deionization instead of ro

[Anonymous]

The snails lasted about a month or 2

I had emerald grabs - did nothing.

I run a Kalk reactor for all my topoff as well.
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[RobertoVespucci]

I did see an abstract about bacteria that fix insoluble phosphates. So, if you have phosphate heavy rock, then the microbes will be making it available.


*However,* there are a great many virtually insoluble phosphates. I have trouble seeing how seawater can have large amounts of PO4- without being an organic soup. The Calcium and Magnesium (and others) would precipitate out first.

Was it you that was waiting for a water quality report?

 

[Anonymous]

Yes. They came today and said it will be 2-3 weeks for the results.
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[cjsrch]

ok guys.. back to the subject. apparently. my fathers tds is 120 ish.

havent had them test mine but he is on same water supply so close enough.


well anyways. the more clogged a ro unit gets the more removal but less gpd

 

[Fastmarc]

... the more clogged a ro unit gets the more removal but less gpd

Huh?

 

[rayjay]

Well, you guys have me quite confused.
I've been reefing now for just over eleven years. When I started, I never had books or a computer to rely on, just the lfs where I purchased everything, and after about six months, I came across Julien Sprungs video where he promoted the Berlin system.
When I got a computer about 5 or 6 years ago, I found out I was doing everything wrong and one of those things was using tap water.
I purchased a tap water purifier and for several years used this for my water purification. However, I found it very expensive so I started to recharge the units, but as I added more and more tanks, the recharging was a PITA. Especially when I used so much to get so little purified water. (new cartridges lasted for about 22 to 25 gallons, and recharged cartridges lasted for 25 to 30 gallons)
Being that I never saw any difference in the tanks after using DI for several years, I went back to using straight tap water to see what difference there would be. I did this for a year and then went back on DI again to see if it made a difference this time. This time I only used the DI for a year and because I still couldn't see any difference, I returned to using aged tap water and have continued to do so for the last year and a half or so. Still no difference.
Out of 10 systems, the only tank with hair algae is the butterfly tank that a caregiver dosed copper to when I was on holidays many years ago. It is gradually getting better but it has been a lot of years since.
I have to clean my glass with magnets every 3 days for the reef tanks, and every 5 to 7 days for the fish only tanks.
I do NOT have any clean up crew other than a serpent star in each of 3 tanks. (no snails no hermits etc.....)
I don't know the TDS readings; all I know is a TWP cartridge only gets roughly 25g before recharging or replacing so the TDS must be up there.
If I'm using water like this in 10 tanks and only the one has a problem with hair, then the source water must not be the cause.
As far as phosphates fueling the hair, I would doubt this to be a cause as all the food we feed to our tanks has phosphates in them naturally and, most companies add phosphates to the products to preserve color and other preservations as well. (same as with all our foods we eat) Because I feed my tanks VERY heavily, and I don't basically have this hair problem, the answer I figure still lies hidden somewhere else.

 

[Fastmarc]

well anyways. the more clogged a ro unit gets the more removal but less gpd

Well, maybe this was ment in jest, but one must not confuse the RO membrane with pre-filter (sediment filters).
Most RO membrane manufacturers recommend a minimum of 5 micron pre-filter to protect the membrane from damage. The RO/DI system I have actually have 3 levels of pre-filtering, 10-5-1 micron which exceeds the requirements.
These pre-filter have no effect on TDS. When they get clogged the pressure going to the RO membrane simply drops which would eventually affect the performance of the RO membrane.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry cjsrch for hijacking your thread. I would test the water at your house as well. Never know what a a mile of pipe might do?


I started a new thread for my tank discussion.

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... 508#775508
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[Anonymous]

Rayjay...
No one ever said that ALL tapwater is bad. Some people are lucky to just have chlorine in it so aging it for a day or two gets that out. And some people on wells are lucky to have good enough water without radon or copper etc. MOST peoples tap water, however, is probably not the best for a tank.
I think we all say to get a ro unit or other filtered type waters for the majority of people, especially noobs, so that this is a problem that will never have to be addressed.
Congrats on having good tap water.

 

[Anonymous]

Rayjay:

Welcome to the world of message boards.

what you experienced is the "advances" in the hobby the last 5 years.

Fortunately you and I have experiences from years ago to compare newer experiences too. And you are absolutely correct. thanks for your post.

 

[ChrisRD]

Welcome to the world of message boards.

Make no mistake, hobbyists sharing knowledge on boards like this have led to many advances in the hobby. Internet BBs are, however, somewhat of a double-edged sword IMO as sometimes it can be tough to judge the integrity of the information being presented...

what you experienced is the "advances" in the hobby the last 5 years.

By your own admission you have 2 years (or less) of experience in the reefing hobby. I'm curious as to how you're familiar with what advances have occurred in the last 5 years. Especially in regards to using purified source water with which (again, admittedly) you have no experience.

Fortunately you and I have experiences from years ago to compare newer experiences too. And you are absolutely correct. thanks for your post.

Unforunately, you don't have much reef related experience Bob and many of your posts to this board reveal a lack of understanding in regards to the differences between freshwater tanks, FO tanks and reef setups. Fortunately, there are plenty of people who contribute to this board that do have a lot of reef-related experience.

It's nice to hear that Rayjay has been successful with his tapwater - but if you ask around among the experienced reefkeeping crowd that has tried using both untreated tap, and purified water sources, you'll find it's the exception case rather than the rule. IMO it also has a lot to do with what animals you're trying to keep - some are much more tolerant of tapwater pollutants than others. In most cases, the average reefer will have an easier time and see noticeable benefits when using a purified water source IMO/IME.

Sorry to all for the OT post...