Hello and a question (RO)

[morbie]

Hi guys,

Lemme just say i've been lurking for almost half a year now at the forums...
Today is the day that i went to the LFS and bought myself a 15 gallon.
Yes i know it's small for sw but i'm first gonna try this nano reef as i'm still working on my attic ... when the attic is ready ---> big tank coming up
So.. i bought a 15 gallon, all the necessary sand, salt,light, etc... and a RO unit!
I still have to do some plumbing but in the meanwhile while i was in the basement i saw that we had copper plumbing.. now this may sound like a stupid question to you guys but isn't this copper thingie harmfull?
Or will the RO unit take care of this?
Also, how long should i let this RO unit run for the first time before actually using water from the unit?
After this is all done, i'll probably just fill the tank with the water, check on all the water perimeters and then gonna put a coctail shrimp in it
The overall cycling process will probably be around 4 weeks... after the first 10 days i think i'll add some LR.
Is this a good way to handle it? suggestions and tips are most welcome!
New questions will probably rise while i'm working on this little project so.. guys... beware
Greetings from Belgium!

 

[sdellin]

My reading led me to believe that the ro/di membrane removes the copper in the water. i have copper pipes, but haven't seen any problems so far with my inverts. I'm no expert.

As far as the small tank, the smaller the tank, the more attention it will require because even small changes in water quality have a larger effect with a smaller volume of water. Incidentally, I have a 15G tank and my 55G tank. I give them both the same amount of attention and my 15 seems to be fine.

Just keep on a schedule with your testing (specific gravity, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites and ph at least.)

The RO unit I bought simply recommended letting the tank fill once, emptying it and using it from there on. Basically just cycling it once. This is assuming you bought a setup with a reserve tank. If not, I would take a five-gallon bucket, fill it once, toss out that water (or water the plants with it!) then just use the water from then on. You just want to get water into the system and get any loose particles or dust out.

I bought the Salt Water Aquariums for Dummies book and from that, I set up my first tank. Then I just get advise from it, from here and from my lfs.

Good luck!

 

[Serge]

Welcome to AA!




8)

 

[morbie]

alright.. tnx for the advice.. thats what i thought.. tnx again!!

 

[jaiden]

Almost everyone has copper pipes. If they are not brand new, they probably aren't releasing much into the water. however, I think it's always a good idea to let the water run for a while to clear out the lines before using the water for fish. Of course if you have an automatc rodi system, you don't have that option. Personally, I'm not worried about it, but then again I'm no expert.

 

[austinsdad]

Welcome to AA!

Keep us posted on your progress. And the others are right. Almost everyone has copper water supply lines. No worries mon!

 

[salmo trutta]

yes, RO will remove copper, pretty much the only thing that can get through a RO membrane is water. semi permiable membrane is a great thing.

 

[StrongBad]

I agree with the above about the RO unit. As for the cycle process, I have a couple of shortcuts you can try that worked pretty well for me. The first is adding pure ammonia at about 5 drops per day to your water to jump start the first phase of your cycle. You can get pure ammonia at Albertsons or Safeway grocery stores. Just make sure it is perfume free. (It will not foam if shaken.) After your ammonia spike starts to drop (meaning you have a good colony of bacteria formed) you back off to about 2-3 drops per day to keep them fed until you can add fish.
Second you can try Bio Spira. I used this on my quarantine tank to see if it worked, and sure enough in 48 hours the ammonia I added to simulate fish was processed in only a couple hours. Just make sure that you add fish very soon after the bio spira cycle completes.
Ok, that's my two cents. Thanks for listening

 

[morbie]

oh ok, tnx for the input and advice guys!
Looking forward to see my tank balance itself. But for i'm just in the starting phase and taking it slow as i do not want to make errors
I've just added the salt to the tank and only let the pump on to let the water circulate a bit.
First i'm going to get my salt lvl correct and after this i'll add some live sand to it and a shrimp or something to start the cycle phase.
But, before all this is going to happen i think i'm 1 week further...
Cheers!

 

[sdellin]

Welcome... nice to meet you and all that jazz, yes keep us posted on your progress, you will get addicted to your fish and this site!