New To Freshwater

[Madreefer]

Kinda feel stupid for asking this. A business asked me to take over the maintenance on their freshwater tanks. I'm a saltwater dude for quite a few years. I no nothing about freshwater as in water parameters. I plan on doing the regular filter cleaning and water changes with RO water but is there anything I should be concerned about as in the water parameters. In my mind should be a bit of a cakewalk compared to salt.

[Aquattro]

Not sure RO is the way to go in FW unless you add supplements. So I've heard...

[Madreefer]

Oh? So tapwater with prime? I've got a sweet setup for filling those 5G jugs. Be a pain in the butt filling those water jugs outta the tap.

[Aquattro]

I think so. Apparently RO is too pure without adding something..maybe some FW people can verify, or Google it. I've read, years ago, that you would need to add salts back into the RO

[Aquattro]

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...additives.html

[Madreefer]

Ok thanks. I assume it's good to vacum the gravel as well? This is great, now i'm a newb! Well hey this part of the board is'nt as busy as the others anyways.

[bugaboo433]

I use water right from my tap with prime, I just adjust it to the temp of the tank & use my phython hose. So much easier then salt. Plus clean the gravel/sand as I'm doing the water change.

[Madreefer]

Thanks guys. I think I will use RO water with that recommended additve. The water from the tap at that part of this town smells like rotten eggs. Figure if i'm gonna charge people for changing water I better treat it as if it were my own tank. I'll probably lose money at this, i'm too OCD.

[gregzz4]

I ran FW for years, and I am not going to say I know it all, but it's not much different than a SW tank as far as testing goes.

I killed my first Goldfish when I was 7, and 38 years later, I think I have a handle on FW fishkeeping.

Using RO is a waste of money, but not time, when running FW tanks. If your system is plant deficient, you may want to use RO water, but do not run DI water, ever.
No matter how much algae you have in your system, no amount of clarified water is going to solve your problem.
You can run a UV sterilizer, but it won't fix a problem. It should only be used as a preventative measure.

An over-populated system is going to need 50% water changes every week. Ya, I know it. I've done it.
1-2" of fish/G of water is a heavily stocked FW tank !!!

Having many fast and slow growing plants will take care of most algae problems, if you do not over-feed. If you have no plants, you're on your own.

And when it comes down to it, Nitrates and Phosphates were my biggest enemies in my FW tanks.
Keep the PO4 and NO3 down to minimize algae issues and you're good to go

There's so much more to learn, but there's a start for ya
Good luck

[gregzz4]

Gravel cleaning is good for a FW tank, but the same rules apply for any substrate, including SW
Don't dig too deep ....
Only go about 1/2" into the substrate so you don't disturb the anaerobic bacteria