Hi fellow hobbyist. I am helping a friend with a fo or fowlr (don't know which route yet). I have been doing a reef tank for 3 years. My question is do fo/fowlr need ro/di water or could tap water be used? Also, regarding fo vs fowlr, I have heard some people here use bioballs or ceramics instead of live rock and get away with it. Tank will be 60-100 gal with sump and protein skimmer. TIA.
tap water vs ro/di
- Thread starter sps1-2-b
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limitdown
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I run a 240g FO system with about 45liters of ceramic rings in the sump, but I don't use straight tap water. I use a 1micron PP sediment filter followed by 2 KXMatrikx +1 carbon blocks. At minimum, you should use a 5micron PP sediment pad followed by a 5or10micron GAC cartridge. I use RO water for drinking and cooking, but it just takes way too much time (1/2 a day at 100gpd) to make 40gallons of it just for a water change.
I've owned a reef before with live rock, but I feel that ceramic rings pound-for-pound, volume-wise and cost-wise outperform live rock. My fish have almost double the swimming space because I don't have 240pounds of live rock in the display. Also, I don't have to worry about nasty hitchhikers, nuisance algae from live rock.
Nitrates will really depend on how many and the size of the fish your friend is looking to keep. Running an FO does not in itself cause higher nitrates than a reef. If you kept the exact same fish stock list, you will have the same nitrates whether it's an FO or reef!
I've owned a reef before with live rock, but I feel that ceramic rings pound-for-pound, volume-wise and cost-wise outperform live rock. My fish have almost double the swimming space because I don't have 240pounds of live rock in the display. Also, I don't have to worry about nasty hitchhikers, nuisance algae from live rock.
Nitrates will really depend on how many and the size of the fish your friend is looking to keep. Running an FO does not in itself cause higher nitrates than a reef. If you kept the exact same fish stock list, you will have the same nitrates whether it's an FO or reef!
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