# Topping off



## RoseHawke (Mar 10, 2004)

Since my low-tech 10 gallon is seldom subjected to water changes it needs topping off more often than my 55 on which I use EI and which therefore has a 50% weekly water change which also brings it up to level.

Should I be using R/O (bottled "spring" water or distilled) water for this, or is treated tapwater okay?


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## turbowagon (Dec 30, 2005)

How hard is your water? The problem with continually topping off without water changes is that the dissolved minerals don't evaporate with the water, so each time you top off using tap water, you're adding more and more hardness to the tank.


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## banderbe (Oct 10, 2005)

I would top off with RO.. otherwise unless your tap is 0gh 0kh you will eventually see the tank kh and gh creep upwards, even with water changes.


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## RoseHawke (Mar 10, 2004)

Fairly soft, KH of 1-2 and GH of 5-6. My instinct said to use R/O, but I wanted to make sure . Thanks!


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

I dunno...

I've got a tapwater KH of 1.5 and a GH of 3 (less than yours Cindy) and I'm in a similar boat with my low tech 20g grow out tank. I probably do a water change every 6 weeks or so, and my plants grow slowly (low light, little to no ferts added, no CO2 but the occasional squirt of Excel), but they thrive. And very, very little algae to boot.

I suspect is it partially because of all the great stuff they get out of my tap water I top off with. Now my GH is not as hard as yours, and I many have more goodies in my tapwater than you do. But I would never switch to R/O for this tank, when tapwater top-off with periodic 50% water changes works so well for it.


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## RoseHawke (Mar 10, 2004)

That's a good point. But I don't know if I'm going to be changing the water even that often. The tank's been set up close to four months now, and I've only ever done one water change, and that because I, er, inadvertantly killed off all my anacharis :icon_redf .


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Cindy, I suspect it is all a question of how often you do a water change and how fast your KH/GH creeps up. I just ran a quick test (not accurate, just a dip strip) and found my 20g that I water change every 6 weeks or so has had its KH creep up from the taps 1.5 to 7. And my GH creep up from my normal 3 to maybe 4.

So my KH moves faster than my GH. No idea why. For you the question is how fast does it move, and how often do you reset with a water change? If you are going to keep up the every 4 months schedule, maybe the R/O advice is what you need to be following. I would not do tap, as I suggested earlier, unless you were doing a water change far more often.


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## RoseHawke (Mar 10, 2004)

That's odd Steve, about your KH going up like that. Sounds like something is leaching into the water :hihi:, but obviously if the plants are doing well with no algae then it's nothing more than a poser and nothing to worry about. For which I know you're grateful .

R/O it is! I can get the stuff for 0.30 a gallon dispensed out of a machine at the grocery (which has a service chart posted so I know that it's being serviced frequently,) or spend a few cents more and get distilled.


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## eds (Feb 12, 2003)

I'm certainly the last guy to say anything intelligent about water chemistry, but I went to a talk a few months ago where the guy was talking about ion levels (I think). The example he gave was of people who try to overwinter pond plants, and simply top off the water. Things go fine for a few months until the ion levels get to a point where the plants die.
He had some kind of a wand-type device that tested for elevated ion levels.
I'm not sure how much water change is enough.
Like I said, I really don't understand any of this, but it seemed potentially related to your question.
(Probably shouldn't even hit that submit button!)


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## BlueRam (Sep 21, 2004)

I am more worried about the other stuff as I dose daily with fish food. I think the conductivity and TDS etc is a bigger problem than GH/KH.



banderbe said:


> I would top off with RO.. otherwise unless your tap is 0gh 0kh you will eventually see the tank kh and gh creep upwards, even with water changes.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

my 10g low low tech has been set up for over a year now... tore down once, but the same thing aplies. i always top off with water straight from my faucet no dechlor nothing. and it grows plants great! 

so id say its your choice,.... now im not tooo sure what all my tap water readings are but they must be good because ive never had any problem

-=- fish newb -=-


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

BlueRam said:


> I am more worried about the other stuff as I dose daily with fish food. I think the conductivity and TDS etc is a bigger problem than GH/KH.


Well now you have opened up a whole can of worms... and everyone has to qualify their positions.:icon_wink 

OK, I'll go first - 

I don't think TDS is an issue for me since I don't dose much at all in my low-tech. Maybe 3 ml of Excel and 2 ml of Flourish every 4 weeks or so into a totally choked with plants 20g. With the water change every 4-8 weeks, I suspect those dosed solids get sucked into the starving plants.

My two cents. (But it would be cool to have a TDS meter to check!)


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## RoseHawke (Mar 10, 2004)

This may just be one of those "your mileage may vary" type of things, since tapwater is going to vary from place to place.

At least I can be _pretty_ sure what's (not) in distilled water !


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

RoseHawke said:


> This may just be one of those "your mileage may vary" type of things, since tapwater is going to vary from place to place.
> 
> At least I can be _pretty_ sure what's (not) in distilled water !


Strongly agreed. Too bad we weren't smart enough to pick a hobby with more absolutes.

Or wait a minute... maybe that's part of why this is so much darn fun!:hihi:


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## JenThePlantGeek (Mar 27, 2006)

WELL SAID STEVE! I love that there's so much to learn


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

scolley said:


> Strongly agreed. Too bad we weren't smart enough to pick a hobby with more absolutes.
> 
> Or wait a minute... maybe that's part of why this is so much darn fun!:hihi:


lol well said well said....:icon_roll


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