Salinity

[Guest]

I tested my water today and the salinity was 1.026. Any recommendations on how to bring down the salinity? I was told by my LFS to add some freshwater to it which seems logical. I have a filtration system in my home for drinking water. Do you think that would be ok to add that water. I don't want to go to the LFS and buy their water ($0.25 a gallon for freshwater, $0.75 for saltwater). If my home drinking water filtration is sufficient then that would be easy because then I wouldn't have to buy any water conditioner or buy LFS water.

Thanks,


$imple

 

[Bearfan]

RO/DI top off is best. The home system is normall a 1 or 2 stage filter...better than tap, but only minimally. If you're going to invest all the money in SW, check out getting an RO/DI filter. I use the Aqua-FX Barracuda and bought it from Darrin at Captive Reefs.

 

[Guest]

I guess I should just get water from my LFS. They use RO/DI on their water and it's only a quarter a gallon. Thanks for the advice though.

 

[malkore]

check grocery stores. I can get R/O water thats been UV filtered, for 10cents a gallon!

 

[Bearfan]

check grocery stores. I can get R/O water thats been UV filtered, for 10cents a gallon!

The only problem with those machines is maintenance. How do you know that the machine has had the filters changed, and everything is working right?

 

[Guest]

yeah better safe than sorry.

thanks for the help guys!

 

[mr_tee0419]

the glacier water machines in my area have an electronic display with the last service date on it... usually less than a week of when I'm getting water

 

[Bearfan]

I still wonder if someone just hits reset. I've worked retail...there are a lot of people who take a lot of shortcuts. Heck, you pay them $7/hour and expect them to care?

 

[malkore]

the one i got to has a maintenance schedule posted on the machine. If i was real concerned, i'd get a TDS test kit.

However I can argue the opposite way...how do you know your LFS is changing it's R/O filters/membranes?

what I do know is my screwy Ca, pH and Alk issues dissappeared when I switched from moderately hard tap water to grocery store R/O.

 

[Guest]

worse case if your not near a fish store or a place that sell's ro water I use the publix brand water because right on the front it says r.o water which I never knew, alot of brands are just filtereed
I only do that if I'm lazy and in need of a top off and don't feel like going to the fish store which is allot further away from me

 

[revhtree]

This may sound dumb, but I have been using straight tap water conditioned for Chlorine since day 1. I have had no problems, and no major algae blooms eaither. I live in N. Georgia, and we have pretty good water. I get mine straight from the faucet.

Maybe in the future I will get a RO filter, but for now.....well....you know.

All of my test check out fine.

 

[Guest]

water from the tap is not good to use, you may take the chlorine out but theres alot of bad things in that water that are left in ,if you can't get ro water then use distiled water from the store ,the publix brand water is only 60 cents per gallon and the red labled bottle states on it r.o water

 

[Atari]

I second that.. there may be many impurities in the tap water that you don't have test kits for and will never know what's building up until it's too late and things start to die.

 

[malkore]

I thought my tap water was fine, used it for the initial fill.
But my tap water has a pH of 7.8, and 8dKh...which gave me problems like a pH that wouldn't go over 7.9, and low calcium lvl's. I can't explain the science except that it had to do with magnesium levels, which somehow control how much calcium can dissolve in the water.
now that I use R/O, my levels are all good for FOWLR...but now I gotta start a kalk drip and a little bit of Kent super buffer to prepare to go full reef.

 

[revhtree]

Well my PH has always stayed around 8.2, and I have had no problems as of yet. The coral is growing. My first anemone is as big as ever and healthy.

I will heed to your advice though. Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Believe it or not I use kent buffer once a month when I do a water change and my water stays crystal clear and my ph stays at 8.4
I used tap water at one time also and boy did I pay the price, now only R o or distiled from strore

 

[revhtree]

How exactly did you "pay the price?"

I am not arguing that this is bad, I am now getting scared. 8O

What can it do to your tank?

 

[Guest]

Well, from the looks of it, my fish store seems pretty trustworthy. I am not too worried about them.

Although I did notice a dead puffer in one of their tanks. I notified them immediately and it was gone. Their prices are a bit high but the advice they give isn't always in line with making money, rather more in line with what I have "researched" so far. They do have that damsel cycling idea though that seems generally condemned here.

 

[Guest]

Well poor quility water can cause your fish to dye do to the chemicals that are added into the water, don't get scared if there doing ok then look at it as you learned something and you didn't loose any fish
so from this point on use good water, your fish or corals will thank you and be alot happier plus you wont have to worry about any chemicals in the water
My father kept doing the same thing after I told him not to use water from the tap
he didn't listen until one by one his fish were dying or were no where to be found then he started having a problem with ammonia and ph ,I advised him at that point drain the tank since all your fish are dead and start over with new water, ro or bottled ,he di and now everything is fine

 

[AndySmithers]

Ummm... sorry to ask this question after so many (good) replies, but...
if your salinity is 1.026, why do you want to get it down???

For a reef 1.025 is ideal, 1.026 is certainly "close enough". Mine seems pretty healthy ranging from 1.024 - 1.026 over the 2-week 10% water change cycle....