Ro Water

[PRW1988]

Alright, so as some of you may have read before, my father and I are looking into setting up a nice 90-120gallon Reef tank, it was quoted at $5000 for a 90gallon tank with sump, but after some research and helpful input my dad decided to let me do.

So, we went to Big Als tonight and this guy was telling us all about the Saltwater set-up and the sump, he also was telling us (as I told my dad) that you don't "need" to have a sump, you could use a simple canister filter and it'd work. Then he started saying that you HAVE to have RO water for it, then told us that regardless you SHOULD use RO water in all saltwater set-ups.

Is this true? I've got a 29gallon nano tank, no corals, FOWLR, and I'm using plan old dechlored water (of course I'm on well water so I don't have to declorinate it) and all the fish are fish. So, do we really need a RO unit? or would the tank be fine without one??

 

[Musho3210]

it is very very very very very very very good to have RO water in your tank, especially if your well water has a high tds.

But the simple answer is, no you dont need one, but you may have more problems than you have solved by not getting one.

Being a reef tank i think you should still definately get one, help you out a lot. And no, you dont need a sump, but i would get an RO unit rather than a sump any day.

 

[Lynden]

Musho it would probably be best to elaborate a little...

RO water elimainates the possibility of contaminates, such as copper, nitrates, (perhaps most annoyingly) silicates, etc. Nitrates and silicates are an excellent fuel for algae growth, while copper wreaks havoc with the bodies of most invertebrates. It can also be toxic to fish.

Many people consider well water a particularly poor choice because it is likely to contain chemicals lethal to saltwater invertebrates. Unfortunately, many of these cannot be removed from a system once added, and will continually destroy less resilient life forms. If so far you don't seem to have a "polluted" tank, consider yourself lucky; but you would be well-advised to switch to a less risky source.

 

[Musho3210]

why elaborate if you did it for me lol

thanks though