Now What??

OK dude seriously, I know, I have done the research, IF you read the whole thread you would have seen it was NOT me who decided to fill MY tank, it was MY SPOUSE trying to be helpful and perform a RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS. I also understood that tap water would lead a whole bunch of algae problems BEFORE I put up this thread. I was trying to make sure that's all I would have to worry about or if there were other issues that I was not aware of. BUT that's ok cause I drained the tank and the responsible party has now been educated as to why we use RO/DI instead of just tap water.
 
But now that brings up another question. would you still be battling algae if you ran a uv sterilizer in your system?? This all under the pretense that you are still using tap water instead of RO/DI
 
I would drain it. Just me though.

Your tap water may or may not have heavy metals (specifically copper) in it and getting those out is more then a struggle. If you don't have a copper test kit, I would drain the tank and start over. Copper will get into your LR that you will be picking up on Tuesday and NEVER come out. All inverts and corals are copper intolerable.

Just my :twocents:
 
But now that brings up another question. would you still be battling algae if you ran a uv sterilizer in your system?? This all under the pretense that you are still using tap water instead of RO/DI

I dont think theres any way possible to keep from getting algae in a new system.Theres just to many swings in parameters going on.But a UV might keep the algae from getting as bad.
And something else to keep in mind.The UV will also kill off any of the good stuff ,like pods and good bacteria, that goes through it.Kind of a double edged sword.
 
Yeah I figured as much, that new pump I got for my skimmer has a uv built in, I can always pull the bulb and wait until after it's all set and stable to run it. That's why I asked about the uv, is it came with the pump. NOt bad considering it's a 1300gph pump with built in uv AND a built in gate valve for 160 bucks
 
Yeah I figured as much, that new pump I got for my skimmer has a uv built in, I can always pull the bulb and wait until after it's all set and stable to run it. That's why I asked about the uv, is it came with the pump. NOt bad considering it's a 1300gph pump with built in uv AND a built in gate valve for 160 bucks

Huh? Interesting...
 
yeah it's called Lowes, I want to see how long before the thing craps out. It's not rated for marine it's just a pond/waterfall pump but it's fish safe and I checked it myself no metal contacting water, at least from what I could see.
 
Before you set that up, consider this. Most of us who run UV, only run it for short intervals. You said in an earlier post that you will have to remove the bulb to turn off the UV. Since that is a sumbersible, and it sounds like there isn't an easy way to turn UV off and on, you will be stuck pulling your sump apart everytime you decide to run UV. You might consider returning that and getting something like THIS. You can always get a stand alone UV later if you decide you need it after reading up on it some more.
 
Very true mng. But I figured on that and that's why the pump with the uv on it is the pump running my skimmer so it is very easy to get to the pump. as far as the uv part of the pump, it's at the bottom in those pontoon looking struts at the bottom of the pump
 
and I will keep everyone updated on how well this pump works since there seems to be an interest if it might be a viable solution to over priced "marine" pumps.
 
OK update on the pump...works very well as a powerhead when mixing up saltwater. I was able to 15 gallon batches in roughly 20 minute increments. All the salt was disolved and the water was crystal clear. no hiccups during this phase, and yes I used RO water this time. The tank is now 4/5 full and the sg is 1.026. Will update more tomorrow
 
OK update on the pump...works very well as a powerhead when mixing up saltwater. I was able to 15 gallon batches in roughly 20 minute increments. All the salt was disolved and the water was crystal clear. no hiccups during this phase, and yes I used RO water this time. The tank is now 4/5 full and the sg is 1.026. Will update more tomorrow

Thank God for that!!! We didn't want to go through another, "obiviously you don't have a clue...." moment. :claphands :lol:
 
Glad to hear that it's working out, though it sounds like a rather large pump so I would expect it to make mixing up saltwater a breeze!
 
yeah it worked grat for making saltwater. so far the only downside I found for the pump is that on glass it's noisy but if you take a towel/pad of some sort it quiets down instantly and almost silent. The trickle of water from the output of my skimmer is louder than the pump.
 
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