what chemicals to put in water?

pontius

pontius

Active Member
what chemical should I use to remove chlorine and other elements from tap water? the lfs guy said to use Aqua Pharm's "Stress Coat" which will remove these elements and help build fishes' mucus coat. is this any good?
also, any other chemicals that should be used upon setting up? do you use buffer chemicals to control parameters, or only if needed?
and, besides a quarantine tank, what would be the most useful medicines to have on hand just in case?
the tank is 72 gallons and will have fish, live sand and rock, crustaceans, and probably one anenome.
thanks.
 
donmgicwon

donmgicwon

Member
# 1 Buy an RO+DI unit, don't use tap
Reef Dip
Methylene Blue
Copper
I have a bottle of Kents Pro-Tech Coat but I never used it, a buddy told me its great stuff (he uses it for his hippo), plus it was only $2.08 at ***** on clearance.
I would be careful about using anything thats not meant to be used prophylactically.
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
thanks for the recommendations. I've spent out almost $2000 already, so an RO unit isn't an option right now. though I've thought of buying distilled water from Wal Mart. thanks again.
 
new_noob

new_noob

Member
If you were to buy distilled water from Walmart it will end up being higher then getting a RO/DI unit, i top off 1 gallon a day, and do biweekly 5 gallon water changes. and at $1 a gallon that would be $40 a month, when you could buy an Ro/DI unit on ---- for $50, Just my opinion...
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
in the long run buying water would be more expensive. and if I could find a good RO that would actually do the job for $50, I would jump on it, but I kind of have my doubts. Wal Mart distilled water is 48cents per gallon.
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
I don't know, maybe one of those RO units would be a good buy. though with shipping, the price almost doubles.
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
in a QT? according to the bottle, it is for purifying water AND building the fishes' mucus coat.
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
actually, the $2000 estimate includes the LS and LR. I already have 60 pounds of base rock and am going to get 60 pounds of LR. the $2000 includes everything but live stock and anything unplanned for...like an RO unit.
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
it was hi-rocks from ----, shipping and all was $51 for 60 pounds, which I consider a huge deal. if you're looking to buy this stuff, I'd bid on Sundays, I've found that's the day to get the best deal.
 
donmgicwon

donmgicwon

Member
I'll think about it if I ever do a bigger tank. I hear it takes up to a year to reach "real live rock status". I'm not that patient.
 
jess74

jess74

Member
Pontius-
You REALLY don't want to use tap water, if your only choice right now is to buy distilled then do it. This hobby is expensive to start with, but once you start paying for mistakes and bad decisions the price goes way up. :yes: I know I'm there (replacing my CC and Protein skimmer).
Anyway, do you know if you have a place around you where you can buy RO water? I have a local place that has RO for .25/gal. Try looking in your yellow pages, just make sure its RO, not Spring. Some Wal-Marts also have RO dispensing units in the stores.
IMO- the less additives you add to your tank the better, but you are a ways from that. Wait until your tank is setup and going, check water readings and then if you have to add something you can buy just what you need.
Do a search on here for "tap water", you probably wouldn't want to use it after reading the results. Best of luck with your tank! :D
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
there used to be a place here that provided RO water for free, but they closed it down. I don't know if there's another place or not. my wife already gets Le Bleu water cooler delivered to our house each month and it's about $30/month. I'm thinking maybe cutting that out and just getting an RO unit may not be a bad idea. are they hard to hook up? either way, my house is about 6 weeks from being finished, so I can probably get the plumber to hook it up. are the ones at Lowe's pretty good? thanks.
 
donmgicwon

donmgicwon

Member
Just steal your wife's Le Bleu water, she'll never miss a couple hundred gallons.:D
On second thought don't, I wouldn't trust anything from France in my tank. It would be better to use tap and buy some plants.:hilarious
 
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