Nat's 125 Litre Juwel Rio Marine!

[natwood]

Normally, the saltwater in LFS's is around the 1.019-20 mark, as it helps prevent against outbreaks of whitespot as I mentioned earlier. I would guess that yours was originally the same but due to evapouration its slowly crept up to 1.022. As Ben says, you won't need to top up until after your SG reaches around 1.026. At that point you could just mix up some salt water at 1.026and raise the physical level of water in your tank and it all be at 1.026. After that, any water top ups will have to be with RO water. I'm currently topping up about 2.5L of water a day on my nano, so you can expect to do roughly the same on yours, when the time comes.

So do I need to raise my SG now, or should I just wait until some water has evaporated and it's gone up on its own?

I don't really know much about topping up the water yet. Do I just need to buy RO water from now on and then mix it with salt? When you top up do you just add RO water directly to the tank, or do you mix it with salt?

 

[AK77]

Hi Nat,

Well since you don't have any fish or livestock in there and no RO water to hand, you might as well just wait and allow the SG to rise up to 1.026 on its own.

Once the water in the tank is at that SG level, it would be a good idea to refill the tank up to the original level with more saltwater at 1.026. That way the entire volume of water in the tank will be 1.026.

If you get some of those little pocket electronic weighing scales and measure out 35g for every litre of RO water, you should have 1.026 SG. Its much quicker and less messing about than guessing how much salt to put in and then having to wait for it to mix thoroughly and test with the refractometer upteen times until its right.

Then just add the new batch of saltwater to the tank until its at the appropriate fill height. After this, as the water evapourates, you just refill with RO water up to the previous fill height. Remember, its only water that evapourates, the salt is left behind. Water changes you replace the water you remove with SW. Top-ups with RO water. Make sense?

 

[natwood]

Hi Nat,

Well since you don't have any fish or livestock in there and no RO water to hand, you might as well just wait and allow the SG to rise up to 1.026 on its own.

Once the water in the tank is at that SG level, it would be a good idea to refill the tank up to the original level with more saltwater at 1.026. That way the entire volume of water in the tank will be 1.026.

If you get some of those little pocket electronic weighing scales and measure out 35g for every litre of RO water, you should have 1.026 SG. Its much quicker and less messing about than guessing how much salt to put in and then having to wait for it to mix thoroughly and test with the refractometer upteen times until its right.

Then just add the new batch of saltwater to the tank until its at the appropriate fill height. After this, as the water evapourates, you just refill with RO water up to the previous fill height. Remember, its only water that evapourates, the salt is left behind. Water changes you replace the water you remove with SW. Top-ups with RO water. Make sense?

Ah yeah that's all clear to me now, thanks for that. I've got electronic weighing scales so will be able to do it the easy way without the guess work, so yay! Will just wait until the levels are right now.

 

[AK77]

Its from here onwards, that you'll get fed up with humping 25L containers of RO water back from your LFS. Save your pennies up and get yourself an RO machine. They pay for themselves very quickly and its just sooooooooo much more convienient. You can also drink the RO water too, as I do.

 

[natwood]

Just been having a play around with some of my camera lenses. I feel like the colours on the rocks keep getting brighter every day. Don't worry..I've not got around to taking out some of that sand yet. I'm being lazy and waiting for my syphon to arrive from ebay. Haha. The sooner my powerhead arrives the better, that thing is ugly!

(Close-Up Lens)

(Close-Up Lens) Not sure what that purple soft thing is on the front of the rock? I have another one in the tank too that's a bit more red. I think it's a polyp of some kind?

(These three are taken with a fish-eye lens..I thought it would be ironic and plus I have a fondness for fish-eye pics!)

I've been looking at RO machines. How many stages does it need to have? I've found some pretty cheap on ebay, but not sure what to go for when I do decide to get one.

 

[AK77]

Tank's looking good Nat

What camera/lenses have you got??

A fisheye is one thing I don't posses yet. That and a mirror lens.

Oh, and yeah, that pump has got no alibi.... its ugly!!

*Edit*

Just spotted your edit lol. I have a 6 stage RO machine but you don't have to go that high. A 3 stage machine will be ok (2 pre-filters and RO membrane). If you did want to go higher, I saw a very good deal on a 5 stage machine, with a booster pump, 3 spare filters, TDS meter, storage container all for under £120 delivered.

 

[natwood]

Tank's looking good Nat

What camera/lenses have you got??

A fisheye is one thing I don't posses yet. That and a mirror lens.

Oh, and yeah, that pump has got no alibi.... its ugly!!

Thanks! And lol@ "that pump has got no alibi.... its ugly!!"

It's a couple of years old now but it takes a pretty decent picture..it's just a Kodak P850. I don't have a clue about the lenses I possess. I should probably know more about cameras than I do, but I've never seemed to have fitted in the time to learn about it. Haha.

My dad's got a digital SLR that I can use but I've not got around to trying it yet on the tank. Can't remember what it is but it's a good one. ^-^

*My turn to edit!*

Yeah I was thinking of just going for a 3-stage machine. Do you have to change the filters and things a lot? I hate ongoing cost kind of things. Haha.

 

[AK77]

I just looked it up and it looks like a decent enough little camera. Can you fit other lenses to it? I was wondering about the fisheye one. Is it an attachment that fixes to the main lens or can you interchange lenses like on a DSLR?

You should ask your dad if you can have a play with his DSLR and see if he's got a macro lens for it!


A 3 stage setup will be fine. The frequency of how often the filters will need to be replaced depends on how much use the machine gets and how "contaminated" your municipal water supply is. Usually the pre-filters need replacing more than the RO-membranes do, if properly maintained. Hooking up an in-line TDS meter can often tell you when you need to replace filters. I will be replacing my pre-filters soon, as I haven't done it in ages (like well over a year ).

Rabbut is the guy to talk to about RO machines. He may have posts about their care and maintence and how long you can expect filters to last etc.

 

[natwood]

I just looked it up and it looks like a decent enough little camera. Can you fit other lenses to it? I was wondering about the fisheye one. Is it an attachment that fixes to the main lens or can you interchange lenses like on a DSLR?

You should ask your dad if you can have a play with his DSLR and see if he's got a macro lens for it!


A 3 stage setup will be fine. The frequency of how often the filters will need to be replaced depends on how much use the machine gets and how "contaminated" your municipal water supply is. Usually the pre-filters need replacing more than the RO-membranes do, if properly maintained. Hooking up an in-line TDS meter can often tell you when you need to replace filters. I will be replacing my pre-filters soon, as I haven't done it in ages (like well over a year ).

Rabbut is the guy to talk to about RO machines. He may have posts about their care and maintence and how long you can expect filters to last etc.

Ah ok. I found this one on ebay: http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260531524800&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
and I like that price. Haha. I'll probably end up buying one of those soon. I'd just like to get everything to make my life as easy as possible!
I think our water is pretty decent around here as it comes from the Peak District, so I'd imagine I'll probably get away with hardly changing the filters.

I use an extension tube kind of thing on the camera that goes over the extended lens, then I can screw my lenses onto that. The fisheye has a strong macro lens attached behind it too. I think I got on ebay actually. I sound like some kind of ebay addict at the moment! I hardly ever use it as well. Haha.

 

[AK77]

That's a pretty good price. Although your water comes from the Peak District, it all depends on stuff that's dissovled in it at source, stuff the water company dumps in it, like chlorine and god forbid fluoride, as well as pollutants it collects along the way, including the copper from your pipework.

Don't be ashamed of the bay!! I'm on it all the time lol. Actually some git just outbid me on a lens!!!!!!

 

[natwood]

Do you leave your RO unit connected all the time? I'm only going to want to use it whenever I need to fill up my 25 litre container or something and I don't have anywhere I can leave it attached all the time.

 

[gavyshake123]

Just been having a play around with some of my camera lenses. I feel like the colours on the rocks keep getting brighter every day. Don't worry..I've not got around to taking out some of that sand yet. I'm being lazy and waiting for my syphon to arrive from ebay. Haha. The sooner my powerhead arrives the better, that thing is ugly!

(Close-Up Lens)

(Close-Up Lens) Not sure what that purple soft thing is on the front of the rock? I have another one in the tank too that's a bit more red. I think it's a polyp of some kind?

(These three are taken with a fish-eye lens..I thought it would be ironic and plus I have a fondness for fish-eye pics!)

I've been looking at RO machines. How many stages does it need to have? I've found some pretty cheap on ebay, but not sure what to go for when I do decide to get one.

Looks Great Nat

 

[AK77]

Do you leave your RO unit connected all the time? I'm only going to want to use it whenever I need to fill up my 25 litre container or something and I don't have anywhere I can leave it attached all the time.

My one is fitted to the wall in the utility room / shed, so its permanently connected up. You don't have to do this though. You could just connect it up to the garden hose whenever you want to use it. Just ensure that when you are done, to close any valves on the unit to stop the RO membrane from drying out. You should then be ok to store it somewhere indoors until the next time you want to use it. It might be worth having 2 x 25L jerry cans and do a rotation system, keeping one full at all times.

 

[natwood]

Ooh ok, I should be able to do the garden hose thing. I contacted the company that sells that RO Unit and they said "This unit can be supplied with either a self piercing connector (to connect to standard copper pipe) or alternatively a barber hose connector to fit a standard garden hose pipe."

They also said "The 2 pre filters need to be changed after 1,500 gall of use or 12 months. All the filters are standard size and can be purchased from other retailers."
So at least I'm not stuck buying them from them or anything.

I've got 2 x 25 Litre Jerry Cans that I got my saltwater in, so all I'll need to get is one of those TDS meters. This is all going to be a lot cheaper and less messy than I thought it would be. Yay!

Thanks gavyshake btw! I'll keep posting pictures when something interesting happens in my tank. Haha.

 

[AK77]

Hi Nat,

You want the hosepipe connector. That way you can just screw it onto your garden tap (provided its the threaded type and not the push on barb type, although on some you can unscrew the threaded part). Your RO machine will either be 1/4" or 3/8" fittings. Most likely 1/4", so you will want to get 3 tap valves so that once you are done, you can close the valves, trapping water inside the machine - just remember to open them ALL up again when you use it again. The waste water pipe you can either put down the drain, onto a flower bed or straight into a garden pond. The 2nd filter removes the chlorine in the water, so it won't harm fish. My waste water goes into a waterbutt where 2 goldfish live lol.