I had just begun to top a thread in general reefkeeping, and I realized it was a bad idea. The thread was
from 5 years ago and it was in a forum for people who probably know better. BUT...
It has come to be my firm belief that people who get totally out of left field red Cyanbacterial outbreaks are
still using tap water in their tanks, "cause I use the stuff that neutralizes the chlorine." I had a nice tank
going on for a long time and then one day, bam, and I mean BAM, red cyano. But i was sure I could do what
no one else in history had done, successfully run a reef tank on tap water. Someone on a thread said that the
red slime came in on a rock from the LFS, and I am pretty sure they belived it to be true. It's much more likely
that one day the BILL just came due. And the person had coincidentally just come from the fish store.
While we are on the subject, let's remember that for the same reason that we do not top off our tanks with
salt water, we cannot sustain periods of topping off with tap water because the water evaporates and leaves
behind iron, phosphate, copper, lead, salts and who knows what, and every gallon that goes in leaves more
and more and more and more and more. I know that most of you know this and have known it for some time,
probably even from before you decided to set up a reef. But I also know that probably as many as ten percent of
you are doing it today. And it's not against the law. But that's where the unwanted algae comes from many times.
And of course, your LFS guy is more than happy to sell you a bottle of slime-killer that will kill your slime attack,
and also kill your biological filter that you spent three weeks creating. In other words, you will likely have to
recycle your tank and kill or hurt all of your creatures. But they won't tell you that. And it is like that with most
quick fix bottles. It is much better to understand the sequence of events and actions that start the plague and
how to avoid it.
from 5 years ago and it was in a forum for people who probably know better. BUT...
It has come to be my firm belief that people who get totally out of left field red Cyanbacterial outbreaks are
still using tap water in their tanks, "cause I use the stuff that neutralizes the chlorine." I had a nice tank
going on for a long time and then one day, bam, and I mean BAM, red cyano. But i was sure I could do what
no one else in history had done, successfully run a reef tank on tap water. Someone on a thread said that the
red slime came in on a rock from the LFS, and I am pretty sure they belived it to be true. It's much more likely
that one day the BILL just came due. And the person had coincidentally just come from the fish store.
While we are on the subject, let's remember that for the same reason that we do not top off our tanks with
salt water, we cannot sustain periods of topping off with tap water because the water evaporates and leaves
behind iron, phosphate, copper, lead, salts and who knows what, and every gallon that goes in leaves more
and more and more and more and more. I know that most of you know this and have known it for some time,
probably even from before you decided to set up a reef. But I also know that probably as many as ten percent of
you are doing it today. And it's not against the law. But that's where the unwanted algae comes from many times.
And of course, your LFS guy is more than happy to sell you a bottle of slime-killer that will kill your slime attack,
and also kill your biological filter that you spent three weeks creating. In other words, you will likely have to
recycle your tank and kill or hurt all of your creatures. But they won't tell you that. And it is like that with most
quick fix bottles. It is much better to understand the sequence of events and actions that start the plague and
how to avoid it.
