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Innovative Marine Aquariums

Tough Question


IndyPerk

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So I started my first every reef tank two weeks ago (28 gal). Bought an RO/DI unit and made my own salt water. Added live rock, live sand, and got the tank going. Waited two weeks without checking anything other then the initial salinity checks.

 

So yesterday I check the water. No ammonia and no nitrites at all, nitrates were right at about 10 ppm. I decided to do a 20% water change today and order my cleaning crew. Well when I went to make my water I couldn't remember which line on my unit was waste and which was product. I start reading the manual on the RO/DI unit and realize all the initial water I made was with waste water NOT pure product. What I thought was salt deposits on side of my buckets and tank is probably actually calcium. (my calcium test kit is on the way)

 

So I'm making enough water today to do at least a 50% water change, but I'm concerned that won't be enough. We have well water, not city water. Any ideas? Given that my cycle looks good do you believe I'm ok. or should I do a total water change out?

 

Any suggestions on how to handle this bone headed move are much appreciated.

 

 

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Darn, looks like you need to tear the entire thing down.

 

lol, Your fine, no livestock. Worst that might happen is algae. Why not hard pipe unit?

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Tank is in the basement, no water lines down here. I just run in the garden hose, make what I need then put the unit up. Works great when you use the correct line. :D

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MirandaCaine

What kind of salt are you using?some salts like instant ocean have stuff in them that detoxifies heavy metals (copper is the one to worry about) and actually can be used with dechloranated tap water. I'd say that you should be ok seeing asits well water and not super nasty municipal supply. But to be safe and avoid future algea blooms I'd siphon out all of it you can and just add fresh RO salt water. At least there's nothing in it yet so you don't have to go into panic mode lol, good luck.

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I'm using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals so hopefully that's the case. I'm mixing up about 14 gallons right now which should be over half of the total tank water. The rest of my test kits should be here later this week. We'll see where things sit then. Thanks for the luck!

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You probably won't be able to see much with your test results.

 

Tell me... if your checking the tds of your rodi, how did you not know you had the wrong line? And if your not checking tds, how do you know your filter is working properly?

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Well I had to google 'checking TDS of your RODI unit', so there's your answer. Hopefully a brand new unit right out of the box is working as expected. Sometimes the cost of education is high.

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Get one of these:

 

http://www.amazon.com/HM-Digital-TDS-3-Handheld-Carrying/dp/B000VTQM70

 

Test the output water from time to time and change filters if/when it gets above 0.

 

I would also buy some Seachem Prime and dose it as a preventative when it comes time to adding fish. It's a nice way to detox any ammonia and it's reef safe.

 

Other than that just go slow and everything should be fine. I started with 100% tap and other than a big algae outbreak all was fine. I used distilled until my RO/DI unit arrived.

 

 

Oh, and some RO/DI info that helps ...

 

 

 

tap water --> Sediment Filter --> Carbon Block --> RO membrane (waste output here | ) --> DI Filter --> final output

 

The RO membrane is the work horse of the system and ideally it takes your water down to 3 TDS or lower. The DI filter is the expensive one that takes that 3 TDS and polishes it off to 0 TDS. You want to protect the RO membrane by replacing the sediment and carbon block on a regular basis, and you want to protect the DI filter by making sure the RO membrane is reducing TDS to low levels. The higher the TDS from the membrane the faster the DI will wear out.

 

After 2 years my RO is still producing 2 TDS water and I've replaced my DI filter once, just last week. I've replaced my sediment and carbon block once and they are due to be replaced again.

 

Clear as mud? :D

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