Tap Water
- Thread starter sslarison
- Start date
I assume you're going to do water changes with tap water and salt mix? That will not eliminate any of the phosphates, nitrates, silicates, chlorine, and whatever else is coming out of the tap. All it will do is add to it. Every tank has algae, but while most of us try to controll it, you're just feeding it a nice healthy diet with tap water. If you're going to put water in your tank do it right. Most of us don't even drink tap water, let alone pour it into our systems.
Buy an RO/DI unit. Use only RO/DI water for make-up water and WC's.
Get a TDS meter so that you know when it's time to change the filters and membrane.
Here is a link to one good place to buy from. They have good prices and excellent customer service.
http://www.aquaticreefsystems.com/
Louey
Get a TDS meter so that you know when it's time to change the filters and membrane.
Here is a link to one good place to buy from. They have good prices and excellent customer service.
http://www.aquaticreefsystems.com/
Louey
I use tap on all my tanks and have never had a problem. When I mix salt I also mix this stuff called stress coat. It is said to remove chlorine, nuetralize chlorimines, and detoxify metals. It also calms fish down. Sometimes if you put to much of the stuff in a fish bag the fish starts to become really really lethargic and it kinda looks like the fish is high or something 8O , anyways this is my low cost solution for tap water.
John
John
Once again what do you suggest?? Maybe i dont understand the math here, but if you take out 20% of your water with a certain amount of phos,metals ext...in it and replace it with the same amount of water with the same certain amout of phos, metals how would the amount of these grow? Thats not even factoring protien skimming in either? Can somone help here?
sslarison,
Do you have a topoff drip? If so, why do you do it?
The answer is, to replace evap...correct? If you keep your tank at the same level all the time using topoff, you are only replaceing the PURE water, and adding more impurities.
Also, LiveRock is a natural sponge for heavy metals... one could ... conceiveably, saturate their live rock with these metals.
If you replace, say, 20 gallons every time you do a change in a 75 gallon reef, you are still leaving the residue of X-number of gallons of topoff water concentrated in your system. Let's say that your tank has dropped to 71 gallons. You still have the condensed residue of the extra 4 gallons in your water. You may take out 20, to do a change, but you will add the extra 4 in there to get it back to 75. So residue would continue to build.
Do you have a topoff drip? If so, why do you do it?
The answer is, to replace evap...correct? If you keep your tank at the same level all the time using topoff, you are only replaceing the PURE water, and adding more impurities.
Also, LiveRock is a natural sponge for heavy metals... one could ... conceiveably, saturate their live rock with these metals.
If you replace, say, 20 gallons every time you do a change in a 75 gallon reef, you are still leaving the residue of X-number of gallons of topoff water concentrated in your system. Let's say that your tank has dropped to 71 gallons. You still have the condensed residue of the extra 4 gallons in your water. You may take out 20, to do a change, but you will add the extra 4 in there to get it back to 75. So residue would continue to build.
Water changes reduce the concentration of contaminants, but if there is enough in your water and you have significant evaporation they won't be enough to handle the input.
You are struggling with what I struggled with when I was new(er) in the hobby... It didn't make sense to me and I thought I wouldn't need an RO/DI unit. In time I realized the reason why all serious aquarists (reef tank hobbiests that is) own and use RO/DI water religiously: They make a huge difference.
I will tell you that my tank has algae, but only a tenth of what it did when I used tap water. I have to clean my glass about twice a month. In the interim, the snails keep it mostly in check. If it weren't for coraline algae, a 90 second swipe a week with the cleaning magnet would keep my tank looking perfect. (I have a 180G tank) As it is, I scrape about once a month to clear the coraline.
Before I used RO/DI water, I had to scrape almost daily or the green algae would make it impossible to see.
Here is a titration curve that shows how concentrations would grow if your source water is not pure:
The saw-tooth form of the graph is due to the water changes. Each time a water change is performed, the concentration drops slightly but the replacement of evaporated water dumps in more contaminants.
If anyone wants to see what the curve would look like for your own tank, post the following information and I will run the numbers in my spreadsheet (units are boldfaced):
Tank size in gallons
Tap water TDS reading in ppm
Weekly evaporation rate in gallons
Frequency of water changes in weeks
Amount of water changed in gallons
i will run the numbers and post the graph. If anyone wants a copy of the spreadsheet, let me know.
Ernie
You are struggling with what I struggled with when I was new(er) in the hobby... It didn't make sense to me and I thought I wouldn't need an RO/DI unit. In time I realized the reason why all serious aquarists (reef tank hobbiests that is) own and use RO/DI water religiously: They make a huge difference.
I will tell you that my tank has algae, but only a tenth of what it did when I used tap water. I have to clean my glass about twice a month. In the interim, the snails keep it mostly in check. If it weren't for coraline algae, a 90 second swipe a week with the cleaning magnet would keep my tank looking perfect. (I have a 180G tank) As it is, I scrape about once a month to clear the coraline.
Before I used RO/DI water, I had to scrape almost daily or the green algae would make it impossible to see.
Here is a titration curve that shows how concentrations would grow if your source water is not pure:
The saw-tooth form of the graph is due to the water changes. Each time a water change is performed, the concentration drops slightly but the replacement of evaporated water dumps in more contaminants.
If anyone wants to see what the curve would look like for your own tank, post the following information and I will run the numbers in my spreadsheet (units are boldfaced):
Tank size in gallons
Tap water TDS reading in ppm
Weekly evaporation rate in gallons
Frequency of water changes in weeks
Amount of water changed in gallons
i will run the numbers and post the graph. If anyone wants a copy of the spreadsheet, let me know.
Ernie
Now for the even more depressing part.
Look how many water changes it takes, with good water, to get things back in line..
This graph assumes no new nitrate is produced, and that the water used for waterchanges is not introducing any nitrate either.
THis is why I dont bother with less than 50 % water changes
Look how many water changes it takes, with good water, to get things back in line..
This graph assumes no new nitrate is produced, and that the water used for waterchanges is not introducing any nitrate either.
THis is why I dont bother with less than 50 % water changes
My spreadsheet will also allow you to put in how much nitrates are produced by your livestock/feedings per week (I set it at 0 for this example).
Problem is that large water changes can be stressful to the livestock. The message here is simple: Control the amount of contaminants in your makeup water and keep your bioload low enough so that your deep sand bed can process it.
Problem is that large water changes can be stressful to the livestock. The message here is simple: Control the amount of contaminants in your makeup water and keep your bioload low enough so that your deep sand bed can process it.
I can't imagine trying to carring out a 50% WC. I do a 25G WC on my 75G. With the sump and fuge, I prolly 100G's of water. So I'm changing 25% monthly. This works fine with my system. I don't have very many fish right now, so I prolly could get buy with less frequent WC's but it's a habit now, so I'll stay with it.
Louey
Louey
50 % is the minimum I even bother with, I've done 90 % water changes (down to sand) when I had a tank problem a few years ago (heater cracked in half, copper poisened tank).
As long as temp/ph/sg match, and you do it really fast, it's not a problem. I keep SPS, most of which can handle being out of the water for a while...
The graph speaks for itself, there's another one for raising calicum levels, the full article is at the link below, it's pretty depressing..
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_ ... ll_wc.html
it's not very encouraging for those who think that water changes alone will keep up with a tanks calcium demand..
As long as temp/ph/sg match, and you do it really fast, it's not a problem. I keep SPS, most of which can handle being out of the water for a while...
The graph speaks for itself, there's another one for raising calicum levels, the full article is at the link below, it's pretty depressing..
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_ ... ll_wc.html
it's not very encouraging for those who think that water changes alone will keep up with a tanks calcium demand..
Sponsor Reefs
We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.
Click here to sponsor $10:
