Waterchanges

Jw, what is the effect of tap water?

 

Tapwater can have impurities such as heavy metals and chlorine. Many areas also add chloramines to their water supply. It can also contain nitrates and phosphates and fuel algae blooms. It can also very in pH and hardness depending on how filtered the sample is which can change constantly.

I did set up my tank with tapwater though and spoke with the owner of a lfs who was featured for his store on advancedaquarist.com. He stated it would be best obviously to use RO/DI but about 80-90% of his customers use tapwater without any ill effects so the water in the pittsburgh region must not be too dirty. Like I said I had my water tested and it contained almost no phosphates or nitrates.

 

A WC bimonthly is appropriate?? I figured with a newer system I should do them more often to help make sure the nitrates dont start climbing. They test around a 10 and within 7-9days they creep up towards 14.

 

My tapwater is 150tds ppm out of the tap.

I use 0 from my RO/DI for my WC's now, Until i gets the salt and into the DT that is.

But, Not ALL tap water is that bad. You have to test yours, see where you are at, etc.

*** I just tested my DT water with my tds meter- it settled at 496!!

Ya know, we/I use this 0 TDS water, add the salt to get my SG right, and put it in a DT that is 496 tds?

Back to the original WC post, 25ish% weekly on a lightly stocked tank is too much.
However- I'm not sure where you're getting 10 nitrates from.

 

I haven't tested it chemically but I was surprised to note that the water coming out of those machines only has about 3-5 pp(m? t?) in it. Didn't realize they were doing such a good job on it. They do readd minerals as the last step of those water machines to make the water more palateable for people though. Not sure what they add though.

 

There are those that do not believe in routine water changes and those that do.I think once a week is too much, there are chemical changes that go on, you change the pH or alk dramatically no matter how hard you try not to. You change the water purity, as in organic compounds and relation to intensity of light, why stress your tank out every week when doing smaller water changes less frequently is easier IMO. Let the appearance of your fish and corals/inverts be your guide, first and foremost. Do not chase numbers and I would for sure figure out a way to not have to use tap water.

 

I set up the tank with about 40-45lbs dry pukani rock which had some organics on it and started the cycle without adding ammonia. I think they may still be finishing up curing as I still see some stuff decomposing on the rock but for the most part its cured, the nitrates before I added fish were around 10ppm. Like I said this is with an API kit which I dont fully trust its accuracy, need to get a red sea pro kit or something better

 

Did a 10gallon WC tonight since I had the water prepared already, think I will change to doing a 5gal biweekly WC from now on unless anything in the tank looks off. I do feed the 2 clowns very lightly so shouldnt have much waste buildup

 

I'm a couple months ahead of you I think with my 46 g and I'm doing bi monthly as well

 

Sorry Todd, but:

1) That would actually be correct. Once you add salt, you are measuring the SALT with the TDS meter.

2) You're not supposed to do that. You can ruin your meter.