started a saltwater talk back in July (I believe) and has since been battling non-st

[jeffaquarius]

Thank you for the info about the RODI though. We just changed all the cartridges but I am not sure about the one that is only good for 400 gallons. I guess I wwillbuy him a tester and add it to his christmas gift lol.

That would be a wise gift for him. Some hobbyists have changed their ro/di filters only to find later that they installed it incorrectly resulting to high tds.

 

[jehenry89]

Hum actually found an octopus that would fit. Ill have to show him whe I leave work.

 

[Gregcoyote]

A TDS meter costs just a few bucks. Jeff was right, your algae is binding the phosphates before they can register on your test. Fish need to eat, so don't starve them, you need to strike a balance for long term health.

Phosgard is a good start along with aggressive water exchanges. A protein skimmer is a must IMO as it's the aquariums first line of defense in filtration. Live stock like crabs help, but they just recycle the nutrients and more algae grows. Removal of the algae and reducing the available organics is about all that really works. Everything else is a temporary solution.


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[willbratz]

I recently pulled about 90% of my rock out, scrubbed it and left it in a closed black container with a pump and a jet for about 6 weeks. I run bioplastics and pure genius in two separate 150s. As for me I think part of my issue were they lights were out of spec, and so I just ordered all new lighting. I also added a lawnmower Blenny and some Mexican turbo and zebra stripe turbos. I was also advised to cut my halides to just 6 hours with blues on one hour before and one hour after the halides go out.


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[VADM_Mustang]

My hermit crab army completely destroyed the algae on my rocks, with some help from my urchin. Turbos are great for that hair crap, and crabs will mop up the rest. I also run a GFO reactor, and haven't had a bloom since.

 

[jehenry89]

Are you testing the filtered waters TDS? You have a tds meter correct?

Ifnot you need one. You need to monitor the tds after the membrane and after the DI filter. A rodi unit should be producing 0 tds water or something needs replacing.

For instance if you were to test the tds of the water and it showed a tds of 17. Unhook the DI filter and make some water minus the di filter. If the tds of that water is 1-5 tds then you have a bad di filter. If you get a reading higher than that then you have a bad membrane. An old membrane can ruin a DI filter pretty fast.

Quick guide - Results will vary.
sediment filter - 6~12 months
carbon filter - 6~12 months
RO Membrane - 2 ~ 3 years
(De-Ionized) filter - approx 400gals max

You can pickup a handheld tds meter on ebay for around $25. To test I typically use a new plastic cup let the filter water fall into the cup and test it there. Or you can get a inline tds meter for a bit more.

If I typed all that out for nothing. Next I would look at how effecient your protein skimmer is. I personally wouldn't run a skimmer brand unless bulkreefsupply sells it. I have a Reef Ocotopus.

Ok this is weird. I cut the bottom of a water bottle and put some fresh rodi water in it and it tested at 3. Then the water that is in the butcket that I normally use for the fresh water is testing at 13. I just changed the filters a little over a month ago. I normally leave water in a bucket to use as top off water and that is testing at like 700!!! I have no idea what is going on.

Normally, I make water and put it into a trash can in order to add salt and make sure its at the correct temperature. I usually use the water within a week. Is there something different I should be doing to avoid such a large jump?

 

[Olliefowler]

Change di resin!


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[Gregcoyote]

Need help!!!

I personally wouldn't worry about a 4. Meter might be off a bit. It also may mean that your filter isn't performing perfectly, but good enough in my opinion. Do you use the color changing resin?


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[jehenry89]

I personally wouldn't worry about a 4. Meter might be off a bit. It also may mean that your filter isn't performing perfectly, but good enough in my opinion. Do you use the color changing resin?


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No I dont

 

[jehenry89]

How long can I leave RODI water in a container before I have to get rid of it?

 

[Gregcoyote]

Need help!!!

If you aerate it it can be stored indefinatly in a dark container.

I suggest using the BRS color changing resins as it makes it easy to determine when its exhausted.


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[jehenry89]

If you aerate it it can be stored indefinatly in a dark container.

I suggest using the BRS color changing resins as it makes it easy to determine when its exhausted.


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Well the water that my top off system uses, doesn't have a circulator pump in it and when we tested that water, it was about 700. O.O
I guess that is what is causing all of these issues. We have a spare one we can put in there. Guess we will do that and see what happens.

 

[Gregcoyote]

700ppm?


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[jehenry89]

700ppm?


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what my boyfriend said...700. No idea how it got so high...

 

[Fatboyfish]

what my boyfriend said...700. No idea how it got so high...

"Don't let your resin get past 1-2 TDS or you can be adding much more than you think to your reef." -AZDesertrat

Glad you got it figured out.

 

[jehenry89]

Ugh this algae just wont go away. I have ID it as Dinoflagellates. It still still growing and taking over this tank I really don't know what else to do. Our TDS meter is only reading 2. We are going to try a 3 day blackout and adding Kalk to the top off system to hopefully push the PH to 8.4, which I read will kill this stuff off. This is really out last hope because we are both about to tear this tank down and just say screw it

 

[mr_X]

This is something that's getting passed around locally. I have a friend with the same issue in a pretty large sps dominated system. Some of his grazing fish even died from eating it. It's subsiding now, but it took a good few months to burn through whatever fuel it was running on. His nutrient levels were so low during this time some of his sps faded a bit.
It took hold when he stopped running his skimmer, thinking his water was too clean. Stick with it!

 

[PB_Smith]

two suggestions;
1. pull the water going into the skimmer directly from the display if it isn't already. By doing that you will be removing more free floating algae "spores" as well as diatoms.
2. add UV sterilization, that would also help prevent the spreading by killing any free floating in the water.


I recently switched from a 30 to a 50 and added 20+ pounds of new substrate and had the expected diatom bloom like crazy. Within 3 days of adding UV (15 watts @ <100gph) that was using water being pulled directly from the display, it has disappeared and all other forms of algae are greatly reduced in how rapidly they are propagating.
not certain if it's a direct effect, but I can't think of any other reason for the change.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Diatoms need silica to form. Purigen removes silicates. That might help. IMO the uv won't help.


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[Flaxon-Waxon]

what my boyfriend said...700. No idea how it got so high...

He probably accidentally tested the salt water not the RODI...