lesleybird
Active Member
Hi,
I need advice on making saltwater with my new RODI unit. I have been having a 90 gallon saltwater tank for the last 4 years and am upgrading to a 180 gallon in 2 weeks. I have been buying 4 five gallon containers of saltwater at my LFS for this time about every three weeks for water changes....I could not carry 8 containers for each water change for 180 gallon tank so I just purchased the RODI unit and have a lot of questions.
Should one keep the trash can full of RO water all the time with a float switch and take daily top off water from this so that the unit gets to run a gallon or two per day off of it? Or, is it ok not to have any water running through the RODI unit for three weeks between water changes? Does the water in the unit go bad if it sits stagnant in the unit for three weeks? I have a RODI unit under our sink in the kitchen for drinking water that could be used for top off.
Lastly, the water that comes from the city has a lower ph of around 7.2 and I know that saltwater for a fish tank needs to be a lot higher than this. Do most salt mixes correct this problem? or does one need to add a buffer? Which buffer? Also, just tested the ph from our RODI unit under the kitchen sink and it has a ph of about 6.2. I purchased a jar of stuff called Kent Marine Osmo.Prep Marine that is suppose to be a buffer for RODI water. Is this a good one to use for a fish only live rock set up? It has calcium, magnesium and potassium....will using it make the levels of these elements too high? Or does it matter? Or should I use some other thing to buffer like baking soda? Should one wait to add buffer until the saltwater made from the RODI unit has been mixing a day or two before checking ph? What happens if the ph goes too high? I am clueless here. The whole ph and carbonate hardness thing has me confussed.
Thanks, Lesley
I need advice on making saltwater with my new RODI unit. I have been having a 90 gallon saltwater tank for the last 4 years and am upgrading to a 180 gallon in 2 weeks. I have been buying 4 five gallon containers of saltwater at my LFS for this time about every three weeks for water changes....I could not carry 8 containers for each water change for 180 gallon tank so I just purchased the RODI unit and have a lot of questions.
Should one keep the trash can full of RO water all the time with a float switch and take daily top off water from this so that the unit gets to run a gallon or two per day off of it? Or, is it ok not to have any water running through the RODI unit for three weeks between water changes? Does the water in the unit go bad if it sits stagnant in the unit for three weeks? I have a RODI unit under our sink in the kitchen for drinking water that could be used for top off.
Lastly, the water that comes from the city has a lower ph of around 7.2 and I know that saltwater for a fish tank needs to be a lot higher than this. Do most salt mixes correct this problem? or does one need to add a buffer? Which buffer? Also, just tested the ph from our RODI unit under the kitchen sink and it has a ph of about 6.2. I purchased a jar of stuff called Kent Marine Osmo.Prep Marine that is suppose to be a buffer for RODI water. Is this a good one to use for a fish only live rock set up? It has calcium, magnesium and potassium....will using it make the levels of these elements too high? Or does it matter? Or should I use some other thing to buffer like baking soda? Should one wait to add buffer until the saltwater made from the RODI unit has been mixing a day or two before checking ph? What happens if the ph goes too high? I am clueless here. The whole ph and carbonate hardness thing has me confussed.
Thanks, Lesley
