jaddc

That's what I do. They are nice dosers.

I'll add my two cents. I have a fat healthy green mandarin, Target, in my 29 gallon. When you buy your mandarin make sure that it will eat frozen. Target (with a french accent) eats frozen mysis and brine. As for the pods, there are planktonic and benthic types. Mandarins enjoy the benthic type (e.g. Algagen's ReefPods Tisbe). I also get pods from Reefs2go (Pods2go on eBay). If you make a pile of rubble or shells, then that makes a home for the pods to reproduce faster than predation. Zooplankton eat phytoplankton. So dosing your tank with a phytoplankton will help maintain pod populations.

darn, sorry to hear that.

Bacteria and algae can survive dried in salt mix.

Are mineral deposits slimy?

I only provide information -- what you choose to do with it is your call. I will add that precipitation from the salt mix is not slimy and it is not affected by light. It is affected by lack of water movement, the movement prevents it from aggregating and settling. Bacteria and algae can be introduced by the salt mix itself. There is no reason to suspect that the salt mix is completely sterile.

If your container is contaminated with bacteria and/or algae, then I'd recommend following the CDC's guidelines to sterilize it. These guidelines are designed for cisterns and potable water containers to make water safe to drink. My modification has been to repeat the rinse one more time and to (obviously) not add bleach after it has been rinsed well. Vinegar/muriatic will clean mineral deposits, but it will not sterilize the container. http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/emergency/safe_water/cisterns/

This is solid advice. Any negative effects of nitrates and phosphates (besides algae growth) are long term. So there is no need to panic. Take your time, be consistent in your husbandry, and your levels will fall. I agree with Rob -- the dissolved organics is of much more concern. Nitrates and phosphates are a symptom of high DOCs. Skimmers and water changes will keep the DOC low and thus the nutrients low.

Heh Heh -- I thought you'd like that. True story -- I glued a frag to one of my rocks and a hapless red legged hermit got curious about the new addition. Well, he ended up glueing himself onto the rock. My wife was like "Are you gonna save him?" Me: "Meh, It happens sometimes. I'm gonna have another beer."

GFO tends to clump if it is not agitated. I put the GFO in a bag mixed with carbon to prevent clumping. About 2:1 carbon:GFO works great for me.

Yeah -- at the end of the day do what will help you sleep at night. It's your system and your $$$.. FWIW Here is what I do on my 29g JBJ. On Fri or Sat I turn on my RODI to produce up to 15 gallons. I use three 5 gallon buckets from my local paint store that I wiped clean with water before I first used them. I wipe them dry after each use. After I make the water I flush the membrane for 5 minutes and then turn off the RODI unit My tank chore day is usually Sunday. In two of the buckets, I put in a MJ1200 (in configuration A). I then sprinkle my required salt (a little more than I need for my target) into the bucket. It circulates for about an hour at which point I measure the salinity and adjust it with water from the third bucket to 35 ppt (my selected value). I don't heat my replacement salt water. When I do a 10 gallon (>30%) water change my DT temperature controller drops from 80 to 78 degrees (it returns to 80 degrees in about 30 minutes). Have not seen adverse effects yet. I have a separate 5 gallon top-off reservoir (actually it is an Office Depot plastic office file folder holder that fits in my stand perfectly) which I top off with fresh RODI. There is no circulation pump, air-stone or heater. Aside from the day I got it, I never clean it. I checked it just now and the water is crystal clear, with no odor or sediment, and (yes) no foul taste. I keep it in my stand and away from light (my chaeto lives in the back sump area of the JBJ nanocube). After everything is done, I refill the third bucket with RODI, clamp on the lid, and store it in the dark for up to a week until my next chore day. I do this just in case I need to make a quick batch of saltwater since I don't have a RODI booster pump. That water is always clean and clear after seven days. I have never dumped RODI water because it turned fetid. My tank has not crashed since I set it up in Jan 2011. My "precious" corals (3 scolys, a cool kind of rare fungia, and pricey dendros) and my crocea clam never show any sign of stress and are growing nicely. I have only had minor GHA or cyano outbreaks which I link directly to my habit of overfeeding and were quickly cured. Check out my pics and vids in my sig for more proof. I agree with Rob, simplicity is nice in the complicated hobby. I do large water changes to avoid dosing of any sort -- but I realize that is a luxury of nano tanks. Side note: Outside of the hobby people do store water in tanks and cisterns to drink. It's not an outlandish idea. If your vessel is contaminated, then just disinfect the bucket. Fill it with tap water (or RODI waste water) and add some bleach overnight. Afterwards, rinse it well. Fill it again with RODI and add the right amount of tap water conditioner. You can either use that conditioned water, or dump it and fill it with fresh, untreated, RODI water. Don't take my word for it -- CDC has instructions. http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/emergency/safe_water/cisterns/disinfection_cisterns.html

The reason why I point that out is that if someone is having difficulty storing RODI water then perhaps changing or sterilizing the storage vessel and/or changing the post filter plumbing would lengthen the shelf life of the water.

In my experience, yes it is OK for rodi water to sit. Sitting in the dark is best. If it has an odor or is cloudy then dump it.

the percentage of top off water relative to the DT is so small that it will have negligible effect on the dissolved oxygen. It really is not necessary. I'll do the math if you need more convincing.

RODI water is sterile. Bacteria is introduced use the water contacts the holding vessel or the dirty exit hose.

That needs to be a wamas t shirt!

Boy, that escalated quickly. RODI does not need circulation. It will aerate when you mix in saltwater. That said, no harm in circulating it. I use a maxi jet to mix my saltwater. I use option A and just hang it over the side. As for the stuff that doesn't dissolve, there shouldn't be much of it. It wont harm the pump or your tank.

Based on what Mark observed, I'd hypothesize that the slow pump was applying a drag force which was large enough to reduce the water flow head.

What happens when you reverse the order?

Cool -- I'd be interested in what happens if you care to share your experience.

The physics get a bit wonky. But if you had two identical pumps (rated with a head of 10 feet) in series, then the theoretical head would be 20 feet. In practice, inefficiencies would make it about only 15 feet. If they are not identical, then the increased inefficiencies would dramatically reduce any theoretical gain. Is it possible to pump the water with pump A up one floor into a bucket? Inside that bucket is your second pump to move water the rest of the way to the top of the tank.

You don't need much of the live rock or sand to jumpstart the cycle. Maybe just one piece on the edge of your set-up. A cup of the sand will also work.

Yup!

The runoff from the RODI makes for great cleaning water.