Recent content by stratomom

Thanks... I did end up buying an RO/DI system... It's a Typhoon III. While researching, I just kept coming back to that one, so I hope it's a good choice. ...and I hope it doesn't take too long to get here. Update on the 46g tank cycle... I did add a pinch of flake food to the tank Tuesday...

A house... so i do have options. Is there a difference between the RO DI units that are marketed for regular home use and the ones marketed for aquariums?

Thanks for the advice... I have been looking at RO/DI units, but am a little unsure of how I'm going to install it and where. So I still have some work to do on that. I put a little pinch of food in there before I left for work this morning...how long should I wait to test the water? I...

That's awful! Both stores I've been dealing with are very well taken care of. Store #1 only deals in saltwater and they are very well respected (in spite of the tap water advice...lol). Store #2 is a full out pet store...they carry everything - reptiles, birds, freshwater, and saltwater...

The rock wasn't fully submerged...but it didn't dry out either. It was wrapped in tank water-soaked newspaper and wrapped in plastic. And then the day after I got it home, I put it in buckets of saltwater while I got the tank set up. It was outside of a tank environment for about 4 days. Both...

Do you have anything circulating the water at all? Is it really a 5 gallon tank? That sounds really small. And are you sure you used the right amount of salt? If you used too much it would be really difficult to get it to dissolve. These are just thoughts... I'm new to this too, so not...

I've never had a problem with Instant Ocean dissolving. I have been mixing my water in 5 gallon buckets and adding the salt there. I just stir it for a minute or so and within a few more minutes it's dissolved to the point that I can clearly see the mixing spoon through to the bottom of the...

Thanks everyone... :) How much food is "not too much" (one pinch of flakes, two?)... and if it is going to cause the ammonia to rise...about how long would it take for that to happen? The tank in question is 46 gallons btw...

I knew when I started my tank back in January that there would be a lot of conflicting opinions on how to do things, but it seems like everything I do is up for debate. I found another LFS that is larger and closer than the one I originally bought all my tank supplies from. Of course in the...

There's no live coral, or fish for that matter... otherwise, I would have figured out something else in a hurry. :) There was just the live rock, sand, the tank, stand, and all the equipment. The live rock was wrapped in tank water-soaked paper and put in plastic so it wouldn't dry out. But...

Well...now I'm not going to get the stand until tomorrow. So I mixed up some salt water into buckets to move the rock to. Everything was still really wet when I unwrapped it, so maybe it still has at least some biology left on it. There are a few pieces that I would like to put in my...

Thanks... I've been researching RO/DI equip today, not sure what to get just yet. I'll take any suggestions. My levels are fine now. No nitrites showing up at all anymore on my test strips. The sand I have is about 2" deep and was half regular sand, half live sand when I put it in. It's...

I'm a bit confused on what water to use/not use. I've heard many different things from many different sources. In addition to what the LFS said, I had one person tell me to use distilled water, but I researched it and one of the sources said that distilled water doesn't have the right make-up...

Yeah, that probably would have been better. I just wasn't prepared to not be able to set it back up today. Thanks, Rachael

Thank you for the help. :) Yes, I do know that nitrite is toxic...bad choice of words on my part. I had been watching the water levels very closely since adding the new inhabitants and contacted the LFS as soon as I saw the nitrite come up. They did have me do a partial water change, and...