not using r/o filters in seahorse rearing facility.

[ctenophors rule]

do any of you have experience keeping seahorses with or without an r/o unit? does the water need to be relatively free of tds, or will a a tds of 250-300 suffice? will the excess tds of top off water be detrimental to the young?

also, if i planned on keeping corals with the horses, what corals can withstand high tds?

i was already only thinking of a few gorgonians, and some kenya tree, with maybe a few mushrooms. not much. mainly making it a macro tank, with the main macro being hair algae.

thanks all...

tommy

 

[TamiW]

I believe this will depend on the overall quality of your water, not just the tds. For instance, does your water have high silica? Phosphates? Is it consistent throughout the year or does it vary? I.E. if you're on a well near farmlands, you might have fertilizer run-off that increases phosphates and nitrates different times of the year. Also, city water poses its own risks. When I worked at a fish store, we'd often see phosphate spikes and ammonia spikes from the tap water - sometimes as much as .5ppm of ammonia. Also, you my have high iron content, not something you'd want to have in your water. Same goes for copper if you have copper pipes.

TDS in and of itself is not a problem, its what specifically what the composition of your water is. I would check out local water reports and see if you can find them over a length of time. Also get your water tested professionally by a water quality company, not the LFS or home kits unless you have some of the crazy accurate ones. If you're just testing at home, you may need to test over the span of a year to see how it changes.

Conversely, if it tests okay, you could always invest in some high quality kits, watch closely, and test periodically. I'm not so sure I would though. Then again, I live on well water that is just awful even after it is filtered through a water softener and iron filter; so I have to use RO/DI water.

 

[ctenophors rule]

thanks i understand that what kind of tds you have makes all the difference, i was just wondering if seahorses were not as effected as other organisms by the copper, iron, and other heavy metals because i had read numerous artic les about how certain seahorse farms dont use r/o. but after doing more research i have decided to get the r/o machine...

thanks for the reply!