mixed answers on water

J

jimmybling31

Reefing newb
where I live we get almost pure water out of the tap, and at my house we have a 1micron filter for all the water we use, so the tap water I use for my fish has no nitrates, nitrites, amonia, or anything else in it hardly. it has a tds of right around 40to50 it has been great water for my cichlids and haven't had a cichlid die in nearly a year (convict harrassed a jack dempsey to death). so would there be anything wrong with just using this water? so far the corals I have like it too.
 
reeffreak said:
I would at least use some Prime.

Remember,you can't test for everything....just saying.
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Cant argue with that.
How old is your house?Or how much copper plumbing does your house have?
If the lines are copper.They well leach small amounts,which will eventually build up in your tank and could possably kill your corals and inverts.
 
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yote said:
Cant argue with that.
How old is your house?Or how much copper plumbing does your house have?
If the lines are copper.They well leach small amounts,which will eventually build up in your tank and could possably kill your corals and inverts.
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the house is 3 years old and doesn't have much if any copper piping. all that i can see is pvc. I know I can't test for everything, but all the stuff I have been able to test for has come in at extremely low levels or not even there. I haven't found anything that would make it too bad for it. in fact I think my salt mix might have more bad things in it than my water. lol. i am changing mix though. I don't think that oceanic is the best.
 
AWW come on now.Oceanic is the only salt that will go in my tank.:mrgreen:

Since your not finding any copper plumbing,you'll probably be fine with your tap water.Just test it before you mix up your water.Wish my tap was that good.
 
yote said:
AWW come on now.Oceanic is the only salt that will go in my tank.:mrgreen:

Since your not finding any copper plumbing,you'll probably be fine with your tap water.Just test it before you mix up your water.Wish my tap was that good.
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really? read somewhere that there are much better salts for growing corals.

I will keep checking it before I mix it. I live right across the road from where they pump up the water for most of hixson. my uncle's water 2 miles away has a tds of 200 something. he complains about his water, but I think it's how old his house is. I mean his house is 40 years old. lol.
 
While 40-50 TDS out of the tap is pretty good, that's 40-50x more polluted than it would be if you had an RO/DI unit. Just something to think about.
 
I hadnt even paid attention to where your at.
Hixson is on the Tennessee American water system.So even though your getting good water right now,Some time this month they will be pumping huge amounts of inorganic phosphates through the lines.
If you dont want to mess with an RO/DI system,At least run over to the wal-mart and fill up a couple of 5 gallon jugs with the water out of their culigan machine.If you got your own jugs,its only .33 cents a gallon.
 
Not many people have great success without an RO/DI unit to filter their water. Maybe initially, but not long term.

What makes you think you are any different?

Do you care about the corals in your tank? Any person who is in this hobby for the long haul is going to need an RO unit. It's just the way it is. I wasn't happy about the price of my RO unit. I got close to $200 in the darn thing. By the time you buy the pump and the membrane flush valve, it adds up. But my TDS readings are still 0 after a full 18 months of using the same cartridges.

TDS readings of 40-50 may seam low -- but it's still 40-50 rather than 0.

Knuckle up and buy an RO unit. It's a required piece of equipment in this hobby. If you think Oceanic salt is low quality, how do you think you will fair any better with a different brand and contaminated water?
 
Rcpilot said:
Not many people have great success without an RO/DI unit to filter their water. Maybe initially, but not long term.

What makes you think you are any different?

Do you care about the corals in your tank? Any person who is in this hobby for the long haul is going to need an RO unit. It's just the way it is. I wasn't happy about the price of my RO unit. I got close to $200 in the darn thing. By the time you buy the pump and the membrane flush valve, it adds up. But my TDS readings are still 0 after a full 18 months of using the same cartridges.

TDS readings of 40-50 may seam low -- but it's still 40-50 rather than 0.

Knuckle up and buy an RO unit. It's a required piece of equipment in this hobby. If you think Oceanic salt is low quality, how do you think you will fair any better with a different brand and contaminated water?
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on the salt, I just read some bad things about it. I read that kent was better and was gonna get it.

I will prolly get one by the time I set up the 75 gallon, but right now I am gonna not worry about it too much. I will get one, but it won't be the next thing I buy. heck I just paid 170 for my protein skimmer. I don't even have the powerheads i like.
 
When I tryed Kent salt,My calcium levels bottomed out.Got bad hair algae issues,wouldnt all dissolve even after 3 days of mixing.
It caused so many problems after a few water changes,that I gave away over half a 200 gallon bucket and went back to Oceanic.
I may have just gotten a bad bucket,I dont know.But it was bad enough that I'll never use it again.
 
yote said:
When I tryed Kent salt,My calcium levels bottomed out.Got bad hair algae issues,wouldnt all dissolve even after 3 days of mixing.
It caused so many problems after a few water changes,that I gave away over half a 200 gallon bucket and went back to Oceanic.
I may have just gotten a bad bucket,I dont know.But it was bad enough that I'll never use it again.
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the disolving part of it is something i didn't know
 
In contrast to Yote's findings, I've used Kent salt for much of the last three years, and never experienced what he did. So I don't think it's a "bad" sand by any means. Chances are, like Yote said, he possibly got a wonky batch.
 
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Bifferwine said:
In contrast to Yote's findings, I've used Kent salt for much of the last three years, and never experienced what he did. So I don't think it's a "bad" sand by any means. Chances are, like Yote said, he possibly got a wonky batch.
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I dunno. i wanna try kent, but I want to try something else. I heard that it was better for coral growth than oceanic, but a bunch of people on here have said it's great. but I dunno.
 
Well, if you want to try other salts, another brand I recommend is SeaChem. I rotate between Kent, SeaChem and Oceanic, depending on what's on sale at the time I'm shopping.
 
It's ''salt'' not ''sand'' Biff.

I've switch to Red Sea Pro,the last bucket of Kent calcium was to high,it was precipitating and cause the makeup water cloudy.A bad batch but it still money down the drain.I've use it for many years without problems.The Red Sea does seem to dissolve faster than the Kent.Calcium,akalinity and pH has been really good with my RO water.
 

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