Do I Need A Ro Unit For A Marine Set Up

[xxBarneyxx]

1. Three bad ideas here. First, playsand (silica sand) is not the best for marine tanks since it does not buffer like aragonite sand or crushed coral does. Second, silica sand can be very sharp and detrimental to burrowing fish/inverts. Third, sand beds can store medications only to release them at bad times. Solution; go to your local landscaping or hardware store with some vinegar. Test the sands there by placing them in the vinegar and watching them bubble/fizz. If they fizz for one minute or less, they're just silica. If it keeps fizzing/bubbling beyond 1 minute, you've got aragonite based sand.

2. Ah the water difficulties in Australia. Unfortunately there's no substitute for RO water. However there is one other option that may be "safe" enough. Run tapwater through a carbon filter such as a Brita filter, or one designed for filtering tapwater (common on fridge water/ice makers). This will remove pollutants and harmful chemicals like chlorine/chloramine/bromine, etc. Then run the carbon-filtered water through a Polypad to remove any copper to make life safe for inverts. If you do not plan on keeping inverts ever, you do not need the polypad step as copper is not detrimental to fish (at least not in the concentrations found in tapwater). This will make the water "safe" for fish, but it will not and cannot remove nitrates, phosphates, and silicates which may lead to algae blooms.

what is a polypad? never heard of them.

I think it is just like filter wool, except in a "pad" form.

 

[Musho3210]

distilled water and de-ionized water are pretty much the same as RO water, well there are differences but technically all three should be pure/low tds. You could buy a de-ionizer but you would have to replace those more often meaning you spend more $. Dont know about making your own distillery or buying water........

Well tommorow I will be picking up a large piece of LR (hopefully it's under 6 kilo's....), I have boiled water and letting it cool as it's the safest water I can provide....does water conditioner do it's job on salt water??

i used normal tap water not boiled or anything... though boiling it will help clean it ALOT i just couldnt be botherd boiling 120 litres. i filled my tank up with water straight from the tap, turned on the heater, filter and left it for about a week then added some salt, left it for about 3 days. checked the salt level and water ph... both good... ph is a little low but nothing to worry about. aslong as the water distills for long enough you shouldnt have any problems... unless you are going to get coral so im told. but all mine seems fine so far... though when i do a 20% water change i will use RO water from the lfs. but no way im carrying back 120 litres of RO water just to cycle the tank lol. iv used tap water on freshwater fish for a few years without any problems. aslong as the ph etc are all good it should be fine with marine fish. just remember to let the water distill for a week or more before you add any living rock anything else and check the ph etc before you do.

Oh and by the way, boiling water and using the water that boiled is NOT distilled water, nor is letting sit there distilled water. Distilled water is steam. Distilled water is pure.

 

[QuotheRaven]

So de-ionized water is safe?? I will buy carbon and de-ionizer just incase....well hopefully I have the money

 

[SkiFletch]

A polypad is a chemical filtration pad sold a lot here in the States which removes Copperand other heavy metals. EXPENSIVE, but works.

Dont waste your money on a De-Ionizer only. You'll spend a fortune in resin to keep it running. Boiling waterr kills all microbes, but then again, tapwater shouldn't have any microbes in it, lest you be drinking them . It can remove some pollutants (not all), but carbon filtration is far better than boiling water for those.

 

[QuotheRaven]

Ok thanks SkiFletch it seems carbon filtration is the best I can do

 

[Musho3210]

ive always wondered, can you get a carbon prefilter block, a RO prefilter canister, and use that as a carbon filter? Would be faster than a britta filter and may probably work better.... I remember when we used to drink britta water it would take forever for it to get through, but then again it is faster than my RO unit that i drink from now....

 

[QuotheRaven]

I think I'll get a brita filter and add carbon to it perhaps? it's the best I can do I think with my budget

 

[SkiFletch]

ive always wondered, can you get a carbon prefilter block, a RO prefilter canister, and use that as a carbon filter? Would be faster than a britta filter and may probably work better.... I remember when we used to drink britta water it would take forever for it to get through, but then again it is faster than my RO unit that i drink from now....

Yes Musho, you can. That's how it's done for most industrial or large-scale cooking applications. RO pre-filter canisters are actually an industry standard that's exhisted for MANY years now. You can buy all sorts of filter cartridges to fit them