converting freshwater tank to salt

2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Yep, use the ro/di without salt for topping off the tank to compensate for the water that evaporates from the system.
Then mix your salt in with the ro/di for your actual "water change" water.
You monitor the tds in the water coming directly from your ro/di unit. It should be at or near zero. As time goes by the tds begin to rise and that's your indicator that your ro/di filter cartridges or di media needs changing/replenishing.
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
Quote:Originally Posted by mauler http:///t/397664/converting-freshwater-tank-to-salt/140#post_3546404
So basically if I have a RO/DI system I'm good?

TDS does have meaning to insure the input water before adding salt is free of ions.
You do not absolutely need ro/di water IMHO.
1) most of the ions in tap water are magnesium, calcium, carbonate and the light.
2) the real baddies (cholrine, chloramine) had either dissapated/reduced by the time they reach your tap, are reduced by salt mixes which contain dechlrinators, or disappate in hours (chloramine days at most) and rendered harmless. So I just top off the tanks with untreated tap water.
3) Heavy ions like copper are in very low levels but still very high for some corals. But macro and other algaes biosorb (suck out. LOL) those down to safe or even reef levels.
So the overall affect of just topping off with tap water is to simply reduce the need for dosing calcium,alk, magnesium.
my .02
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by beaslbob http:///t/397664/converting-freshwater-tank-to-salt/160#post_3546442
Quote:
Originally Posted by mauler http:///t/397664/converting-freshwater-tank-to-salt/140#post_3546404
So basically if I have a RO/DI system I'm good?

TDS does have meaning to insure the input water before adding salt is free of ions.
You do not absolutely need ro/di water IMHO.
1) most of the ions in tap water are magnesium, calcium, carbonate and the light.
2) the real baddies (cholrine, chloramine) had either dissapated/reduced by the time they reach your tap, are reduced by salt mixes which contain dechlrinators, or disappate in hours (chloramine days at most) and rendered harmless. So I just top off the tanks with untreated tap water.
3) Heavy ions like copper are in very low levels but still very high for some corals. But macro and other algaes biosorb (suck out. LOL) those down to safe or even reef levels.
So the overall affect of just topping off with tap water is to simply reduce the need for dosing calcium,alk, magnesium.
my .02

Hi,

If you have macroalgae topping off with tap water is no real big deal, the macros absorb what feeds the bad algae...but if you don't, all you get from topping off with tap or well water is nuisance algae, which is why we want RO water to start with. Nothing looks worse then a tank overrun with hair algae. Frankly even with macros, hair algae can take over...

So to Mauler I say....Stay away from tap or well water. Use only RO or RO/DI water.
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
macros don't require any really special lighting but I do prefer 6500k color temperatures.
yes tangs will pick at hair algae as will many fish even FW mollys,
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by mauler http:///t/397664/converting-freshwater-tank-to-salt/160#post_3546444
Im planning to have macroalgae and also would the tang eat the hair algae?


Hi,

MAYBE, just maybe....if you have the tang BEFORE you have the hair algae, because HA grows so fast most fish can't keep up. Tanks need a good deal of swimming space, I don't remember....how large is your tank?

Also a dwarf angelfish will nip at hair algae, they only require a 30g tank and lots of rock work to swim in and out of.

I would NOT recommend using tap or well water, and hope macros will keep the parameters good. RO water from Walmart costs 37 cents per gallon. Since the water quality is the very life of your very expensive SW fish tank, skimping on water quality isn't a wise decision. I'm not trying to be mean...but if you can't afford water, maybe you should rethink what you are getting into, since SW tanks are not cheap.
 
mauler

mauler

Active Member
I'm just asking about it cause there are other forums saying tap water is ok if your not doing a reef tank I just wanted to know if there was any truth to that. My tank is 135 gallons.
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
I agree with Flower. The ones that say that you can use tap water also have years of experience in the hobby so they know how to control it better than us newbies.

When I started my first tank, I used crushed coral and "treated" tap water because I thought I knew what I was doing. Because of the crushed coral I couldn't control my parameters. Because of the tap water, I had a hair algae out break. I pretty much had to tear the tank down and start from scratch. Live sand and R/O water only and I never looked at tap water again.

Saltwater tanks ARE a major investment. If you can make it past the major investment at start-up with all the equipment and so forth, the operational costs are pretty minimal.

The build I'm doing now is 72g with a custom stand and sump. With all new equipment, plumbing, LED lighting throughout, the cost of the stand, man made rock, live rock, sand, test kits plus live stock, and so on and so on, I figure when all is said and done I will be investing just over $3,000. BUT, my monthly operational costs will be well under $100. So to me it's worth it not to pinch penny's too much to get it up and running right. It'll pay for itself in the long run because I won't have to repurchase anything because I went cheap the first time around. And it's something I can be proud of.

Side note: But you don't have to go "All out" like me to make it work either.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Best thing you can do is go to your local municipal website and read the analysis on your areas tap water. Everybody's tap and what is in it is a little different.
Macros are great but they can't always consume the bad stuff quick enough to keep concentrations from accumulating.
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
you might check you local water authority.
some have ro processing units and you can get ro water from them.
my .02
 
mauler

mauler

Active Member
Yeah I don't like the idea of having to go get gallons of water a day Id rather get my own ro system if tap water is out of the question which it seems like it is
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
I disagree
I maintained a 55g with a heavy bioload, soft type corals for 7 or so years using untreated tap water. In that time I used a total of 3 55g bags of salt.
I filtered the system with macro algaes. and just replaced the water that evaporated.
and used the diy 2 part method for calcium, alk, mag.
So tap water IMHO and IME is not out of the question.
my .02
 
mauler

mauler

Active Member
I'm not sure what my bioload will be like but I'm only going to have like 3 or 4 fish. How often did you do water changes? And how macroalgae would I need to filter the water?
Whats the diy method for calcium, alk, and mag?
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by mauler http:///t/397664/converting-freshwater-tank-to-salt/160#post_3546488
I'm not sure what my bioload will be like but I'm only going to have like 3 or 4 fish. How often did you do water changes? And how macroalgae would I need to filter the water?
Whats the diy method for calcium, alk, and mag?
1) I had much more fish

2) As stated I did no water changes.

3) about 1/4 of my tank was a refugium. the back 3" of the tank with egg crate as a partition.

4) google Dr randy holmes-farley diy 2 part.

HTH

my .02
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top