What Do You Do When......

[AliRichardson]

You suspect the RO/salt water supplied to you by your LFS isnt that great?



I have been battling against algae for ages now and it's getting really frustrating. I have limited feeding to once per day. Water changes happen weekly (2 barrels). The sponges protecting/filtering at the powerheads are cleaned weekly. I also have quite alot of matured LR, and a chamber which I run the water over phosphate reduction media. According to the book I should have a pretty clean system, yet the phosphate still laughs at me.

Last weekend I decided that whilst I was testing my tanks chemical profile I would also check the LFS salt water. Nitrate levels were at 0ppm, phosphate was at about 2-3ppm. I think its soooo bad that this guy can even look me in the face and supply me this water that he might as well have also peed in.

I feel that this up hill struggle can finally end also yet im surprised that my corals and nem are still alive.

What do you do when you find out stuff like this? It's quite upsetting really. I am lucky that there is a really good FS a bit further away but they are marine specialists for sure.

If anyone here lives in Surrey in the UK and would like to know which shop to avoid I will say here if requested.

 

[Mr Miagi]

You suspect the RO/salt water supplied to you by your LFS isnt that great?

You make your own, collect your own, or go somewhere else.

Last weekend I decided that whilst I was testing my tanks chemical profile I would also check the LFS salt water. Nitrate levels were at 0ppm, phosphate was at about 2-3ppm. I think its soooo bad that this guy can even look me in the face and supply me this water that he might as well have also peed in.

He probably gets his delivered. If you dont like it, and its of poor quality, your not forced to buy it. Make your own, collect your own, or go somewhere else as mentioned.

What do you do when you find out stuff like this? It's quite upsetting really. I am lucky that there is a really good LFS a bit further away but they are marine specialists for sure.

A bit further = how far? IMO, people get too lazy, and think its an LFS's problem if their fish die, or they cant get quality product. You do have to travel if you want good stuff, and for the sake of the fish, coral, and your own wallet, why not travel that little extra distance?

I guess I am used to traveling 40+mins twice a day, but I find many people complain about poor LFS's when you can find others. I just dont shop at the poor ones if there are others I prefer. Why don't other people do the same?

If anyone here lives in Surrey in the UK and would like to know which shop to avoid I will say here if requested.

Remember, you have a responsibility to yourself and your tank to decide what to put in it. Dont just bad mouth an LFS because you decided to purchase water there. Mix your own or collect your own if your not content with their water.

Id suggest POLITELY asking what mix he uses (a) to avoid the brand yourself and B) to see if its delivered). I have great relationships with some of my LFS. All you have to do is be polite, regular, and decent to staff. If they know you, and like you, you should be able to politely mention the fact they have high phosphates. It might be the case he has nothing to do with it and is un0-aware, so he might be able to find a better source after your results.

Do take into account you also might have a bung test kit. Get him to test it there. (That might also reinforce the idea in his mind) rather than have a customer criticize his water, LOL.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

get your own r/o unit. check out osmotics, we got a great unit there for £50. if you add up how much you've spent on water from the lfs you'll see it'll pay for itself pretty quickly.

if you want to check the quality of his water get some pure ro and a tds meter and test it

 

[SkiFletch]

Whoa wait a minute, is he selling his water as RO, DI, distilled, or something like that? Basically I'm asking if this water that you tested was listed as "pure" water somehow? If so, you can't test it for phosphates. Those test kits will not operate properly on pure H2O, they need other solutes dissolved in them to work. What you have to do is test the water with a TDS meter. Only a TDS meter is capable of truly telling you how pure a water source is.

 

[steelhealr]

There is nothing like making your own. You have quality control....YOU. Marine has it's unexciting moments. Making SW is one. You should have as basics:
-bucket
-heater
-cheapo PH
-cheapo heater
-good brand of sea salt
-RO/DI water or distilled water
-measuring cup
-refractometer
-TDS meter

SH

 

[AliRichardson]

A bit further = how far? IMO, people get too lazy, and think its an LFS's problem if their fish die, or they cant get quality product. You do have to travel if you want good stuff, and for the sake of the fish, coral, and your own wallet, why not travel that little extra distance?

I guess I am used to traveling 40+mins twice a day, but I find many people complain about poor LFS's when you can find others. I just dont shop at the poor ones if there are others I prefer. Why don't other people do the same?

Well the LFS in question is about 5 mins down the road however the other shop is about 30 mins away. I usually travel to the further one for livestock and travel to the more local one for water, as I thought water "should" be more reliable. Also the better shop 30 mins away doesn't sell salt water, only RO.

I think my point was that when they sell you salt water they use phrases such as "high quality" or "top grade" on signs which generally gives you a feeling that the water will be ok. The fact that its not and that it's that level of phosphate, is arguably worth reporting to trading standards. (Not that I am about to, he will just lose my custom).

In my first post I may have slightly gone off the handle But when you put alot of time and money into a tank (and more to the point develop affinities with your fish) to find that it's your LFS's water that is working against you its a tad "annoying". Needless to say I am now definitely going to put a bit more research into RO units + salt.

Whoa wait a minute, is he selling his water as RO, DI, distilled, or something like that? Basically I'm asking if this water that you tested was listed as "pure" water somehow? If so, you can't test it for phosphates. Those test kits will not operate properly on pure H2O, they need other solutes dissolved in them to work. What you have to do is test the water with a TDS meter. Only a TDS meter is capable of truly telling you how pure a water source is.

It was salt water

I haven't got a TDS meter but I will get one (hopefully with a RO unti).

EDIT:

Remember, you have a responsibility to yourself and your tank to decide what to put in it. Dont just bad mouth an LFS because you decided to purchase water there. Mix your own or collect your own if your not content with their water.

Id suggest POLITELY asking what mix he uses (a) to avoid the brand yourself and to see if its delivered). I have great relationships with some of my LFS. All you have to do is be polite, regular, and decent to staff. If they know you, and like you, you should be able to politely mention the fact they have high phosphates. It might be the case he has nothing to do with it and is un0-aware, so he might be able to find a better source after your results.

Do take into account you also might have a bung test kit. Get him to test it there. (That might also reinforce the idea in his mind) rather than have a customer criticize his water, LOL.

I am a very polite person. Now I know that this may come across badly but the guy who runs the fish shop is less polite, his staff are generally nice. To put it another way his sales pitch starts when you walk in the shop and he glares at you. It makes you wonder how long it will be until he loses his patience with you. He just isnt into customer service/satisfaction.

This bad general atmosphere makes me pretty sure that if I was to ask him to test his water I would get a short and sharp answer. So I'm not going down that route.

Now at this point you are probably thinking why did I even bother shopping there? The answer is that it is close and all I wanted to buy from him is water. Clearly I got it wrong

 

[SkiFletch]

Not always a good revelation, sorry bout that . But look on the bright side, now you get to make your own water and have full control of the process

 

[FishyTank]

YA JUST MAKE IT URSELF
THAT WAY U CAN MONITER IT AND U WONT HAVE TO RELY ON THE STORE
EVEN IF IT IS GOOD ITS BETTER TO MAKE UR OWN

 

[osmotics.co.uk]

There is nothing like making your own. You have quality control....YOU. Marine has it's unexciting moments. Making SW is one. You should have as basics:
SH

cheapo PH - http/www.osmotics.co.uk/ph-temperature-meter-p-75.html
RO/DI water or distilled water - http/www.osmotics.co.uk/ro-systems-aquarium-c-46.html
refractometer - http/www.osmotics.co.uk/temperature-comp...eter-p-186.html
TDS meter - http/www.osmotics.co.uk/tds-meters-calibration-c-23.html