Trip to the Fish Store Tonight

[FishWife]

We got some Chaeotomorph algae tonight. First living thing to go into our bow tank (just to clean the water; don't worry). We're working at getting the high nitrate count out of our municipal water. (Do you guys use tap water in your tanks?)

 

1. Is there anything special about growing this algae? Like light needs or warnings about this genus? We PLAN to put it into our refugium.

 

2. Do you all use a cannister filter? We are using one now as a breeding ground for microbes... but I wonder if we should clean it more often, or use it to inject carbon into the system every couple of weeks?

 

3. We had to buy a new pump tonight: what do you all use for water flow?

 

4. WHERE do we get sugar-fine aragonite sand without going broke? The LFS wanted $2/lb!

 

 

Answers to ANY of these would be great!

[flowerseller]

I've got plenty of it and it's loaded with pods, mini serpent stars and shrimp.

Come get some free and I'll give you a couple easy frags too.

PM

[FishWife]

I've got plenty of it and it's loaded with pods, mini serpent stars and shrimp.

Come get some free and I'll give you a couple easy frags too.

PM

 

 

WOW! That is SO encouraging. Can you PM or email me with contact information, please? We can come tomorrow if you're going to be around, or Monday, since its a holiday.

[jason the filter freak]

YGPM from me as well I have some you can have, may not be as loaded as bobs. My tank is comming down tomorrow so I could set aside a baggy for you tomorrow.

[stevil]

First, Welcome to WAMAS! It's been an extremely helpful place for me the past 2 years.

 

I wouldn't recommend using straight tap-water. I use RO/DI (reverse osmosis, de-ionized). I got a filter for about $100 on ebay. People are selling them used occasionally as well. It will help you avoid nusaince algae blooms later on. It isn't about the nitrates, it's about the total dissolved solids (TDS). Search the threads for recommendations and vendors. people have different opinions for how many stages to get - I have a 6 stage, but am no-longer using the 6th stage ("taste" filter).

 

1. My cheato macro-algae grows fast using daylight incandesent or daylight compact florescent in a screw-in light fixture that I bought at wal-mart (the eco-friendly low-wattage bulbs). I think it cost me $8... Some calupera algaes will go "sexual" disintegrate and then annoyingly grow all over your tank if you aren't careful, but you should be ok with chaeto. I'm certain you can get more for free from members (I'll happily give you some if you'd like - I need to clean it out, I also have a few other kinds that do well in a refugium).

 

2. Nope, not many folks do (although there are some). People can't seem to give them away. If you are using live rock, live sand, and a skimmer that should be adequate for your filtration needs. Go buy "The Concientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert M. Fenner.

 

3. I have 4 MaxiJet powerheads (1200's and 900's) and 1 Seio powerhead in my display tank (90 gallon) and use a Mag 9 as a return pump from my sump. Korallife (sp?) filters seem to be pretty popular, have good flow and are cheap if you are going new - might be worth looking into. If you think you want to use a wave maker or controller that will turn your powerheads on and off make sure to get ones that can withstand being turned on and off - some can't (like Seio).

 

4. If you have time/patience look for a tank breakdown - not just for sand, but for other stuff too. I think there are a few going on right now. You'll see reference to "southdown" sand, but that seems to be pretty impossible to find, or if you do it isn't the good stuff. You might even be able to get it free!

[FishWife]

 

I wouldn't recommend using straight tap-water. I use RO/DI (reverse osmosis, de-ionized). I got a filter for about $100 on ebay. People are selling them used occasionally as well. It will help you avoid nusaince algae blooms later on. It isn't about the nitrates, it's about the total dissolved solids (TDS). Search the threads for recommendations and vendors. people have different opinions for how many stages to get - I have a 6 stage, but am no-longer using the 6th stage ("taste" filter).

 

How would one of these compare (functionally) with this? DIY Faucet Filter

[stevil]

How would one of these compare (functionally) with this? DIY Faucet Filter

Sorry, I wouldn't know... but my guess is it wouldn't be as effective. The point is to get as few amount of Total Dissolved Solids into your tank as possible. My tapwater (Centreville, newish development) reads 180 TDS with a meter before going through my RO/DI unit. It comes out at around 6...

 

Another member, bbatv is just using a DI filter (he's also in centreville, but a different area) and his tests are quite promising: 132 to 0.

[lanman]

We got some Chaeotomorph algae tonight. First living thing to go into our bow tank (just to clean the water; don't worry). We're working at getting the high nitrate count out of our municipal water. (Do you guys use tap water in your tanks?)

 

1. Is there anything special about growing this algae? Like light needs or warnings about this genus? We PLAN to put it into our refugium.

 

Most of us buy RO/DI filters and use filtered water. Normally we put a light over the refugium - about 6500K, maybe 40-60 watts. You can even get a screw-in fluorescent light in that range at SOME Home Depot's - with its own build-in reflector. (Red box, I think).

2. Do you all use a cannister filter? We are using one now as a breeding ground for microbes... but I wonder if we should clean it more often, or use it to inject carbon into the system every couple of weeks?

 

I don't... I do like some physical filtration - and for that I have a 'filter sock' in my sump where the water drops in.

3. We had to buy a new pump tonight: what do you all use for water flow?

 

In my 58, I have a WavySeas to randomize flow, with a MAG-7 (about 500 gph at 4' head). On the other end of the tank, I have a 1200 gph powerhead. I had a 2400 and that was too much (sand all over the place), and then got another 2400 that I could dial back to about 1600 - and that was just a WEE bit too much. Now I have a 1200 (Hydor Koralia 4) in there; but I'm thinking I could use a WEE bit more. Yeah - never satisfied, but you want pretty good flow-through (500gph), and a lot of random water movement if you can get it.

4. WHERE do we get sugar-fine aragonite sand without going broke? The LFS wanted $2/lb!

Answers to ANY of these would be great!

 

I think you got an answer to this! (I don't like the sugar-fine stuff, but that is purely a personal preference).

 

bob

[YBeNormal]

 

How would one of these compare (functionally) with this? DIY Faucet Filter

 

That might remove larger particles of sediment from your water like rust and dislodged calcium deposits but it would not come close to what a decent 5 or 6-stage RO/DI unit does.

 

The RO/DI unit would typically start with a 5-micron sediment filter followed by a 5-micron carbon filter, a 1-micron carbon filter, the reverse osmosis membrane, then DI resin.

- The sediment filter removes large particles that might clog your carbon filters. It is also the cheapest filter to replace so it is sort of sacrificial.

- Carbon filters remove chlorine, chloramine and other chemicals from the water.

- The RO membrane is where the real hard work is accomplished, removing heavy metals and other dissolved solids. The total dissolved solids of my water before the RO membrane is ~128 and zero to 1 TDS after the membrane.

- The DI resin then polishes up anything impurities left in the water and you end up with very pure product water at this stage.

[treesprite]

I live in G-burg and the nitrates in the tap are not detectable with eithre Salifert or API test kits, so I'm wondering, did you test it right from the fawcett and get different results? (same goes for phosphate).

 

Until you get an RO unit, you could do what I do. The Safeway by Lakeforest Mall has a fill-it-yourself purified water machine.... its only 39 cents a gallon when you use your own containers, which is practically nothing (to use their containers, it's 64 cents but you would only have to pay that the first time to get the jugs, and even then, it's cheaper than getting water off the shelf. There's a brand name on the machiens, which I think is Glacier but I really am not sure.

 

I would skip on the canister filter. I was using one until a few weeks ago and kept having to open it to clean it up to keep it from holding nitrate. Ha, now the hoses are being used for my uv sterilizer.

 

With the plain tap water, in addition to other things, I would be concerned about flouride. I didn't know it was being added to the water until recently when I read up on all kinds of health problems people have been having from it.

[lanman]

Sorry - just realized you had an 80-gallon tank. For some reason I thought you were a 46-gallon bowfront.

 

MAG-7 is probably not enough flow-through. You want closer to 800 gph or more.

 

bob

[toastiireefs]

i have a ro unit for sale!

 

ok well its only 10gpd but after you got the tank filled you dont need a HUGE one-

 

oh and you can find sand at premium aquatics for real cheap about 50c - 1$/lb

Edited September 3, 2007 by toastiireefs

[Brian Ward]

Buy an RO/DI unit. I have a Group Buy from AirWaterIce.com closing at Noon TODAY! 15% discount and free shipping if you're interested. The Typhoon III is probably what you're looking for.

~Brian