Hi I have had fish for 25 yrs but need some salt water questions answered.I had a fish only sw tank back in the 80's and when I mixed the salt into the water I only used tap water.Tap ph is 7.3 med hardness.My question is if I am going to set up a nano reef how is the best way to mix the water.Do I need ro water and buffers?Are the Bio cubes I see at the lfs worth the price?Any help or pointers would be great.
mixing salt water ?
- Thread starter marnold
- Start date
If you have the money to use RO, definitely do. With RO you know exactly what's in your (nearly nothing but H20); with tap water there's a lot of possibilities (could have phosphate and cause algae blooms, could have copper and kill any inverts; at the minimum it will cause your water to not mix perfect params). Most decent salt mixes will mix with all the elements and params you'll need, but you'll probably wanna read into water chemistry before starting out(eg. what elements you have to replenish for your corals, etc).
As for BioCubes, there nice; probably not a bad way to get into the hobby. Personally though I would prefer to buy the peices seperately and create my own setup. Either way will work out fine as long as you get the right equipment (skimmer, powerheads, heater and good lighting is the usual basic setup).
The best advice though is to really make sure you know what your getting into (aka lots of research). Search these forums, google for anything at all that you don't understand fully or have questions about (reef central I find is also a good place to look for info). Chances are, whatever question you may have, someone has written a good article about it.
As for BioCubes, there nice; probably not a bad way to get into the hobby. Personally though I would prefer to buy the peices seperately and create my own setup. Either way will work out fine as long as you get the right equipment (skimmer, powerheads, heater and good lighting is the usual basic setup).
The best advice though is to really make sure you know what your getting into (aka lots of research). Search these forums, google for anything at all that you don't understand fully or have questions about (reef central I find is also a good place to look for info). Chances are, whatever question you may have, someone has written a good article about it.
Go the safe route and use RO. Tap water chemistry changes with the seasons, and its only monitored to keep the water "safe" for humans, not for corals.
the all-in-one systems are alright, but honestly, if you are planning on having a proper set-up, just make your own. that way you can add things like chillers, refugiums, protein skimmers, uv, whatever you might decide to use and still have a nice and neat looking system that would be easy to maintain. With the all in one tanks, you are limited to what you can add onto the system w/o doing some major retrofitting, and if you're going to put that much work into a nano-cube, you might as well have designed your own system. You'll be happier.
the all-in-one systems are alright, but honestly, if you are planning on having a proper set-up, just make your own. that way you can add things like chillers, refugiums, protein skimmers, uv, whatever you might decide to use and still have a nice and neat looking system that would be easy to maintain. With the all in one tanks, you are limited to what you can add onto the system w/o doing some major retrofitting, and if you're going to put that much work into a nano-cube, you might as well have designed your own system. You'll be happier.
Another thing about all in one set-ups, is that if one thing breaks, you have to jump throu hoops. If the skimmer breaks or the lighting gets a short you'll either have to track down the parts or find something else that works in a very limited space.
Case in point, my dvd player on my sony home theater all in one box went out, now I have replace both the dvd player and surround sound amp / tuner, instead of just the dvd player.
Case in point, my dvd player on my sony home theater all in one box went out, now I have replace both the dvd player and surround sound amp / tuner, instead of just the dvd player.