ross76053 Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 As many of you know, in recent months I've become a master at raising algae, trying everything to get rid of it. Once again, I'm a freakin' idiot. Found out about a month ago that my "hospital quality" RO/DI system wasn't removing enough phosphates (readings were in the .5 ppm range), so for the past month, I've been topping off with distilled. After all, distilled is phosphate-free, right? Do you think I: 1) Tested the Ozarka distilled water I've been topping off with? or 2) Have been a bonehead by assuming the water's fine. If you guessed "BONEHEAD", you'd be correct. The Ozarka distilled water in my possession, bottled in Fort Worth, Texas is: "Filtered through activated carbon, purified by steam distillation, microfiltered and ozonated". AND the crap includes phosphates (no charge) in the amount of .05 ppm. I'm printing a sign on my new Epson 2200 printer right now that says "BONEHEAD" and will be wearing it all day today. So now, once again, I'm in search of decent water. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 ross, you're not a bonehead. distilled water can hold phosphates as you've found out (and i did this year) but i thought good DI would remove it. ??? you might try running a little 5g bucket with phosguard to further remove the po4 (cheap hob or equivalent) if your algae is still messing with you. btw have you tried different fish food? Link to comment
ross76053 Posted January 13, 2003 Author Share Posted January 13, 2003 Just switched foods - the new stuff says "Low PHosphorus & Low Ash". Of course the label doesn't give a Phosphorus %. Any suggestions on a low-PO4 food? Actually I'll probably wind up getting another DI system - the one I've got was a no-charge thing from a friend in the business (maybe you DO get what you pay for), so I think I'm heading to marinedepot.com to get their DI add-on. Link to comment
ross76053 Posted January 13, 2003 Author Share Posted January 13, 2003 ...a recent pic... The dark crap all over the rock is hair algae... :x Link to comment
BCOrchidGuy Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 You aren't a bonehead my any stretch of the imagination, we assume though that stuff we buy will be suitable for our purposes, unfortunately the people filling the bottles don't share our sense of what is pure. One other thing to check with distilled water is copper content.. yep distilled water is usually cooled in copper pipes..... Link to comment
ross76053 Posted January 13, 2003 Author Share Posted January 13, 2003 Roger Wilco on the copper test - thanks.. Link to comment
gobies Posted January 13, 2003 Share Posted January 13, 2003 Low-phos fish food: Nutrafin "Marine Complete" pellets. Phosphate range is 0.6% to 0.9% -- yep, their max level is the min level of some of the other fish foods I have (some women buy shoes, I buy fish food...). The "pellets" range from tiny enough for any fish to some crumbs that are over 2mm across. They float for a bit if your water surface isn't too turbulent. This stuff is my clownfish's favorite food. Link to comment
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