Question on Long Island Water ( Suffolk )

directional

directional

New member
Ok I have a little dilemma going on.. My 55gal FOWLR tank needs heavy water changes compared to my 14g Reef..

I use to use tap water and everything seemed fine but I have been TRYING to use RO water but the only problem is lugging buckets from the LFS sucks and is such a project it's almost not worth cleaning the tank.

Is the Suffolk County ( Ronkonkoma ) tap water safe? What would be the best thing to do if I was to use tap water?

I was thinking of an RO/DI but they are a little to expensive and I am unsure of even how to really use one ( If I need a setup etc )

Any adivce?
 
Re: Question on Long Island Water ( Suffolk )

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10758098#post10758098 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by directional

Is the Suffolk County ( Ronkonkoma ) tap water safe? What would be the best thing to do if I was to use tap water?
I was thinking of an RO/DI but they are a little to expensive and I am unsure of even how to really use one ( If I need a setup etc )
Click to expand...

Directional,

I am 10 minutes from your location. Here's what I did. I had nitrate problems. I decided to test my tap water, that I let sit days and had used a dechlorinator. I was surprised that local water has a nitrate level of 20. So when I was at nitrate of 30, no matter how many water changes, I would still have problem with tap water.

So I really do recommend buying an RO/DI unit. You can even screw it to a faucet and get the water that way. If you go that route, I like SpectraPure units.

If you think, that you don't want to play with it a lot, what I would suggest is to hook it up and get a large bassn, so that you make all of your water at once.
 
Also tap water contains metals, and other contaminents other than nitrates and chlorine that you may not want in your reef; (copper, iron, flouride, scilica, phosphates etc...) .


There is a great thread on manhattan reefs about a guy Paul (he posts here too) from New Hyde Park. He has had the same tank up for 30 years. He collects salt water from our ocean and uses tap water. Every so often NHP changes something in the water and it screws up his tank.

Worth the read!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10758333#post10758333 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jgiordano
what do you use for top offs?
Click to expand...

Jgiordano,

Not sure who the question was directed at. However, RO/DI water for top-off can go right in (for me). I use a marine buffer, so PH always stays the same, so this water drips in with no fuss or mess. Real easy.

I have read that you do have to make sure that the RO/DI filters are still good, because chlorine can be a problem with older filters.
 
Well this water isn't going in my reef. My reef I only use RO water because I just pickup 1 gal a week when I am at the LFS..

I don't like how tap water has 20 nitrate though.

I use RO to top off... But yet again I am only running fluorescent lighting over this tank so the top off is like 1 gallon a month.

Anyone selling a cheap RO/DI heh ::topic chhhaannngeeee:: :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10758425#post10758425 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by seldin
Jgiordano,

Not sure who the question was directed at. However, RO/DI water for top-off can go right in (for me). I use a marine buffer, so PH always stays the same, so this water drips in with no fuss or mess. Real easy.

I have read that you do have to make sure that the RO/DI filters are still good, because chlorine can be a problem with older filters.
Click to expand...

I was asking directional;

but I am curious I don't buffer my top off, I have heard mixed things. How does it work for you. (sorry for the hijack)
 
You guys think its worth it to just goto the LFS and get water or buy an RO/DI ?

I dont buffer my top off in my reef I just put RO water right in and all is fine corals dont even notice.
 
I def think the RO/DI is worth the money. I got mine from airwaterice.com for 150 bucks with a float valve. hooked it up to a 4 dollar rubbermaid container and now i have 10 gallons of RO water ready to go whenever i need it. Best investment i ever made.
 
am i not allowed to mention where I purchased my RO unit from??? i've never had anything like that blocked before.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10760987#post10760987 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shyland83
am i not allowed to mention where I purchased my RO unit from??? i've never had anything like that blocked before.
Click to expand...

Can someone explain this policy; if there are good deals why can't it be shared?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10758461#post10758461 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jgiordano
I was asking directional;

but I am curious I don't buffer my top off, I have heard mixed things. How does it work for you. (sorry for the hijack)
Click to expand...

Jgiordano,

I don't buffer my top off either. However, in the summer, I had done a lot of top off because of using a fan, that caused a lot of evaporation when I was trying to keep the temperature from going too hot.

However, top off water from RO/DI is not at ph of 8.3, so there is a different PH going into tank. Since, I use buffer to maintain 8.3, as long as there is sufficient amount in tank, tank consistently stays at 8.3 and does not go higher. As soon as I start to see a drop in PH, I know to add buffer, then I set and forget for another month or two. That's the great thing about buffer, it keeps my tank at consistent ph 8.3 and I don't have to worry about going over.

PS. People say that salt does not evaporate. However, I can not explain this, because I did notice my salt drop in the summer months, even when I was just adding top off, because of the extreme amount of evaporation from fan. My guess is that normal evaporaton is not really lowering salt level. Not sure, about when you have a lot of evaporation because of fan.
 
I live in Ronkonkoma, and before when I was using "filtered" water, I got horrendous hair algae in my FO tank. I then bought a RO/DI unit from AirWaterIce and my hair algae eventually disappeared.

I hardly drink the tap water in Ronkonkoma, so I would not recommend using it in any fish tank.
 
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