water change question

u mike

Member
I have a question about water changes
I been reading about ro / di systems. I am wondering if I use distilled water for water changes, about how long will it take to see a noticable difference in the tank ? Right now I use tap water , let it sit with salt for 2 days then do the change. I read on this forum that tap is not very good , I am trying to find out more about the filter system installed in our house . If anyone is more up to date about house systems, I would like some advice.
 

fishtk75

Member
Originally Posted by u mike
http:///forum/post/3137363
I have a question about water changes
I been reading about ro / di systems. I am wondering if I use distilled water for water changes, about how long will it take to see a noticable difference in the tank ? Right now I use tap water , let it sit with salt for 2 days then do the change. I read on this forum that tap is not very good , I am trying to find out more about the filter system installed in our house . If anyone is more up to date about house systems, I would like some advice.

Tap water has too many things that make algae grow and chlorine kill fish.
Here is something to read.
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/dir...a/aa011003.htm
Distilled water is good as to not having anything was cooked out.
 

flower

Well-Known Member

My Reverse osmoses (RO) unit is a 5 stage filter system that sits under the kitchen sink...it takes the tap water and cleans it up and purifies it. You can buy it by the 5g jugs at Wal-Mart rather than use tap. Your own RO system will make it easier than lugging 5g jugs to and from the store.
If a all possible avoid tap water..it has so much in it that it is not good for fish tanks, including chlorine.
 

u mike

Member
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3137470

My Reverse osmoses (RO) unit is a 5 stage filter system that sits under the kitchen sink...it takes the tap water and cleans it up and purifies it. You can buy it by the 5g jugs at Wal-Mart rather than use tap. Your own RO system will make it easier than lugging 5g jugs to and from the store.
If a all possible avoid tap water..it has so much in it that it is not good for fish tanks, including chlorine.
right now is not the best time to buy a system. that is why I was thinking about the distilled water. plus I really have to get a hold on this alage. I did slow it down some, so if i need to use bottled water for a while so be it .If not then it is take down tank.
 

freddiec

Member
Originally Posted by u mike
http:///forum/post/3137551
right now is not the best time to buy a system. that is why I was thinking about the distilled water. plus I really have to get a hold on this alage. I did slow it down some, so if i need to use bottled water for a while so be it .If not then it is take down tank.

I switched over to the Purified Water from a grocery store before I got my RO/DI system. My tap has a TDS rating of 270-350 ppm depending on the day... the purified grocery had 15-30 typically. DI water was usually a little higher from what I saw. I would also check your LFS and see if they sell RO/DI water. I found one that did for less than 1/2 the price of buying 1 gallon jugs, all I had to do was bring my own bucket and his water was 2-5ppm. Any one would be better than tap and help you get a handle on the algae.
I was having a problem with hair algae. I basically pulled as much out as I could, did water changes of 10g each week for the past month and added a phosphate remover. My tank is virtually free of it now (have to give some credit to the yellow tang who helped clean up after I pulled most of the big clumps out.) There are a few clumps hiding in behind th rocks... I plan on pulling them out in the near future :)
Hope this helps.
 

fishtk75

Member
Do you have a phosphate test? If not you need one to test your water in tank and bottle. Some bottle water company do not take phosphate out.
All they do is run it thought filters and carbon filter. That is why I said to have a test for phosphate to see if the bottle water is at what level.
The other is as to feeding too much. Fish food has phosphate in them for the fish health. That is why i said to cut down and see.
And as FreddieC said you need to put a filter bag of phosphate remover to suck out and control it.
As I said please test the water in tank and in bottles and see what you are working with in all the numbers of tests.
Have a note book and write it down that will help.
 

u mike

Member
Originally Posted by fishtk75
http:///forum/post/3137800
Do you have a phosphate test? If not you need one to test your water in tank and bottle. Some bottle water company do not take phosphate out.
All they do is run it thought filters and carbon filter. That is why I said to have a test for phosphate to see if the bottle water is at what level.
The other is as to feeding too much. Fish food has phosphate in them for the fish health. That is why i said to cut down and see.
And as FreddieC said you need to put a filter bag of phosphate remover to suck out and control it.
As I said please test the water in tank and in bottles and see what you are working with in all the numbers of tests.
Have a note book and write it down that will help.

right now will go with the distilled water , will look into water from lfs, then will see what hapens from there. when I get a ro /di system hopefully all alage will be gone or under control. thanks .
 

fishtk75

Member
Originally Posted by u mike
http:///forum/post/3137850
right now will go with the distilled water , will look into water from lfs, then will see what hapens from there. when I get a ro /di system hopefully all alage will be gone or under control. thanks .
I forgot one more thing is how long you have the lights on will make algae grow fast. I have my timed 8-9 hours and more actinic time then 10k .
 

u mike

Member
Originally Posted by fishtk75
http:///forum/post/3138136
I forgot one more thing is how long you have the lights on will make algae grow fast. I have my timed 8-9 hours and more actinic time then 10k .
I use 12.30 first light shut off around 9 pm
day light comes on 1.30 off 10. pm
what seems to be the most pain about this whole alage / water problem is for the last 2 years, until I started adding thing to make the tank more of a reef than just fish is when a lot of my problem started.
 
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