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jmw 
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Joined: February 12 2009
Location: perry
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 Topic: Water
Posted: February 03 2010 at 10:11pm |
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I am new to the hobby as some of you know and this "ideal" water condition is driving me crazy! From A newbe stand point it would be nice to have a topic for just "water". There are always questions concerning just plain water. From the very start up of a tank to the daily/monthly... upkeep, it would be nice to have that information available and have it all in one place.
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CapnMorgan
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The Capn'
Joined: August 19 2009
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Posted: February 03 2010 at 11:12pm |
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What "ideal" condition are you referring to? If you can be more specific it will help us help you.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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fishoutawater
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Joined: March 23 2009
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Posted: February 03 2010 at 11:15pm |
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Ideal water is easy, just mix the salt in some ro water, get your s.g. to around 1.025 and you are done. Keeping it that way after it goes in the tank is another story.
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Some day, when I grow up,...
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Rioreefer
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Posted: February 05 2010 at 3:06pm |
 fishoutawater wrote:
Ideal water is easy, just mix the salt in some ro water, get your s.g. to around 1.025 and you are done. Keeping it that way after it goes in the tank is another story. |
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I dont mean to brag but, yeah it's 6ft long.
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Mark Peterson
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Joined: June 19 2002
Location: Murray
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Posted: February 05 2010 at 6:38pm |
There is a lot of misinformation out there, and too many newbies think they know all about it. Sorry but that's the facts of life. Find an experierienced hobbyist and follow him/her until you get a feel for it.
Maybe you are thinking of ideal or perfect water as being the only way a tank can survive and do well. Let me help you lay your fears to rest. It's not about the water. Testing the water to check the levels of impurities is just a way of determining whether the biological filtration is doing its job.
Getting the biological filtration to do its job requires hardly any work on your part. Did you read the thread about setting up the tank with LS of aragonite, some LR, LW and Macroalgae. This is the live stuff that provides the biological filtration. Setting up a reef aquarium in this way means there is no need to worry about all those nitrogen compounds or the cycle. The biological life just naturally lives and thrives and cleans the water. 
If there is decent water circulation and ample light with temperature between 70-80 degrees and salinity of 1.020 - 1.028 then the only thing to test for the first 3-6 months is...... nothing! Nada, zilch zero. Not even those nasty N things. 
Then, no earlier than 3 months you can start testing the two next most important water parameters, Alkalinity (8-14 dKH) and Calcium (350-500). Those are easy to test and keep in line. We can show you how. So don't worry. Please post a pic of the tank and tellus what you have done so far. We are here for you. 
Also feel free to call me at the number below. I can help you immediately with anything.
Edited by Mark Peterson - February 05 2010 at 6:46pm
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Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks:www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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MrNewbie
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Joined: October 07 2006
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 7:53pm |
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Mark, just try not to be a weenie when you answer a newbies question. I recall asking a question about what to feed a certain new add to the tank. It turned out to be a poor purchase due to lack of info and a poor recomendation from a retailer. I asked what to feed it you responded "try some acros". Not very helpful for a guy who had no idea what you were even talking about. So before you paint with broad strokes about the advice from newbies, think about the stupid response to a newbie 4 1/2 yrs ago when I asked a question
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Just a couple of glass boxes full of slimey things
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MrNewbie
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Posted: February 22 2010 at 8:14pm |
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Sorry to hijack the thread with my poke at Mark, I found when I used RO or better yet DI water, I had fewer algae issues due to my overfeeding. When I had a heavy fish load it did make a difference over tap water. It really depends on how "clean" your tap water is to begin with. My TDS fluctuated depending on time of year so I decideed since I had all the DI water I could haul home, I used about 35 gallons a week for topoff of our 5-6 tanks at that time and would do that twice more in a week to get enough in our drum for water changes once a month. I felt like I was constantly hauling water home, I started topping off a couple of the tanks with tap and continuing with DI on the others. It took a few months to see a difference, but it was noticed. Now we are down to two tanks a 20 gallon "holding tank" with a bunch of corals waiting for the 30 cube to be done, and a 24 nano. Real easy to haul water for a small tank load.
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Just a couple of glass boxes full of slimey things
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Shane H
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Posted: February 23 2010 at 9:17am |
If in doubt about your tap water, us RO/DI water to start. The better you control what goes into your aquarium, the better you will know what to look for when a problem arises. For example, if you have an algae bloom (and you're using RO/DI water) you can quickly dismiss that variable when troubleshooting.
Many people use tap water and have great success. But this is not always the case and may, at some time, cause large, even catastrophic losses.
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: February 23 2010 at 1:09pm |
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RODI all the way
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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