Victoria Water

[Jaws]

I've heard conflicting arguements that Victoria water is or isn't sufficient enough to use for you tank without running it through an RODI unit. I've had a bit of a hair algae outbreak for the last month or so now and all my parameters are good. I was wondering if anyone has any input to back up either of the statements?

[Squinch]

I used to use city water for my discus, they were ok but not great. I then bought a RO unit for them and they started to grow fast. They were 2" round when I bought them and when I sold them 8 months later they were 7" to 8" round, healthy, and breeding.

I got my R/O unit cheep cheep from progrow out there in beautiful langford. Its what I use for my reef tank, and I have a little algee.

Squinch

[Johnny Reefer]

Originally Posted by Squinch

I used to use city water for my discus, they were ok but not great. I then bought a RO unit for them and they started to grow fast. They were 2" round when I bought them and when I sold them 8 months later they were 7" to 8" round, healthy, and breeding.

Hmmm. Interesting. As a Discus keeper, I have taken note of your observation. My Discus have always just been "ok" as well. Thanx for the information.

Cheers,

[Jaws]

Anyone else have an opinion on it at all?

[IslandReefer]

When I measure the TDS of my tap water I get between apx 10 and 15ppm . Since Calgary and other landlocked cities have values >100ppm it sounds like our water is almost pure straight out of the tap. But that is only taking into consideration the disolved impureities. Recently I set up my 6ft tank and leak tested the system with tap water....now looking through 6ft of tap water was eye opening....WE drink that stuff?! The color was slightly yellow and there was tons of tiny floating "organic bits" in it..I'm sure it is safe, but I now drink RO from the cooler LOL.
My point is that Victoria water has low disolved minerals but there is lots of other undesireable things in city tap water.....all removed with prefilters (including left over chlorine and chloramide or what ever else they use) on the RO system, then polished up to zero ppm by the membrane.
I think if a person couldn't afford the $100 for the Aquasafe RO/DI then a 1-3 micron prefilter with act. carbon would be my minimum Victoria water treatment.....for a reef tank.
Just MHO

PS. The tank filled with RO was a pristine sight to see.

[Jaws]

The problem is I have the Aquasafe 100GPD unit but the only sink unit I have has an extendable tap with an adjustable stream output on it. I would rather not change all this out since I like the design and it would be a huge pain. Right now I have green hair algae growing along with very poor polyp extension if any at all. My parameters are as follows:

Alkalinity - 11.2
Calcium - 350 and slowly going up
pH - 8.25
Salinity - 1.024
Ammonia - 0
Phosphate - 0
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0

Lighting period - Actinics (4-96W PC's) 10:00am - 11:00pm
MH's (4 250W DE's) 12:00pm - 9:30 pm (two end MH's)
12:30pm - 10:00pm (two middle MH's)

I've got a Euroreef CS3-8+ pulling lots of crap out as well as a Phosban reactor with Rowaphos to make sure I'm combatting as much Phosphate as I can.

I perform 10% water changes weekly, 20% monthly, and if anything, I found out that I was underfeeding my fish so the only thing I can think of is RO water unless anyone can suggest anything else.

[Ruth]

Jason with all my tanks I still use all RODI water and have to buy my water in the 5 gallon jugs because with my very high TDS well water the amount of equipment I would need to properly set up a home unit is pricey and would take more room than I have. I wouldn't think of using anything else besides RODI water for saltwater. I don't know about Victoria but I am sure that they probably add clorine or clorimide (sp) which is very unhealthy for your tank. With all the $ you have invested in your set up and livestock without good water to live in it all a waste. If you can't hook up a home RODI I in my opinion I would just buy RODI water from a good water store.

[Jaws]

Originally Posted by Ruth

With all the $ you have invested in your set up and livestock without good water to live in it all a waste. If you can't hook up a home RODI I in my opinion I would just buy RODI water from a good water store.

I couldn't agree more. I used to buy RO water from the store but since I have to top up 2 gallons a day plus do a minimum 20G water change weekly, I'd be looking at buying 6 or 7 jugs a week. The problem isn't so much the money, it's that I live in a condo and would have to pack these up to the third floor all the time then have 7 5G jugs taking up a lot of space I don't really have. I might just have to look at getting a new faucet. Anyone know a way to modify a bathtub faucet to hook up to an Aquasafe unit?

[IslandReefer]

Jason ...if you look under the vanity in the bathroom there is 'flex "(plastic or metal) smaller pipes that lead from the water supply to the faucet,using the pipe piercer, tap into the cold...to unhook all you have to do is go to Rona and buy another small pipe like it ...screw it on and ..like it never was...if you are plumbing challanged ,you might have to get plumbing advice from....eg VanIsle water supply...good luck. Also Brad has a faucet set-up he maybe able to advise you.

[StirCrazy]

Ok, Victoria water is different in different areas, depending on the age and type of the water mains it goes through.. out in the westren comunities I get about 10 to 18 ppm depending on the season, a friend of mine on Glanford ave has a ppm of 110.

should you get one.. yes it is worth it for the peace of mind.

Jaws, what kind of pipes do you have under your counter? I will say this again... take the pericing sadle type connections and throw them in the garbage, just a bad way to do it.

you can buy a fitting that fits inbetween the shut off tap for your cold water and the hose going to the tap on your sik, this fitting has a 1.4" take off which you plumb your RO from.,. it is about 3 to 5 bucks. you move, just take it with you.

Steve