FishWife

Sounds like a fun project. So, I want to summarize here: 1. I CAN purify my water using RO/DI, but it MIGHT burn resins pretty fast because of dissolved CO2. I think that this is true of us: "it's likely because CO2 is being added from the air inside your house (where CO2 concentration is typically higher)." I believe that our water softener DOES add CO2. Therefore: "It sounds like dissolved CO2 should be less of a concern in your case. If that's true, then you should be able to use a standard RO/DI system to clean up your water." QUESTION: can I find out if there's dissolved CO2 by testing pH of water right out of my spring box, before it gets to the softener, overnight and see of the pH drops identically? QUESTION: how many RO/DI chambers should I be looking at "just in case"? QUESTION: can anyone tutor me on the various kinds of resins? What was written above is Greek to me! Example: ""separating my mixed bed resin and replacing it with two stages of cation resin to go after the positive charged metals (which were still very low, but still something I wanted go after." HUH? 2. I should get an ICP test regardless; I can do the "before the water softener" and "after the water softener" vials. 3. When I get the results, I should come back here and ask Tom to interpret them.

That’s encouraging, Tom! Great info. I am thinking I might go into this gradually. Maybe get a small tank up and running with a fish or two, some inverts, and some soft corals and then see how they do with the water. I have an old bow front 40 that could be drilled... fitting a sump under it would be a bear so I might put it on a different type of stand... or, perhaps go even smaller... to an Aquapod 24... and see how it goes.

Thanks!

Thanks for the warm welcome, Tom, and great information. Our water source is a true spring: it comes up through the ground into a spring box, and runs all year long. Great tasting water! My initial concern with a reef was nitrates. We have a household water softener system that the water passes thru before hitting our sinks. Uses Sun Salt. I've been using our water straight from the tap for 2 years with a 125 that has rainbow fish in it. (I chose rainbows specifically because of the water parameters so that I wouldn't have a lot of water chemistry to deal with. They are also pretty, active, and fun to keep. I don't want to take down this tank, but am looking to add another.) My point here is this: during this 2-year interval keeping freshies, I've had snails doing fine... would freshie snails tolerate copper and other TDS better than our marine creatures? Hmmmm. So, this testing is new to me. Got some questions for ya: 1) Am I looking for those elevated CO2 levels when I do this test? 'Cause I think I have them, because when I let a test tube of water sit overnight, the pH falls almost a point. 2) Does RO/DI take Na out? Because, hypothetically, if my water is clean enough of TDS, I'd still have the nitrates to deal with. If that's the case, could I pre-process the fresh water biologically... I dunno, like with an algae scrubber or other filter media like biopellets... and then add salt and use it, bypassing the hassle with RO/DI resins? 3) Reading the description of the test, they are talking about sending aquarium samples of SALT water... can I send fresh and have good results? This has got to be my first step in returning to reefing. I need to get clear how I'm going to source water. (Duh, I know.) THANKS for any help on this!

Hi, all! Greetings from WV! I used to live in the DC area and had a wonderful 180 bowfront that so many of you who were here 10 years ago helped me with. It was a sad day when I had to part it all out and go a-wandering. I've had a freshie 110 (rainbowfish) for the last two years, but am getting the itch to re-up a reef tank. Here's my biggest obstacle, as I see it. We now live on a 40-acre farm in rural WV mountains. I can't see a neighbor; people around me raise cows and I raise chickens. I love it here, and it's my permanent (earthly) home. I mean it: we are going to be buried on the property someday. But I digress. We have spring water. What parameters do I need to check/correct for using spring water? I know copper is right out; will test for it. The water is calcified, which I see as a good thing, right? Saves me from needing a CA reactor? KH is 161 ppm and GH is 179 ppm. What about nitrates? They tested today at 10 ppm. If that's a problem, can I correct for them? How? RO/DI? Our water pH is around 7.5-8 out of the tap. Thanks in advance for your help... not sure why the gray txt background... sorry!

SO cute! I want clowns in my new nano-to-be. Still deciding on the exact type...

Just returned to the WAMAS boards: what a story! Does teach us to try resuscitation before trash! :D I'm hoping he'll live for many years to come.

Hey, All! I just renewed my WAMAS membership. We've had a stormy couple of years, and are now happily situated in Frederick, MD. I am thinking about restarting my reefing addiction with a nano reef. Currently, we rent an apartment, so we can't go for a big tank, but I miss my fish and corals so much that I'm thinking about a smaller tank. Anyways, I've been surfing the site and getting caught up on all the discussions. Boy, LED's are front and center! :D Great to see old names and some new ones, too! :D Scott and I may be able to attend the next meeting; we'll see. PS: LOVE LOVE the new software and site organization! Kudos to whomever!

I have a new idea. How about mounting some kind of refugium on the wall ABOVE my tank, putting a slow pump in the back of my RSM and making an overflow in the refugium? If this is a good idea, and remembering that I only am servicing a 34 gallon tank and that wall tanks are heavy, how big of a wall-mounted refugium would be is useful?

SO, if you don't have a sump, I guess the only possibility for nitrate export is water changes, right?

Right; we validated the nitrate test on new salt water; should do the ammonia, too, I guess. Good thought.

We have 4" sand and NO macros. We are running Chemipure and Purigen AND a Tunze skimmer, which doesn't pull much gunk.

Good advice. My anxieties lead me to think that nitrates can't be overcome without a sump... but a slow and steady approach and regular testing are surely best. So, I'd still like to know what others think of this feeding amount? What/how much do you all feed, especially in smaller systems?

Thanks for answering! On Saturday, I noticed that my birdsnest was not extended and colors faded. Other corals looked "ok" but not perky. Had been awhile since we tested perameters, since I don't rely on testing so much as observation (which is maybe not good, but it has served me fine for years, so...). Anyways, we tested and ammonia was .50 and nitrates were two colors up on the chart as well (can't remember the scale right now; but higher than good). Two 10% water changes on Sat and Sun have brought it back to zero... but I want to test tomorrow to see where it is.. maybe all days this week. Birdsnest is back to normal status, and everyone looks happy right now... but I'm like "gee!" We looked at drilling the RSM for a sump (what I would have liked all along) but a phone call this AM confirmed that the glass is tempered. SO... looking, as you say, for underlying causes so we can know our boundaries, I'm looking first at this: do I overfeed?

As most of you know, I have an RSM 34 gallon tank. (See link to build thread below if unfamiliar.) Lately, we've been struggling nitrates, and on Sunday, realized that we also had ammonia problems, though two 10% water changes brought that under control, at least as of this AM. RSMs can't be drilled (tempered glass) so we have no sump. We've regularly changed water at LEAST once a week (5-7% change) and also done some battling with cyano after our move (lights on for a longer photoperiod plus mini-cycle?) so did extra "vaccuuming" of the sand getting up cyano for the last month. Photoperiod was reduced a month ago to 9 hours. Lights are due to be changed out the end of this month. We have a lot of live rock in there (which may be "tired"? came out of our large system 9 months ago, and from other WAMAS systems before that)--about half the water volume of the tank but I have no idea what that translates to in lbs (see pics in build thread). At least 30, though--so we're puzzled about the ammonia. Can't see anything dead or decaying... have a lot of open spaces between the rocks so think we'd see it if it was a gelatinous mess, as is usually the case with dead stuff. We have one midas blenny and one small flasher wrasse in there... not a high bioload. About three large turbos and a few smaller snails. Also maybe four or five hermit crabs and we just added a peppermint shrimp because of the aiptasia, which are sprouting up all over despite Joe's Juice. OK; so that's the profile. I was talking this over with someone who suggested that this ammonia/nitrate rise is a part of a mini-cycle. I can't fathom that two months AFTER our move. I had (for months) been feeding once a day (some days, twice) a small pinch of all-purpose pellet fish food. About twice to three times a week on average, we also feed brine shrimps to the sun coral colony in our tank. I feed no cyclopese or any other coral food; just add calcium regularly. 1. Is that too much food? 2. How much/what/how often would you minimally feed this tank?