Just Started.....Need help

copy the image code from the gallery and paste it in your post and your pic will show up. If you are good, after 7 weeks, your tank will look like mine, it is 7 weeks old

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-Doc
 
I am not gloating, I am giving inspiration of tank possibilities. We can all appreciate a beautiful picture. Hell, I just love my tank and like to share with others. I don't mean to upset anyone with its beauty

-Doc
 
c'mon Biff, you have to admit, not too bad for 7 weeks tho. Did you see the purple queen? bottom right of the pic? nice, huh?

-Doc
 
Yes they do fishbait.......I just love him. You stand there and look in the AQ and he'll come right up to the glass. Then he'll back up into a rock.
He's my favorite fish. :luxlove:
 
Hey........got a question......we are going to buy that reverse osmosis thing to hook to our water supply. Will I still have to put water conditioner in it ? And we are going to clean the tank after we get it hooked up. How much percentage should we do ?
All my algae is gone now. It looks real good. After we change the water, I'm going to get a few sand diggers....I love those little things.
When will it be safe to add fish after we change the water ?
 
Nope! No water conditioner is needed after it's been through the RO system. A good rule of thumb for regular water changes is 10 to 20% a week. If you are having water problems, you can do bigger water changes at first then gradually drop it down to 10% a week. You can add fish if your ammonia and nitrites are at zero. So anytime after you do a water change.
 
Like Biff said no water conditioner is needed.Don't forget to get a TDS meter too.Everybody has there own regiment when it comes to water changes.Find without works best for your system.For me,25% a month works out right.You can add fish and sand diggers when ammonia and nitrite is at zero.
 
make sure you add one fish a week at the start to give your bacteria a chance to catch up to the bioload. If you get all your fish too fast you will crash your tank. Once your tank matures (about a year) you can push your load faster.

-Doc
 
Google lime water softening and you will start seeing a few reasons why not to use tap water. First a water treatment plants primary concern is to kill bacteria, and remove cloudiness, coloration and water hardness. That typically means lots of chlorine injected. They are required by law to use both the amount of chlorine needed plus a given -EXCESS- of chlorine. Water softening means to remove calcium from water, they do it by adding lime to cause a super saturation thereby causing a fallout (precipitation) of calcium carbonate, lots of times they shoot to remove what marine aquarists refer to as the buffers. Then they do neat things like adding sodium hydroxide (Draino) or injecting carbon dioxide. They typically do not even try to remove heavy metals, phosphates or nitrates. Do buffer your RO or RODI water so as to not use up nearly all the buffers supplied in your salt mix. Typically water treatment plants remove what marine aquarists want in there water and leave what aquarists want removed. RODI's get the water down to nearly pure water and allow vthe aquarist to add just the amounts we need or want. RODI's are cheap as long as you have adequate water pressure for their use efficiently. With out Pressure of around 40-50 psi or higher a lot of water is wasted by RO filters and the pumps to increse the feed water pressur can cost as much as a lower priced RO. Plaese other aquarists for online sites for DODI's as you can easily pay two to three times what you need to pay by not researching. Most water softener sales/installation firms sell RO or RODI water cheap if you bring the jug. RO's usually remove up to (90-95% of Total Desolved Solids and RODI's usually remove 99.99% of TDS's. Make sure you get a system with Carnon and sediment prefilters or your RO filter will have a short life and the carbon is needed to remove the chlorine. And this is supposed to be a quick reply!
 
O.K. I'm really confused now. We bought the RODI. It has a holding tank and seperate water faucet. It won't fit under my sink. And I really don't want that faucet on my counter top. So, what do I do now ? If I buy just the RODI without the faucet and tank.......how does it work ? Our kitchen faucet is one unit.....the hot and cold both run trough it. How would that work by hooking it up through the cold water line ?
 
You can install your RO filter anywhere that the drain line coming from the unit is above a drain, some people even run the drain to a large container such as a large (32-50 Gallon) trash can and then use the collected drain-water for other uses. RO's use a lot more water than they produce, mainly depending on water pressure and water temperature. You do have to worry about overflowing the container though. Most people just drain to a waste drain, floor or drain trap under sink. Most RO's come with an adapter where you pull water from your cold water supply valve that feeds your faucet. If you need to place your unit in a cabinet above your sink you can cheaply get more tubing and Johnny Quest type fittings at places like Home Dept or Lowe's. Net sites like freshwatersystems.com, or waterfiltersonline.com, have lots of laymen directions for RO installation to include pressure shut off systems. By the way you do not need to use the tank if you are just going to produce water for your tank(s). A small RO has a flow rate which is basically a trickle so the tank is so you can easily draw off 6-8 cups of water quickly for coffee or cooking etc. All kinds of shutoffs, float switches, and pressure increasing pumps are sold for custom or problem systems. Blah sa, blah sa, blah. long winded again.
 
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