R/O & Nano's in Calgary

[canuckzilla]

more newbie type questions...

1) what is everyone's thoughts on the need for an R/O unit in Calgary for a nano reef tank? must have or nice to have?

2) does anyone have any feedback on the differences between the following types of R/O units? are barebones style alot more maintenance but worth it for the higher % of contaminant removal?

Bare Bone TFC R/O Unit (http://www.kentmarine.com/waterfilters/bbtfc.html)

Full Size TFC R/O Unit (http://www.kentmarine.com/waterfilters/fulltfc.html)

once again, thanks for the help
Gary

[Canadian Man]

You will get both types of responses regarding Ro units in Calgary. It seems to be a 50/50 ish split.

I myself use and have used RO/DI on my tanks almost since day one. I also drink the water so I save buying it from culligan. :biggrin:

I used to use a Kent ro unit and not to knock it but it was alot of money 3 years ago and they still are today. My latest RO/DI unit is Aquasafe and it was about 1/2 the cost of my Kent unit I have.

Also, WELCOME TO CANREEF! :biggrin:

[Fish]

I started out with tap water and switched to RO. To tell you the truth I havent really noticed a big difference but I prefer the "theory" of using RO over treated tap water.
If I were you, I'd check out filter direct on Ebay... when I was in the market, no one else could touch them for prices. They are selling 6-stage 110gal/day with di filter for $86.00 US. I have been using mine since February and my tdi meter hasn't registered any change in filter performance. The system takes my tap water from ~300ppm to 7ppm. JME.

- Chad

[danny zubot]

Just to give you a broader idea.... I have never used an RO unit,but occasionally I'll grab some from my buddy for top ups. You notice a different reaction from the corals in your tank with treated tap water versus RO water. If corals could talk they would vote for RO water hands down. That being said, Calgary water is some of the best and we are fortunate to have it. There are some LFS that use nothing but tap water (I won't mension who) and their corals seem fine.

[Delphinus]

I'm sort of having trouble coming up with an opinion for this one.

The tank in question is a nano? What sort of inhabitants?

The beauty of a nano is (well .. the beauty beyond the inhabitants, I mean) is it's simplicity. And simplicity implies being able to care for it without all kinds of gizmos and whatnots.

Ultimately it will probably depend a bit on what you hope to keep in there, but I think I am going to side on the lumpers on this one, i.e., you don't really need an RO or an RO/DI for a nano.

If you buy a unit though, it's not wasted money, it will never hurt to have it.

So I guess what I'm saying is, if you're looking for an excuse to buy a toy, go ahead and buy it. But if you're looking for an excuse to hold off and divert the funds to other things like lighting or skimmers or whatever ... then go ahead and buy it another day. :mrgreen:

I look at pictures of my reef tank that I had 6 years ago and it astonishes me how nice it was. And it had no halides, a wee little CC skimmer, no sump, no calcium reactor, no kalk, no RO, just tap water. Ok, so it didn't have fuzzy coloured sticks, but the softies and the fish did just fine. In fact my BTA's looked nicer then than they ever do now. And with fewer things to go wrong on you, fewer things will go wrong. And I never did have the armageddon scenario that I was promised would happen because I didn't have all that extra stuff .... in fact all the disasters I've had while reefing since moving onto "bigger and better" has been because some piece of equipment failed or was taken offline temporarily or whatever. ... I'm not sure what my point is here, I think all I'm trying to say is that "more complicated setups" aren't necessarily "better." It's all in the eye of the beholder.

So basically getting back to your nano ... it's your tank so have fun with it. If it's mostly a softies type scenario then you're probably OK without the huge investments. But for more finicky corals then yes you may need to make the investments now (I expect you'll find that a nano will be outgrown quickly by a lot of those things anyhow).

[Bob I]

I have to reply to this (how else can I get my post count up :biggrin: ). I personally do not use R/O water is any of my tanks. I would go so far as to say I would not use it if you gave me one. But as always that is me. I have very few fuzzy sticks in my tanks. :mrgreen:

[canuckzilla]

I asked this same question at a LFS and they said they didn't use R/O. However, they said the reason they didn't use R/O was because most of their stock wasn't in the store very long so it wasn't an issue.

Given the variations in Calgary's water quality, especially spring, I'm really suprised that everyone doesn't feel an R/O is mandatory for Corals in the city.

I don't have much in my nano yet, just a moon and candy coral. But, I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to kill anything off through ignorance as I add to the tank.

- Gary

[canuckzilla]

I saw a poll on the depth of LS and thought that the results were interesting. With the LS poll in mind, I posted a R/O poll on the Nano Tank forum.

R/O Poll
http://www.canreef.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=97785

LS Poll
http://www.canreef.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12094

[Fish]

I think that LFS are probably not a good example to pattern a home system after. Not that there is anything wrong with LFS, it's just that they have a different purpose than we do at home. They really are just temporary holding centers. A successful store tank is the one that keeps livestock for the least amount of time while a successful home tank is one that keeps livestock forever.
As far as being a nano issue, the fact that I have a nano is the reason that I got a ro/di filter. I dont know if I could justify all of the watewater produced by my filter if I was making 50gal water changes with it. Infact I still feel a bit guilty and try to recover as much as I can for other uses. If I could be sure that the quality of Galgary's tap water would never fluctuate and also that my synthetic salt was formulated by taking into account the trace elements already present in the water I was mixing it in, I would probably switch back to tap.
- Chad again

[richtg]

If you are going to stay in the hobby for a long time, I highly recomend a ro/di unit. If, however, you are going to stick with a nano for a while, you could buy a $4 jug of ro/di from the supermarket every once in a while. Then you can judge for yourself after a couple of months. I noticed that all my plagueing algae problems dissapeared not long after I bought my aquasafe unit.

[DiscusZ]

I have always used RO, even when I was keeping fresh water fish (Discus, Austrialian Rainbows, Angels etc) Seemed to have heathier fish, little to no Algae problems.

I want to move to an RO/DI system as my next purchase.

Jim

[OCDP]

I have just setup a 20g tank on august 31st. I was told by fellow reefers on reef central to get an RO/DI unit ASAP.

I have used Nutrafin tap water conditioner up until a few days ago, I bought prime by seachem. I am getting lots of nuisance algae... how come? does anyone else get lots of algae using Calgary tap water??

I do weekly water changes ... sometimes every 10 days. I run carbon and phosguard in my fluval 404, skim with an AquaC Remora..

I am wondering if this is from a newly setup tank?? I was getting a lot of diatoms.. now i'm getting a lot of green algae buildup on the tank walls and crush coral. I also have quite a bit of hair algae growing where my live rock gets the most light (2x65w PC's) .. if anyone has any suggestions or reasons as to why this is happening.. that would be great..

I plan on getting an RO/DI unit from aquasafecanada after christmas.

[richtg]

Try not to worry too much about problem algae for a while. It is hard, but you have to be patient with it. If things are getting smothered with hair algae, consider a lawnmower blenny. I battled nuisance algae for months on my 45 gal, and, like most people in the hobby, it slowly went away. Keep up with your water changes, try not to feed with foods high in phosphates (mysis, etc-silversides are a good supplement) and don't slam your tank with fish and corals for a while. I recomment buying some good live rock every payday and build slowly. If you are not careful, you can quickly spend large sums of money to beat the algae, and you may not have better results than someone who patiently waits it out. Please consider a RO/DI unit only as a long term investment as it won't necessarily 'cure' your algae blooms. Rich.

[Delphinus]

Please consider a RO/DI unit only as a long term investment as it won't necessarily 'cure' your algae blooms. Rich.

That's one of the best comments I've ever heard. That's a great way to put it.

[gbeef]

If you want a RO/DI unit at a really good price get an aquasafe unit. there a 5 stage unit. I purchased one on ebay for 65US, they work really good. and you can get a box of 20 filters for 50.00

[OCDP]

Hey, thanks for the speedy replies guys :) and sorry for the silly hijack.

It's so great to be able to communicate with Calgarian reefers!!!

So.. if some of you are not using RO/DI water... you must be conditioning your tap water. With what? I just started using Prime.

May I ask another question? Is the reason that I'm seeing so much nuisane algae is becuase my tank is still fairly new?? (august 31st) .. and I noticed more algae grow when I upgraded my lighting .. I went from a single powerglo bulb (18w) to the fixture by Coralife that I mentioned.

At the moment I have (20g tank) 2 clowns, purple firefish and a yellow watchman goby. That's all I plan on keeping in there for fish. I have no cleanup crew... (I don't like them hehe) I used to have a Hammer Coral (stupid newbie buy) that died and a pearl bubble (again, stupid) and some zoo's. I am now left with only the zoo's :sad: but they are doing great.

So I guess I have made some typical newbie mistakes ... but I definitely am learning from mistakes... and I know patience is everything. I wasn't going to add anything until I get an RO/DI unit... but now I'm getting more mixed opinions. I find myself very confused now lol... more input would be great.

Scott