Wondering why no matter what I do for my fish, they keep dying - I did my own research and came to the conclusion I am not a bad fish keeper, I just have awkward water issues to deal with & minerals are the answer :) Now to see if I can get all the ingredients to test it out :) Thanks again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you have awkward tap water issues, then going Reverse Osmosis and remineralising it will go towards solving a lot of issues.

But make sure you are not adding minerals to tap water. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rain water is my starting point - we don't have town water here, only rain water or ground water. There is little difference between them as far as pH, gH & kH go (from previous tests) only the colour & smell is different - a lot of sulpur smell from the bore/ground water and yellow tinged. I used the bore water all last autumn & early winter (we had no more rain water by then). I pre-filter the water, I have 2 cheap large filters in a 140litre tub, one has purigen & the other runs cuprisorb (I have found detectable traces of copper from tap - old pipes+rainwater) - this usually runs for at least a week before it goes into tanks. It has taken a lot of research & questions (bugging the hell out of LFS - I'm sure they hide when they see me coming now!!), many losses and some coincidences to get to the point of figuring lack of minerals is the biggest problem. A chat to a guy at Avid Aquaria regarding guppy scoliosis and then a chat to Ben at Aquotix yesterday has pretty much confirmed the mineral issue. Previously, I had tried to add various products to the tanks but the result was never what we aimed for (ph rises/crahes, TDS rises to extreme points, gH throught the roof, etc) and too many lost fish. I recently setup a different tank for my softwater fishes and until a couple of weeks ago they were great, but now I have lost 2 Kerri Tetras & 1 Purple Harlequin Rasbora is now almost dead. All fish were added in small batches over the course of many many weeks (my system was: new fish into Quarantine tank for 2 weeks - then into display tank; buy more fish, put into QT for 2 weeks, so on & so on - 6 fish at a time). No diseases present nor are there symptoms (same as previous losses) - just suddenly, fish don't swim so well & then they die. However, because I also have a guppy tank (it was a scientific experiment that didn't work as planned & now I have softwater guppies that breed happily *sigh*) however they also suffer similar lack of ability to swim but as we also have fry, I have detected many instances of scoliosis. LFS told me it was inbreeding (possible) however others have suggested (and research papers also) that lack of minerals is a majot contributing factor is guppy scoliosis (I read an interesting paper where they were using guppy scoliosis to learnmore about human scoliosis because they can study many generations & track changes). However it was via an advertisement that I found the mineral link with scoliosis - a plaster of paris looking shell that slowly dissolves & minerilses the water. Due to shipping costs for small cheap items, I have not yet purchased, but it did lead me on the search for more information & answers and then it led me to this site :). I do have Red Cherry Shrimp & until recently they were breeding just fine - but they are now suffering too and therefore I wanted to find more answers before I lose my entire colony.

 

Sorry for the overly long response :)

Edited by BellaDragon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great to see you're doing the hard yards & finding out what is wrong with your water. If you can't get yourself an RO unit & you're worried about heavy metals then try some MetaSorb, it removes all sorts of heavy metals that are toxic to fish & shrimp. It's not overly cheap but then it will definitely pay for itself in saved lives in your water. :D

https://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/catalogue_products.php?prodID=7192

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you are not remineralising rainwater, then yes, that's the first thing you need to change.

Hopefully your rainwater collection tanks and 140L tub are not metal. Rainwater can be slightly acidic, and is enough to corrode metal, and cause leeching of metals into the water.

 

But as Squiggle has mentioned above, MetaSorb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • sdlTBfanUK
      Good to have an update and good to hear you are getting shrimplets, so hopefully your colony will continue and you may not get to the point where you have to cull some to stop over population. These type of shrimp only live 12 - 18 months so the adult deaths may be natural? If you have the time I would do weekly 25% water changes, adding the new water via a drip system and do some vacuuming clean of the substrate each week, even if only a different bit each week! See if that helps in a few months and if it does then stick with that regime? It should help reduce any build-ups that may be occuring!
    • beanbag
      Hello again, much belated update: The tank still has "cycles" of 1-2 month "good streaks" where everybody seems to be doing well, and then a bad streak where the short antenna problem shows up again, and a shrimp dies once every few days.  I am not sure what causes things to go bad, but usually over the course of a few days I will start to see more shrimp quietly standing on the HMF filter, and so I know something is wrong.  Since I am not "doing anything" besides the regular 1-2 week water changes, I just assume that something bad is building up.  Here's a list of things that I've tried that are supposed to be "can't hurt" but didn't prevent the problem either: Dose every other day with Shrimp Fit (very small dose, and the shrimp seem to like it) Sotching Oxydator Seachem Purigen to keep the nitrates lower Keeping the pH below 5.5 with peat Things that I don't do often, so could possibly "reset" the tank back to a good streak, are gravel vac and plant trim, so maybe time to try those again. One other problem I used to have was that sometimes a shrimp would suddenly stop eating with a full or partially full digestive tract that doesn't clear out, and then the shrimp will die within a few days.  I suspected it was one of the foods in my rotation - Shrimp Nature Infection, which contains a bunch of herbal plant things.  I've had this in my food rotation for a few years now and generally didn't seem to cause problems, but I removed it from the rotation anyway.  I don't have a lot of adult Golden Bees at this point so I can't really tell if it worked or not. Overall the tank is not too bad - during the good streaks occasionally a shrimp will get berried and hatch babies with a 33-50% survival rate.  So while there are fewer adults now, there are also a bunch of babies roaming around.  I guess this tank will stagger on, but I really do need to take the time to start up a new tank.  (or figure out the problem)
    • jayc
      If that is the offspring, then the parents are unlikely to be PRL. I tend to agree with you. There are very few PRLs in Australia. And any that claim to be needs to show proof. PRL genes have to start as PRL. CRS that breed true after x generations doesn't turn it into a PRL. Neither can a Taiwan bee shrimp turn into a PRL despite how ever many generations. I've never seen a PRL with that sort of red colour. I have on Red Wines and Red Shadows - Taiwan bee shrimps. So somewhere down the line one of your shrimp might have been mixed with Taiwan bees and is no longer PRL. It just tanks one shrimp to mess up the genes of a whole colony. 
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Sorry, missed this one somehow! The PRL look fantastic and the odd ones look part PRL and part Red wine/Red shadow in the colour. They are still very beautiful but ideally should be seperated to help keep the PRL clean if you can do that.  Nice clear photos!
    • GtWalker97
      Hi SKF!   So I bought some PRL (or at least they were sold as such. These claims are dubious in Australia as people don't know much about the genetics, nor do they care as long as they can make a quick buck). After 8 generations of breeding true, I'm having around 1 in 200 throw a much darker red. They almost look like Red Shadows, but I don't know too much about those types of hybrid. Can anyone help with ID'ing the gene?   TIA (First 2 pics are the weird throws, second photo is their siblings and the last photo is the parents)
×
×
  • Create New...