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The 20% more would make sense IF the first three stages of the RO/DI before the membrane weren't lowering the TDS. But they are. So if your ratio of waste to good is 5 to 1, you should have less than 20% more TDS in the waste: and perhaps a lot less.

I added 4 cerith snails to my 55gal a few weeks ago. I drip acclimated them while floating the bag in my sump for 3 hours before adding them to the tank, and they started off looking healthy and eating. My tank has no shortage of things to eat. They basically buried themselves deep in the...

aragonite is basically a type of sand (carbonate instead of silica), while oolitic is the shape of the sand (i.e. round).

Originally Posted by sign guy normally runs about 20% higer than original depending on age of filter How is that possible unless the filter is adding TDS itself? The first stages can only remove TDS, so the water rejected from the membrane should have lower than normal TDS, and then the extra...

Coraline pieces can stick to anything. I have hermits that are pretty fleet footed, and even they have coraline on their shells.

How can a dead fish not cause ammonia to rise in an uncycled tank? That's crazy!

Don't worry about them unless they get: 1) really big (i.e. really THICK, not just long) 2) really numerous

You mean RO and RO/DI, or just RO? I'm getting an RO/DI system that will have near 0 TDS.

Sounds like no, if he's using a HOB or canister filter. If you have inverts of any kind mixed with fish (i.e. poop central), you'll definately want a skimmer. A hang on bak-pak might work I suppose. Alternatively, you could upgrade to a sump as you get a protein skimmer.

I'm getting an RO/DI from filterguys, and I've been reading up on how to intregrate it into my system. Basically, I'm wondering how it affects buffering. I currently use Instant Ocean salt, which sets the Ph and Alk and so forth supposedly to the right levels, and I've been thinking of...

What do you have in the tank? (it matters) I would say that it's not only important, but far more important than your UV.

Well actually I don't think he even takes care of the chlorine in the tap water out of sheer laziness. I don't know how long fish could plausibly live very long in chlorinated water. He must be doing SOMETHING. That stuff burns their gills horribly.

Originally Posted by spanko Has anyone run their waste water the a TDS test? Very good point! Honestly, the best way to answer these questions is just to test your waste water directly! If it's stripped of chlorine and any heavy metals, then it's technically "safe" to use in freshwater, but...

Sugar sized sands are best, since they have the most surface area. I don't know what sizes those sands really equate to though, for all I know they could be as good as what I'm working with, which is just plain fine silica. But anything will work. Honestly though, unless you can find it...

Yep. The waste water basically just has the TDS that got rejected, though I doubt that it's in higher concentrations than the tap water (think about it: RO/DIs waste several times the amount of water they produce, which means that the percentage of TDS that was once in the good water is split...

Yep. I've got one exactly the same. Zebra Turbo. Main care requirement is that they have plenty of algae to eat. They often starve to death because people overstock with them, freaking out at minor algae blooms and buying like 4 or 5 for a tank that could never sustain so many.

Yeah Seaclones can be hang on or in sump, they have this J tube attachment thingie. Mine does at least. Get a better air intake valve that DOES allow you to adjust it.

Once you get a better skimmer, you'll know. Seaclones are the least efficient type of design (not counting the old airstone skimmers), and they generally work sort of on and off rather than being hard core all the time. They are notoriously finicky about having to adjust the air and level so...

Coraline can grow on substrates (though less likely to than on LR), but the "hair" part worries me. Coraline can look sort of fuzzy when it first grows... but hair is generally a bad algae.

I'm no expert and I've never used Phosban, but as far as I know, this sort of setup would be less than ideal. Phosban, as far as I know, works best in a pressurized forced reactor rather than an low flow, non-pressurized overflow. Lots of people build phosban reactors out of clear pvc though...