Ready To Give Up

[cuticom]

So as much as I love corals, I'm starting to think I will never manage to keep a reef. The problem in one word is water. Being 16 my parents of course don't let me do anything and an RO/DI unit is definitely out of the question, buying water is also quite definitely out of the question. The water we have is collected rainwater, and although in most aspects its quite good, it has a lot of phosphates, which of course means every sort of algae on the planet grows in my tank, and just to make it worse I now have dinoflagellates, I've gotten rid of them once but a week later, guess what? they came back. Whereas my Fish only tank runs perfectly housing my valentini puffer, the only algae that grows is macro algae and my puffer eats it before I even notice it was there. Even my sun coral prop tank doesn't have any algae but macro algae. The difference being both these tanks don't have strong lighting, unlike the light on my nano reef which is a 50w metal halide

I'm really really starting to reconsider this and considering switching the reef to a freshwater high tech planted or something, something where phosphates aren't a problem.

 

[cynos]

So as much as I love corals, I'm starting to think I will never manage to keep a reef. The problem in one word is water. Being 16 my parents of course don't let me do anything and an RO/DI unit is definitely out of the question, buying water is also quite definitely out of the question. The water we have is collected rainwater, and although in most aspects its quite good, it has a lot of phosphates, which of course means every sort of algae on the planet grows in my tank, and just to make it worse I now have dinoflagellates, I've gotten rid of them once but a week later, guess what? they came back. Whereas my Fish only tank runs perfectly housing my valentini puffer, the only algae that grows is macro algae and my puffer eats it before I even notice it was there. Even my sun coral prop tank doesn't have any algae but macro algae. The difference being both these tanks don't have strong lighting, unlike the light on my nano reef which is a 50w metal halide

I'm really really starting to reconsider this and considering switching the reef to a freshwater high tech planted or something, something where phosphates aren't a problem.

have you no garden tap to hook the ro unit up to?
there are alternatives
Tap adapters so they are not permanently connected
or somehting like this
http/www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~act...es~vendor~.html

 

[cuticom]

Uhhh no I'm not ALLOWED to buy an RO/DI unit the plumbing bit isn't a problem, its the bit where they cost $100-200 and its only 18 months till I move out and go to university...

 

[cynos]

oh alright
maybe you could pick one up free somewhere, it just happens to be in the box

 

[cuticom]

LOL yeah right.

Hmmm starting to think breaking this tank down may be the best, sell the corals and light, keep the liverock in the dark for a few weeks and move across to my non photo/fish only tank, and sell the rest and use the money for something else non fish related. My fish tanks aint going too well at the moment, my baby BGK has gone a killing rampage so I'm trying to find him a new home ASAP, my non photo tank had a macro plant die and it all but nuked the tank, I'm amazed the corals survived, and now the reef tanks not behaving hmph.

 

[shortymet55]

and its only 18 months till I move out and go to university...

Just out of curiosity, does everyone where you live say they are going to University? Just sounds funny to me. Here, everyone says there going to college, even if technically its a University not college.

 

[cuticom]

I'm an aussie, we don't have college, well we do but college is a really really posh high school. We have Uni as our tertiary education.

 

[kj23502]

my baby BGK has gone a killing rampage

From what I know of them, wasn't that a matter of time anyway. Especially since it's kept w/the small fishies like tetras and platies (if you're signature is right.)

 

[SkiFletch]

Much as I love reefkeeping and wish to encourage everyone who wants to keep one, it really sounds like your circumstances will make it difficult to keep one. Stories like these are exactly why RO water is so important for a reef tank with enough light to grow corals. Those phosphates will come up and bite you bigtime. Something I think fellow members need to also realize is the reason the OP is using rainwater is because he lives in a very Arid area of Australia, where water isn't exactly easy to come by. Therefore cuticom, I can see why your parents are reluctant to let you buy an RO unit which "wastes" water. It does sound to me like freshwater planted and a FO might be the way to go for you. Whatever you decide, I'll wish you good luck.

And as an aside, Americans are really the only people who use the term going to College. Canadians, Australians, British, and pretty much everywhere else that the native language is English say going to University. Just a cultural thing...

 

[cynos]

Much as I love reefkeeping and wish to encourage everyone who wants to keep one, it really sounds like your circumstances will make it difficult to keep one. Stories like these are exactly why RO water is so important for a reef tank with enough light to grow corals. Those phosphates will come up and bite you bigtime. Something I think fellow members need to also realize is the reason the OP is using rainwater is because he lives in a very Arid area of Australia, where water isn't exactly easy to come by. Therefore cuticom, I can see why your parents are reluctant to let you buy an RO unit which "wastes" water. It does sound to me like freshwater planted and a FO might be the way to go for you. Whatever you decide, I'll wish you good luck.

And as an aside, Americans are really the only people who use the term going to College. Canadians, Australians, British, and pretty much everywhere else that the native language is English say going to University. Just a cultural thing...

In ireland its college too

 

[cuticom]

Yah that is one of the problems, the fact RO uses extra water, we're still stuck on two minute showers because even though the drought is broken we still only have two water storage tanks.

Yah I do ahve one other coral tank, unlit as it houses my sun corals and theres no algae problems there so I think I may just stick to non photo corals, break down this tank and use components in my FO to convert it to FOWLR.

 

[Ace Of Spades]

And as an aside, Americans are really the only people who use the term going to College. Canadians, Australians, British, and pretty much everywhere else that the native language is English say going to University. Just a cultural thing...

Could of Fooled me, We have college then university. You can either stay on at school (Alevels) and then go onto uni, or go to a college to do a course then go university.

University and College are definatley very different things in Britain

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, here they're the same Typically "Universities" are more prestigious than "Colleges" but then again that too is a generalization

 

[Crazy fishes]

Cuticom, why not try polyfilter? Collect the rain water in a biggish container and filter it with polyfilter. I have never used the stuff but if my memory serves me correctly I think Ski was saying this stuff can remove pretty much anything from the water. I know it is pretty expensive way to do things but it is an alternative.......

Best of luck

Regards

 

[Crazy fishes]

I have had a another idea if you live near the sea/ocean use that!! It is brilliant, simple and cheap . WOOO HOOOO

Regards