New to the hobby. Looking for some help

[tmz]

potential issues caused with exhausted resin. I for one will be a bit more proactive when I see the color change occur.

Here's a suggestion for you to consioder:

Use two di canisters ;;resin without color change will do fine.
Put a$30 tds in line meter between them. When the output from the first moves over 0, it's time to change the resin and rotate it to the second position.

This actually saves $ on resin, since color changes are not entirely reliable. This way you know you are changing it when it's exhausted and not before while still protecting your output via the second canister.
Also some things, like free copper for example ,can kill corals at levels as low as 50ppb which would never show up on a tds reading that only goes to 1ppm. A second canister should help clean up anything that gets by the first. But again ro or ro/di are only risk management tools not absolute guarantees.

 

[Steve Canyon]

potential issues caused with exhausted resin. I for one will be a bit more proactive when I see the color change occur.

Here's a suggestion for you to consioder:

Use two di canisters ;;resin without color change will do fine.
Put a$30 tds in line meter between them. When the output from the first moves over 0, it's time to change the resin and rotate it to the second position.

This actually saves $ on resin, since color changes are not entirely reliable. This way you know you are changing it when it's exhausted and not before while still protecting your output via the second canister.
Also some things, like free copper for example ,can kill corals at levels as low as 50ppb which would never show up on a tds reading that only goes to 1ppm. A second canister should help clean up anything that gets by the first. But again ro or ro/di are only risk management tools not absolute guarantees.

Thanks again Tom. You offered a similar suggestion to me when I set up my rodi system. As is my way, I went overkill with it. 5 stages before ro, 2 stage resin. I don't view the resin as a significant cost factor, so I recharge both at the same time. The first stage usually goes dark first. When the second stage changes color about 2/3 of the way up the column, I do the change. Any potential shortcomings with this approach?

 

[blanden.adam]

1. Use RO/DI. A good mantra with regard to putting things (read: chemicals) in your tank is: "If you can't test for it, don't put it in your tank." As hobbyists we don't have the equipment to do a full laboratory style test to analyze what comes out of our individual taps (the city's test at the origin of the water can be quite a bit different than what comes out of your faucet). And even if we could we would have to decide what to do with that information -- is that level of iron OK? Will that trace lead harm my tank? How will corals respond to that level of zinc? How do I adjust my salt mix to have the appropriate level of calcium when combined with my tap water? etc. All in all, it's just a safer route to go with RO/DI. And don't worry about Christmas -- with a reef tank there are always easy presents :beer:

2. Yes and yes. The way to know when you need to start supplementing (with kalkwasser, 2-part, or Ca reactor in level of increasing startup cost and complexity) is to test.

3. Every piece of livestock (with the exception of anemones) gets quarantined. Corals get dipped in Lugol's Iodine (tea-tree oil based dips are also fine) and maintained in a dedicated coral/invertebrate quarantine tank with daily observation for 21 days, treating further only if evidence of disease pops up (e.g. red bugs, AEFW etc). Then one more dip in Lugols and into the DT they go. Fish get quarantined in a fish only quarantine tank for 30 days. If a disease pops up, they are treated appropriately and then observed for 30 days after the conclusion of treatment. When they have made it through 30 days in quarantine without signs of disease, they go into the display (after a quick dip in water from the DT to ensure no traces of medication get transferred).

It doesn't matter if the fish came from a trusted local store, an online retailer, your best friend, or your own mother's tank, the only way you can be sure a quarantine was done properly is to do it yourself. That said, the protocol I've given is just what I do. It's up to each tank owner to decide what level of risk they are comfortable with and set up their practices accordingly. That's what quarantine is about -- minimizing risk.

4. All a matter of what level of risk you are comfortable with. Is it likely that a disease could come in with your inverts? No, not likely at all. There would have to be a free swimming phase of a parasite or something int he water in the shells or something. However, it is possible. If you are going to put them right in the DT, at least make sure they come from a fish-free system. That'll leave only a minimal residual risk.

5. See answer to question 3.

 

[tmz]

Selling and promoting? I'm not so sure on the promoting part.

Ok maybe not promoting depending on how you define it.

To be clear Im not interested in discrediting any lfs, they are important resources for us ; just the notion that tap water in large water canges is good practice. This tank is often obliquely noted in discussions on ro/di and water changes . IMO, it's a red herring and often sidetracks discussion.

 

[cardiffgiant]

This tank is often obliquely noted in discussions on ro/di and water changes . IMO, it's a red herring and often sidetracks discussion.

Well said. I agree 100%.

 

[lhscouchmonster]

Thanks for all of the advice everyone!

One more question for now...

My ammonia and nitrites hit 0 yesterday and I was inspecting the progress on the live rock.

What are the things that I circled in red? I looked online and I couldn't figure it out. Are they bad? The actual area that the picture shows is a little bigger than a golf ball.

Are the things circled in yellow fan worms or something? Its hard to tell from the picture.

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[blanden.adam]

Red - hard to tell, but it looks like either some kine of polyp like a zoanthid, or some kind of sponge. I'm leaning polyp. Either way, they are not bad.

yellow - yes, fan worm/feather duster.

 

[tmz]

The yellow is likely a feather duster of some type. May be a vermelid snail. Can't tell from th photo. If it jumps back into th tube quickly , I'd guess a useful and harmless featehr duster. Vermelids can be a nuisance though as they spred a mucous web that gathers up detritus and they can spread quickly.

The red looks like a stressed palythoa, a zoanthidae . It will probably color up some in time.

All 3 of these are common hitchhikers on live rock.