badamsios
Aquarium Advice Regular
I should have known better, but I used tap water for the setup. The sump may be a little hard to explain, but fairly common I'm sure... 125 gallon tank, my sump is 20 or 30 gallons, and at one end has a kind of box. The water from the siphoned water above pours onto the "box" over a boat load of bio balls and small ceramic rings, keeping 4 to 6 inches of water in the sump to be pumped back to the tank. There are a couple more boxes worth of ceramic rings in the sump area as well. Sponge type filters between the "box" and the sump, a protein skimmer, and a couple of micron filters.
So, I set her all up, filled it with water, got the SG to 1.0235, ph is good, added water conditioner to remove chlorine and heavy metals... In fact everything is fine except for the nitrate and nitrite (and silicates) from the tap water. Added 8 damsels. What's even more embarrassing is that I own an RO filter. But it only produces 20 gallons a day. Thus a water change of 60 plus percent is not practical, besides which I have no vessel(s) that large. The only pet store within a reasonable distance will sell me all the pre-mixed salt water I need for $150.00. 12 to 16 - 5 gallon containers.
There is a place about 30 miles away that sells purified water like you'd use in an office water cooler, but again, how to transport. I imagine by now you have the picture. I tried the Kordon AmQuel+, but tests show no difference. I am down to 4 fish. </SPAN>Ideas?
I do have a very clean 30 gallon trash bin, if I kept the water in the aquarium agitated to provide air, could I drain it down to say, 40 gallons and start mixing salt water in the 30 gallon vessel, and refill the tank over a period of 8 days? Doesn't seem wise to me.
Of course I can do a 20 gallon water change every day, or 40 every 2 days, but that would get expensive and at the rate of dilution, it would take forever.
So, I set her all up, filled it with water, got the SG to 1.0235, ph is good, added water conditioner to remove chlorine and heavy metals... In fact everything is fine except for the nitrate and nitrite (and silicates) from the tap water. Added 8 damsels. What's even more embarrassing is that I own an RO filter. But it only produces 20 gallons a day. Thus a water change of 60 plus percent is not practical, besides which I have no vessel(s) that large. The only pet store within a reasonable distance will sell me all the pre-mixed salt water I need for $150.00. 12 to 16 - 5 gallon containers.
There is a place about 30 miles away that sells purified water like you'd use in an office water cooler, but again, how to transport. I imagine by now you have the picture. I tried the Kordon AmQuel+, but tests show no difference. I am down to 4 fish. </SPAN>Ideas?
I do have a very clean 30 gallon trash bin, if I kept the water in the aquarium agitated to provide air, could I drain it down to say, 40 gallons and start mixing salt water in the 30 gallon vessel, and refill the tank over a period of 8 days? Doesn't seem wise to me.
Of course I can do a 20 gallon water change every day, or 40 every 2 days, but that would get expensive and at the rate of dilution, it would take forever.
lol
