54 gallon corner tank

[bocube1993]

i started my new corner tank but i made a mistake and filled it all up with treated tap water people are now telling me onlne it will crash my tank and that there will always be copper and metals in my tank....



i will now use rodi unit to make water changes will that work ??

 

[bocube1993]

or will i have to throw away my saltwater and fill it up again

 

[Vincero]

The issue is probably more to do with phosphates from your tap water.

High phosphates promote bigtime algae growth, which can be a nightmare to get rid of if your phosphates remain high.

It's also not ideal for corals and the good colouration we strive for.

An RODI unit is an essential piece of gear in my opinion. I would drain it and replace the water with RODI.

 

[SaltyMember]

I agree with Vincero. I would be more worried about the phosphates in treated tap water.


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[bocube1993]

i seee :/ i will try to drain it

 

[Vincero]

i seee :/ i will try to drain it

Although it's a pain in the backside, it's the right thing to do.

I've had zero 'green hair algae' issues with my tank since setting it up 5 months ago. I think the RODI is largely responsible for this smooth ride. (In fact, I'm trying to boost phosphates ever so slightly because my filtration is working so well, but that's a different story...)

Another problem is that if you see lots of green hair algae, testing for the amount of phosphate in your system becomes incredibly difficult because the algae is consuming the stuff to grow!

If I were to do it all again, the only thing I would do differently is buy a phosphate test alongside the nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia ones. I think a lot of problems in this hobby seem to be caused by unwillingly introducing nutrients into the water!

 

[on the spot]

I wouldn't drain it. from the tap is a cumulative issue IMO. that one time won't be any more annoying than anything else that annoys in the first few months.

of course YMMV. If it helps you sleep then do over.

 

[Vincero]

If you still don't want to just drain it, test your water for phosphates and then make a call.

If you're using dry rock, there's a good chance that could release some PO4 into the water for a while too. So... the less PO4 you have to begin with, the better really.

While you could try running GFO to artificially 'strip' it from the water, you'd go through quite a lot of the stuff before seeing a difference if PO4 is on the high side to begin with. In the long run, this could become more of a pain than just draining and refilling it now.

If in doubt, do a test. Let us know how you get on. Picture's please!

 

[bocube1993]

i have one more question there is alot of foam ontop of the tank is it becouse not washing sand properly ??

 

[Vincero]

I haven't heard of that before. Take a picture??

 

[bocube1993]

sorry i did not read ur post foam is out tooked it out with the proien skimmer tested phosphate levels at reef they are at 0 with no algea growth