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Cultivated Reef

How do you plant coral?


Drexellake

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Welcome to SW.....I have both FW and SW tanks too, and I'm a relative noob.

 

Closest aquarium shop with RO water to me is about a 30 minute drive......luckily, we have a Kroger grocery store 5 minutes away that sells RO water outside, you just have to bring your own 5gallon jug. It costs $1.50 for 5 gallons. My corals, fish, and tank have started thriving ever since I switched to RO water.

 

In the long run, you're probably going to be cheaper by buying an at-home RO system.....but, I'd recommend finding a good, cheap source for RO water to make sure that you're going to like the hobby before going all-in with an at-home RO system.

 

Just my two cents.....have fun with it!

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Some people have trouble growing what are considered weeds in the coral family. What is easy for one hobbyist is not the same for another.

I can't grow xenia or gsp if my life depended on it, this statement is pretty accurate

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Welcome to SW.....I have both FW and SW tanks too, and I'm a relative noob.

 

Closest aquarium shop with RO water to me is about a 30 minute drive......luckily, we have a Kroger grocery store 5 minutes away that sells RO water outside, you just have to bring your own 5gallon jug. It costs $1.50 for 5 gallons. My corals, fish, and tank have started thriving ever since I switched to RO water.

 

In the long run, you're probably going to be cheaper by buying an at-home RO system.....but, I'd recommend finding a good, cheap source for RO water to make sure that you're going to like the hobby before going all-in with an at-home RO system.

 

Just my two cents.....have fun with it!

Unless that RO water is also DI (deionized), I would use distilled.. you need 0 tds, RO alone will typically have a few ppm of tds.. just FYI... and distilled is perfectly fine to use..

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Unless that RO water is also DI (deionized), I would use distilled.. you need 0 tds, RO alone will typically have a few ppm of tds.. just FYI... and distilled is perfectly fine to use..

Here are the filtration steps that it goes through from the company website: glacierwater.com

 

Filtration_Process1.jpg

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Here are the filtration steps that it goes through from the company website: glacierwater.com

 

Filtration_Process1.jpg

running it through carbon after the RO makes no sense (probably, like they said, for "taste")...

 

and that's not going to be 0tds water.. if it's working for you, great.. but you should really use either distilled or RO/DI.

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The videos are definitely good stuff. Funny how RO came up on here because I might go that route too eventually. For right now $4 per month for distilled water from the local grocery store will do since I only have a small tank. But if I end up setting my 30 back up and/or converting my 75 to reef, I'll definitely go that route.

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running it through carbon after the RO makes no sense (probably, like they said, for "taste")...

 

and that's not going to be 0tds water.. if it's working for you, great.. but you should really use either distilled or RO/DI.

 

Many drinking water RO units have a precarbon block and post carbon block. It's strictly to improve taste. If your buying sealed distilled water, you are most likely OK without testing the water. Anything else you should get a cheap TDS meter. Having your own RODI unit is extremely convenient and pays for itself in such a short period however there is nothing wrong with using store bought water for a nano. I would never buy premixed saltwater from a LFS.

 

N-R has their own article on attaching frags to your live rock which is probably one of the first articles I read when I was a newbie.

http://www.nano-reef.com/articles/_/livestock/how-to-glue-coral-frags-r14

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The videos are definitely good stuff. Funny how RO came up on here because I might go that route too eventually. For right now $4 per month for distilled water from the local grocery store will do since I only have a small tank. But if I end up setting my 30 back up and/or converting my 75 to reef, I'll definitely go that route.

do it. but make sure you get the DI stage as well, or you'll still have dissolved solids.. RO is great for drinking (that's what "drinking water" is in the store), but for a reef you really need RO/DI.. DI is simply one more stage of filtration where the water passes through deionizing resin beads, which strips the water down completely to 0.0 ppm TDS.. watch for sales with our vendors or keep an eye on the hardware for sale sections, used units (as long as they aren't damaged) are just fine..

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do it. but make sure you get the DI stage as well, or you'll still have dissolved solids.. RO is great for drinking (that's what "drinking water" is in the store), but for a reef you really need RO/DI.. DI is simply one more stage of filtration where the water passes through deionizing resin beads, which strips the water down completely to 0.0 ppm TDS.. watch for sales with our vendors or keep an eye on the hardware for sale sections, used units (as long as they aren't damaged) are just fine..

More great info. I was looking into RO systems years ago when I raised and bred Discus. If I can figure out how to use it to fill a container and hook it to my water input on my refrigerator I'll definitely get one. The back of our refrigerator is in our utility room with washing machine water and drain, so it should be an easy dual purpose setup. I don't understand how the pressure would work for the fridge water and ice maker though. Can it just be connected from the RO with a Y connector, one to a container with a float shut-off, and the other directly to the fridge, or will I have to turn one side off in order to use the other?

 

Untitled.png

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A lot of local water stores (if you have any in your area) sell RO/DI inside if you ask. Their stuff outside is usually just RO.

 

+1 with everyone that recommended blue cap Loctite for stony corals. If you have soft corals however it will often not work. They will shed the layer you attach the glue to. Tying them in place with rubber bands or fishing line works. At one point I found a 1/4 inch netting made of a fishing line type material that was AMAZING at holding corals to the rock while they bonded.

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More great info. I was looking into RO systems years ago when I raised and bred Discus. If I can figure out how to use it to fill a container and hook it to my water input on my refrigerator I'll definitely get one. The back of our refrigerator is in our utility room with washing machine water and drain, so it should be an easy dual purpose setup. I don't understand how the pressure would work for the fridge water and ice maker though. Can it just be connected from the RO with a Y connector, one to a container with a float shut-off, and the other directly to the fridge, or will I have to turn one side off in order to use the other?

 

Untitled.png

 

You would need a RO bladder tank to store water and release it on demand - typically much faster than your RO unit can run on it's own. Normally it doesn't have enough pressure to run inline with your refer water dispenser, and certainty would end up with partially filled ice trays in your ice maker. One thing to consider is that when you first start up your RO unit it initially produces a substantially higher TDS. While not a problem for drinking water, it does speed up the exhaustion of your DI resin. If your system is constantly turning on and off through the DI stage it will need replacement often.

 

Honestly, I prefer the taste of water through the Pur filter in my refer over the taste or lack of taste in RO water. That's exactly why all drinking bottled water has minerals added back in.

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