Been Offered A Marine Tank

[Jonno]

Hi there,

I've been offered a marine tank and i'm currently deciding if i should go for it or not.

I've been told it needs a 25% water change every 2 weeks ish, and I should buy RO water from my LFS or buy an RO unit. Can anyone advise what is involved with an RO unit and are they more cost/time effective? It sounds a slight pain having to drag 2/3 cartons of RO water home every 2 weeks!

Tank - 250l Furplast Cayman - thoughts on this tank, never heard of furplast personally but aparently they are high quality? Is this too big for a "new to marine" hobbyist?

Thanks!

Jonathan.

 

[Morri]

Only a novice here but I would look at 10% everyweek.

For Water I buy mine already mixed from the LFS at £4 for 25 litres at this price its cheaper and eaiser for me as we are on a water meter, but most use a RO unit with DI this are atached to your mains water supply very easy to use. ( I am sure someone will correct me but these waste 75% of the water)

I would ask what lights are in the tank as this will dictate what you can keep personaly i prefer a reef tank as the fish are not the only focal point my inverts have there own personality and corals add to the colours.

250L is a good size tank to start with as your water stats would be more stable.

 

[john.o]

Hello johnO
and welcome to the salty side
Can you please tell us a little more about the setup, live rock? / sump? /open top?/ reef tank fish only tank?? ect
Regard john

 

[Jonno]

thanks for the replies and welcome

sure, it's got 50 kilo of liverock. the lights have been recently upgraded and use an LED system which costs £7 per year rather than £15 per month that his old metal halide lamps used. this is all i know about the lighing but he did say he had spent a couple of hundred pounds on them.

i am also on a water meter, 10% change a week doesn't sound too bad. how do these RO units work?

he wants £350 and the set up has cost him £1500 in the past 4 years.

 

[john.o]

Seem like a really bargain to me.

As for the RO unit there a absolute necessity if you ask me I have 60 gallon tank which I top up with RO water weekly about 5 gallons {evaporation} then I do a 5 gallon salt water change every 2 weeks with a good quality salt just to replace any used elements within the tank ect so as you can see I am using 30 gallons of RO every 4 weeks and if I did not have a RO unit I would never be away from the LFS with containers.
As for fitting it could not be any easer just use one of these on your washing machine feed to split it into two feeds connect your washing machine to one side and the ro unit to the other. Cut the plastic feed that goes to the ro unit fit a small ball valve and that’s it takes more time to pull the washing machine out to get behind it than it does to fit the RO unit 20 mins tops
<a href="http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...2c95df8baee4033" target="_blank">http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...2c95df8baee4033</a>
hope that helps john,o

Oops forgot to say if you have low water pressure in your area you will also need a pump to boost the pressure.

 

[Jonno]

right, so what about the water wastage that people speak of? do they need to be permanently on or can you turn them on/off as you need?

 

[ben1987]

they turn on when needed, you have to keep the membrane wet though, and flush it out regular

 

[jtnova13]

Most RO systems have a pressurized tank they connect to. When the water reaches a certain pressure (set by the tank) and auto shutoff valve turns the system off. If you empty some water out, it will start filling again.

RO systems work very slow. It is taking forever for me to fill my 90 gallon because I only have 5 gallon buckets and I can't leave it dripping into a bucket while at work.

Also, PM me if you have 3/8" service lines as I had to have a different solution than the one from RO man.

I think it is true that it takes 3 gallons of waste water to make 1 gallon of RO water though, so if you pay for water (i don't) it may be cheaper to just get it from a LFS in a large quantity (unsalted) and store it at your place for a while. Fresh RO water won't spoil that quickly, and like people said, you have to top off weekly, so having some extra water on hand is good.

 

[john.o]

Yes john they can be turned off as I mentioned if you fit a small ball valve on the feed pipe you just use that. As for waste it really all depends on water pressure really. The fact that you’re on a water meter I would recommend you using a pump to up the pressure so you get the absolute maximum performance out of the RO unit these aren’t cheap you will be looking at £60 -£100 for the boost pump and power supply

 

[seffieuk]

Hi there,

to the salty side

I've been offered a marine tank and i'm currently deciding if i should go for it or not.

I've been told it needs a 25% water change every 2 weeks ish,

all according how big the tank is

and I should buy RO water from my LFS or buy an RO unit.

Yes

Can anyone advise what is involved with an RO unit and are they more cost/time effective? It sounds a slight pain having to drag 2/3 cartons of RO water home every 2 weeks!

Best to get an ro unit for ease and water quality, however i think you said you are metered - so this might not turn out the way to go and making RO causes a lot of waste, about x2 of RO or maybe even more

Tank - 250l Furplast Cayman - thoughts on this tank, never heard of furplast personally but aparently they are high quality? Is this too big for a "new to marine" hobbyist?

Nice size tank, the bigger the tank the easier to keep stable

Thanks!

You are welcome

Jonathan.

Seffie x



Remember, the only stupid question is the one not asked

 

[jtnova13]

+1 to using a pump. Mine came with a ball valve which will keep water in the system, but you have to have some sort of needle valve or pressurized holding tank to actually shut off the unit, no?

 

[TigerIssey]

If you are on a water metre, whether or not making your own RO is cost effective actually comes down to the waste.

If you have to pay for waste and surface drainage, this actually costs more than your water in the first place. If you are going to use the waste on the garden etc you may be OK.

If you are on a septic tank (like me), it IS cost effective to use your own RO as you do not pay for waste water to be taken away.

Hope that helps you.

 

[Jonno]

thanks for the help guys

you have given me quite a few things to think about. i'm not entirely sure how i'd hook an RO unit up to our mains and if we have enough room so I guess i need to do some more research. it's a shame there are no alternatives to buying expensive RO equipment

 

[jtnova13]

haha RO equipment pays for itself in about 2 months depending on your initial fill size.

Mine tank is 90 gallons, the unit cost $100 bucks, would have cost me $50 to fill it, so over the course of a few months, it will pay for itself in top ups and water changes.

I didn't know they charged for water waste, seems like it should be cheap since it's just gravity fed!

Take some pictures under your sink or if you want to do it somewhere else. I can help you hook it up as I just hooked mine up and went through 5 or 6 different alternatives.

 

[Jonno]

our sink is very tight and there are pipes everywhere i highly doubt we'd have the room for a reservoir unfortunately. may possibly have the room for a smallish one in our airing cupboard perhaps.

do you think a 10% weekly change would be sufficient? that's only 1 trip to my LFS a week which I suppose I can live with.