Tank teardown...and redo

[TeenReefer]

Well, my parents had a foods meeting for 4-H at our house and a little girl decided to throw books, fish food, and a large assortment of other things into my aquarium, and as a result ive torn the whole thing down and I am now starting over from scratch. I have the 30 gallon tank, a penguin 350 power filter, heater, sand, 2x65 lights, and about 10 pounds of live rock. My last setup had a really bad algea problem that was constantly occuring, and i realize i need either an RO unit or a protien skimmer and a phosphate remover. I believe that the phosphate in my water was feeding the algea growth, becuase my nitrates were reading close to none, but i will test my water for phosphate levels yet. I guess my real question is, would a RO unit serve me better than purchasing the skimmer and phosphate remover?

[weemanpow3]

I have RO/DO unit and protine skimmer. IMO, I would get the skimmer first and a RO/DI unit second.

[ntswift]

I would disagree. If you get a steady base then you can build off of it. I'd go for the RO/DI unit first and then go for the Protein skimmer. Your tank can go without a protein skimmer for a while if you have decent water to start. HTH

[No_Floaters]

Be sure to sift through the sand to make sure she didn't throw a penny or something else metallic in there. That work be another heartbreaker to find it later when it starts to corrode.

[lando]

I guess my real question is, would a RO unit serve me better than purchasing the skimmer and phosphate remover?

It depends...as long as you have access to good quality RO/DI water (from the LFS or grocery store) then get the skimmer. If you do not, or do not want to haul water from the store to your house, go for the RO/DI unit. Either way, good quality water is a priority over the skimmer, IMHO.

[vsnsofadrgn]

i believe lr and good quality water are the best things that you can do for your tank. id go for the ro/di unit and more lr. after that you could get a skimmer.

[angelscrx]

RO/DI > Skimmer = enough said.

[TeenReefer]

I finally got around to testing the PO4 levels in my hard and soft water (both come from a well) and they both tested to be 1.0-2.0 ppm, which i know is bad news for me. I think i will try to get a RO/DI unit, but have no idea where to begin. I only have a 30 gallon tank, and was wondering if something like this Bare Bones unit would work-http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113775 Thanks for any input.

[lando]

The Bare bones is an RO only unit which will do nadda for the PO4. You rally need and RO/DI unit for that. For just a few dollars more you can get a much better RO/DI system on ebay.