R/O water. What is it?

In the Dwarf Shrimp world there is a lot of talk about R/O water, but what exactly is it?

Reverse Osmosis (R/O)
The movement of freshwater through a semipermeable membrane when pressure is applied to a solution on one side of it.

What this basically means is that a Reverse Osmosis filter removes anything that is in solution with the water such as calcium, iron, copper and salt among other things.

So why is this important to Dwarf Shrimp?

R/O water is often used for soft water shrimp. The reverse osmosis process makes hard water very soft and appealing to soft water shrimp. This process also removes harmful metals and other chemicals from the water.

Shrimp such as the Crystal Red Shrimp and Tiger Shrimp are both soft water shrimp and do better in R/O water than they do in hard water.

Is it required?

Simple answer is NO. R/O water, in most cases, is not required it can just be ideal for the Dwarf Shrimp that prefer soft water. In many aquariums the soft water shrimp will do just fine in tap water, and sometimes even thrive!

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