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Kent Freshwater R/O Right

Discussion in 'Advanced Strategies and Fertilization' started by aquabillpers, Apr 13, 2005.

  1. aquabillpers

    aquabillpers Lifetime Charter Member
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    Two weeks ago I set up an experimental tank. I started with very soft, low nutrient water, and added KNO3, PO4, traces, and R/O Right to supply most of the minerals.

    So far, the result from this test is not what I expected. The "easy to grow" plants in this apparently plant-friendly environment are not doing well at all. There could be a number of reasons for this, but I am wondering if the R/O Right might not have supplied something important. (All other environmental
    parameters seem to be within normal limits.)

    I can't find anything conclusive on the net. Has anyone had any experiences with this product that they'd like to share?

    Thanks.

    Bill
     
    #1 aquabillpers, Apr 13, 2005
  2. ceg4048

    ceg4048 Lifetime Charter Member
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    Re: Kent Freshwater R/O Right

    Hi Bill,
    Sorry I can't say that I use this particular brand name so I hope I'm not wasting your time, but at least I can say that your experimental setup is essentially my actual setup so perhaps something can be inferred if nothing else.

    I use Sera mineral salt to bring my RO water up to about 3-5 degrees kH and a TDS reading on my Hanna pocket gauge of between 170-230 ppm. I reckon mineral salt is mineral salt so I can't imagine therese much of a difference (I suspect they are all just chalk dust from the local elementary school blackboard). In any case a look at the contents reveals various concentrations of Na, Mg, K, Ca, Cl and HCO3 and SO4. There's nothing revolutionary there, and, other than a bit of calcium and bicarbonate there is nothing in the product that should not already be in your trace element mix. There is an obvious increase in the kH when I add the powder to RO water so I figure they are not lying about the bicarbonate content and the gH increases so there must be some calcium and/or magnesium in there. Other than that I really wouldn't expect anything more from mineral salt than for it to buffer the water and to raise alkalinity.

    After buffering the water I then further modify it with my version of the EI scheme - a teaspoon each of KNO3 and KH2PO4 and finally the trace mix. This soup is then dumped in the tank (high light and CO2).

    Plant growth, both easy and difficult species is brilliant. I use L. repens as a basic indicator (most stems directly under the bulb should double their length in 7 days). Glosso has now been recatagorized as invasive/nuisance.

    I have a suspicion that even if you didn't use the mineral salt your Trace mix ought to take care of the required micros/minerals. The fact that I'm running a high light tank should mean that whatever I added via mineral salts on water change day should long have been consumed by the middle of the week and would be replaced by my micro dosing scheme.

    Comparing contents of my salt bottle and trace bottle only Na and SO4 are unaccounted for in my current Trace mix (of course the K is accounted for in the macros).

    Based on this experience I would speculate that the cause of poor growth lies elsewhere. You didn't specify the dosing regimen or your trace mix content so it could be something as fundamental as that. Can you list the ingredient content of RO Right? I would be interested in comparing it with my brand.

    Sorry if this didn't help to clarify things.

    Cheers,
     
    #2 ceg4048, Apr 13, 2005
  3. kingborris

    kingborris Junior Poster

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    Re: Kent Freshwater R/O Right

    i used to use RO right to remineralise my RO water on my discus tank. Its slighty odd stuff, in that it doesnt show up on GH test kits. My assumption from this is that the minerals used are not Ca or Mg salts, but something else

    also, RO right doesnt add any KH at all, just undetectable GH :confused:
     
    #3 kingborris, Apr 14, 2005
  4. aquabillpers

    aquabillpers Lifetime Charter Member
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    Re: Kent Freshwater R/O Right

    I contacted Kent with several questions and in due course they responded.

    The most significant question was:

    "Does R/O Right supply all of the calcium and magnesium that growing
    plants require?"

    The answer was:

    "No. There is very little calcium and magnesium in ROR. If you are trying
    to increase GH, we offer a product called Botanica GH+."

    That is probably why the plants in my new tank aren't doing as well as they should. I will replace half of the water with hard, alkaline tap water and see what happens.

    Bill
     
    #4 aquabillpers, Apr 25, 2005
  5. groovyfishguy

    groovyfishguy Prolific Poster

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    Re: Kent Freshwater R/O Right

    Just shipped my r/o right back :cool:
     
    #5 groovyfishguy, Apr 25, 2005
  6. Tom Barr

    Tom Barr Founder
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    Re: Kent Freshwater R/O Right

    Use SeaChem Equilbrium for GH or CaSO4/MgSO4 or CaCl2.

    For KH use baking soda.

    As far as why the easy plants are not growing, try focusing on the CO2.


    A word of warning, highly controlled and contrived environments are useful, for testing ideas out, they are hardly useful for a logn term routine, they add a lot of work and typically people louse things up at some point negating the entire principle of control to begin with.

    Basically too much control is impractical as routine nor is anything gained from it in that context. But folks will learn this on their own in due time whether they listen or not. So either way, I ain't too worried.

    I've already done this and been through this process many years ago, but knock yourself out:)


    Regards,
    Tom Barr
     
    #6 Tom Barr, Apr 26, 2005
  7. aquabillpers

    aquabillpers Lifetime Charter Member
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    Re: Kent Freshwater R/O Right

    Thanks for that comment. This is a low light, non-CO2 tank whose problem seems to be insufficient calcium and magnesium. Focusing on CO2 is not an option.

    I wish I had been smart enough to tell my math professors that the theorems that I had to prove had been proven centuries before and that hence that there was no need for me to repeat them, and to tell my chem professors that there was no reason for me to do the experiments that had been done before by generations of students. But I wasn't.

    And I still am not.

    I think that there is something to be gained by individuals who conduct experiments like this one, even though they have been performed before. In this particular case, for example, apparenly no one here knew that R/O Right, a good additive for the purpose for which it was designed, won't grow heathy plants because it lacks enough calcium and magnesium. At least two people benefited from this experiment.

    So now that the calcium and magnesium have been added, it will be interesting to me to see what happens to the incipient BGA that has been around for the last week. In theory the plants will start growing and drive it out. We'll see what happens.

    Bill
     
    #7 aquabillpers, Apr 26, 2005
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