LOL! I have not checked out Pet Shanty yet. Elos sounds like a nice place. They'll probably be next on my scouting trip. I'm thinking its time to start branching out further into PA. I liked Something Fishy and The Hidden Reef looks like a nice place and its a shorter driver then going to Max Reef. I'm thinking I may go with aqua-cultured corals online. I've been looking at Tidal Gardens and Pacific East. Can't bring myself to order fish online. Too concerned about the added stress and potential DOAs.
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LOL! I have not checked out Pet Shanty yet. Elos sounds like a nice place. They'll probably be next on my scouting trip. I'm thinking its time to start branching out further into PA. I liked Something Fishy and The Hidden Reef looks like a nice place and its a shorter driver then going to Max Reef. I'm thinking I may go with aqua-cultured corals online. I've been looking at Tidal Gardens and Pacific East. Can't bring myself to order fish online. Too concerned about the added stress and potential DOAs.
Tank Photos
I'm not sure if this the appropriate place to put them but here are a few pics of my tank. Like I said, Its 8 months old so please excuse the white rocks, lol. Coralline has been slow-growing but Its starting to pop up and spread on my overflows.
Just as an FYI, here are my water parameters.
Nitrate: 0-2ppm
Phosphate: 0-0.03ppm
PH: 8.0
Alk: 6.66 (cannot seem to get it up to 8)
Cal: 460
Mag: 1290-1320
Salinity: 1.026
TDS in: 235; out: 0 (Not sure whats up with the water around here but I'm burning through DI resin)
Water change schedule: 30 gallons every two weeks (Reef Crystals)
I'm not sure if this the appropriate place to put them but here are a few pics of my tank. Like I said, Its 8 months old so please excuse the white rocks, lol. Coralline has been slow-growing but Its starting to pop up and spread on my overflows.
Just as an FYI, here are my water parameters.
Nitrate: 0-2ppm
Phosphate: 0-0.03ppm
PH: 8.0
Alk: 6.66 (cannot seem to get it up to 8)
Cal: 460
Mag: 1290-1320
Salinity: 1.026
TDS in: 235; out: 0 (Not sure whats up with the water around here but I'm burning through DI resin)
Water change schedule: 30 gallons every two weeks (Reef Crystals)
Attachments
Hockeynut,
We have regular city water but I'm told that there is a superfund site about 5 miles away. Not sure if that has anything to do with it. The house is about 100 years old but the plumbing (copper) was replaced approximately 7 years ago. I have an ATO (Tunze) that constantly refills a 5-gallon top-off container, which then tops off the tank. I'm wondering if the better way to go is to keep a large brute can in the basement filled with RODI and have the tank top off from there instead of constantly having my RODI unit running.
So your rodi is setup to refill your ato container as the tank uses it?
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How long does your DI last? My last cartridge went about 4 months before giving me 1-2ppm readings. Most of the city water out this way has pretty high TDS.
Hi Kreep,
Yes, that's correct. I love the setup. Plumbed the unit under my kitchen sink and I barely have to lift a finger as far as top off goes but the DI exhaustion is a concern.
I think that might be your issue. Rodi units suffer from tds creep during short usage (a few minutes). That is why many people advise to trash the first few gallons produced. Start a thread in the equipment so more members can discuss.
I'd have to check my log but It sounds similar to yours (maybe a month less). I have added a 2nd DI chamber which seems to help a bit but its probably more of a bandaid instead of a long term solution.
Hi Matt,
That sounds good man. You're very close. Lets definitely keep in touch. Do you focus on any specific types of coral? Maybe I can do something different and we can swap for some variety.
About the same here for now. I'm going to pick up some zoas, a maze brain, RBTA and maybe a blasto but have not decided yet. I like SPS but I don't have the skills for that yet.
AquaDan - First off, welcome to the club! That's a really nice looking tank you have there.
As for the RO/DI issue, I think saltkreep is onto something. I know when I start making RO/DI water, the first few minutes has very high TDS on the "IN" reading (well, high for me means in the 35-40 range) but as it runs, the "IN" reading slowly drops all the way down to between 3-5 TDS. I would suggest making a batch into a few 5g buckets and see what your readings are after running it for 5+ minutes. If it's still in the hundreds, then it is a problem with the source water. If it drops a lot, then your readings are just being taken from built up solids that accumulate when the unit is off.
You might want to consider adding an extra carbon and/or sediment chamber to the beginning of your RODI system if it is still pretty high. That should filter out a lot more of the solids before it reaches the DI resin.
Also, I thought it was worth asking if your rockwork is epoxied together or if it's just stacked up? I ask because if it's not attached somehow, it could tumble down and possible break your glass.
As for the RO/DI issue, I think saltkreep is onto something. I know when I start making RO/DI water, the first few minutes has very high TDS on the "IN" reading (well, high for me means in the 35-40 range) but as it runs, the "IN" reading slowly drops all the way down to between 3-5 TDS. I would suggest making a batch into a few 5g buckets and see what your readings are after running it for 5+ minutes. If it's still in the hundreds, then it is a problem with the source water. If it drops a lot, then your readings are just being taken from built up solids that accumulate when the unit is off.
You might want to consider adding an extra carbon and/or sediment chamber to the beginning of your RODI system if it is still pretty high. That should filter out a lot more of the solids before it reaches the DI resin.
Also, I thought it was worth asking if your rockwork is epoxied together or if it's just stacked up? I ask because if it's not attached somehow, it could tumble down and possible break your glass.
For comparison, the best my "IN" TDS looks like is ~12ppm and I run my RO(it's a Spectrapure unit) with the manual flush valve open until the TDS reading gets to that point, which takes about a minute. Again, I have ~300ppm TDS water though, which is what I attributed my DI resin being used up within 4 months of use for a 20 gallon tank. Though in the beginning, I used more water than I do now that I hooked up a sump w/macro. Used to do 5 gallons every 4 days, now I do about 4 gallons once a week.
Thanks very much for the welcome! This seems like a great community and its been nice finding some NJ Reefers.
I appreciate the feedback regarding the RODI. I'm going to give your suggestion a shot this weekend when I have some time to monitor things. I'm also going to post this in the equipment thread as was suggested by some other members.
Unfortunately, my rock is not glued down. This was one of many rookie mistakes that I've made along the way. I was especially concerned when I added 12 Turbo Snails but so far they have been all over my rocks with no issues (knock on wood). I do have some Aquastik epoxy and I was considering gluing at least the upper portions of the rock that seem most likely to get toppled over. Can I use this stuff safely in a tank that's already cycled and has livestock?
Thanks again!
I don't think I've ever taken a reading after the unit has been running for a while. I usually just flip the TDS switch once a week when I test my other parameters. This weekend I have to do a 30 gallon WC so I'm going to take readings every hour as it fills up my brute can and see what happens.
Yea, the AquaStik stuff is safe to use and should not cause a cycle. I would suggest you do try to epoxy at least the bigger stuff to something bigger below it if possible. I would say to also try to stabilize any of the smaller pieces that you can move easily (say with the push of a finger) because the smaller stuff is usually the easiest stuff for turbos to push around. Believe me, when they want to get to a certain spot, they will push almost anything out of their way unless it's secured.