My Biocube 14

[boontonbill]

I have a choice to use Nutri-Seawater or mix my own. The tank is a fish only with no live coral and live rock. Any thoughts using the pre-mixed stuff or should I mix my own ?

 

[HN1]

I'm not familiar with Nutri, but it sounds like an added expense to me. If you don't want to mess with mixing it yourself, the local LFS should have pre-mixed available at a lower cost per use. Do you have an RODI unit?

 

[boontonbill]

No RO/DI unit. Could I use distilled water to mix with the salt. If not, what type of water would I use ?

 

[cabezon]

distilled water should be good, but expensive. at $2.50 a gallon that nutri is ridiculous. especially when it claims to have the beneficial bacterium and no cycle is needed. I use rodi with reef crystals. at $45 for 200 gallons, you do the math. Even when I go to the LFS because I need massive amounts of SW they only charge $1.35

 

[Jimbo7]

I would skip the nutri stuff. I got a bunch of it really cheap after a frag swap that they sponsored. It was convienent, but would have been way too expensive if I didn't get it at like 75% off. I personally feel much more comfortable using an RO/DI filter that I can monitor and check the TDS levels and I know its perfectly clean.

I would be too scared batch to batch if the levels changed or whatever.

 

[boontonbill]

Thanks for the advice !
I will probably mix the stuff myself

 

[HN1]

Also, the grocery store machines that dispense water should be RODI and A TON cheaper than distilled. An RO unit of your own is always recommended, but it is a valid alternative. I started off getting water at my local Publix and it was RODI with a filter replacement date that was annotated on the machine along with the number of filtration stages (5).

 

[melosu58]

The nitrifying bacteria does not reside in the water. It resides on surfaces like the LR and tank glass sides. If it claims nitrifying bacteria in the water then that claim is false.