Need Protein Skimmer and Set Up Info

No the only fish store specific saltwater is over a 3 hour drive away. One of my friends has a complete saltwater fishroom and he doesn't use RO water he just uses it from the tap with a dechlorinator and instant ocean which is what he told me to do but he didn't specify not to use AquaSafe.

Daniel
 
fishieperson321 said:
No I am not using RO water. I can't afford an RO system. How many water changes will I have to do? Complete 100% water changes?

Daniel
Click to expand...

By using tap water you will be doing water changes every day in order to keep on top of nitrate/phosphate levels which will be no good for your tank as it will throw all the ionic balance.
You will never get the full potential out of your tank using tap water and you will have difficulty trying to keep any inverts, especially if copper is present in your tap water.
Marine keeping is more about keeping the water then the live stock in it. Good water = healthy live stock, bad water = suffering live stock and algae problems.
What are your plans for filtration?
In my eyes if you can't do it right, don't do it.
 
Maybe im lucky ..........
I have never had any problems with my water ,i use tap conditioned with prime .
No readings no algae and only do 1x week waterchange .
I have a skimmer but only run it when i rescape or buy something new or after a waterchange .
I use argonite sugar grade size (as per advice from reefscape) and never any problems , no sandstorms.

That skimmer picture looks like a problem and you may be better without one then lol

We do plan on a RO/DI sometime in the future!
Good luck
 
Blossom112 said:
Maybe im lucky ..........
I have never had any problems with my water ,i use tap conditioned with prime .
No readings no algae and only do 1x week waterchange .
I have a skimmer but only run it when i rescape or buy something new or after a waterchange .
I use argonite sugar grade size (as per advice from reefscape) and never any problems , no sandstorms.

That skimmer picture looks like a problem and you may be better without one then lol

We do plan on a RO/DI sometime in the future!
Good luck
Click to expand...

You must have better tap water than I have in the UK then. My nitrates from the tap are 40ppm with Po4 around 1.5
 
fishieperson321 said:
No I am not using RO water. I can't afford an RO system. How many water changes will I have to do? Complete 100% water changes?

Daniel
Click to expand...

There's a simple solution to this and it only requires one thing. Unfortunately, it is something few people have, and that is patience. I can fully understand not being able to afford stuff. However, there is little excuse to not wait, save up some money, and do things the right way. It will save you even more time, grief, and money in the future. So do yourself a favor, have patience, and build up your aquarium inventory at a feasible pace. One of the worst possible things is to jump in with the absolute minimum, because you'll soon find that what you thought was the minimum really (or more realistically) just isn't enough. That' just how it works.

On another note, I have some fairly nice and expensive equipment in my setup. Did I buy it all at once? Heck no. There is no possible way for someone with my income. I bought everything in a piecemeal fashion to get what I have today. The same applies to my livestock.

FWIW, nitrates are undetectable here, but phosphate hovers at ~1 ppm
 
Most water out of the tap in the states is about 7. The salt should bring the ph up, and if not, you may need to buffer the ph. Make sure you test your tap water frequently!!! Things in tap water change like the seasons.

Just to be clear, I am not supporting your decision to use tap water, as it will surely cause problems in the long run! I learned this the hard way. If I would have bought an ro/di unit in the beginning I would have saved a lot of money in salt to do water changes. My tap water tested the same as yours, but stuff grew out of control. Get an RO unit and save yourself some stress!
 
In almost all cases, good aeration after adding a salt mix will bring the pH up to the proper levels. Buffers are a poor way to raise the pH since you raise the alkalinity substantially for a relatively small pH increase. Good aeration with fresh air will make a big difference, if necessary.

Fishieperson, it is good that the levels are low, but chances are, they are high enough to cause issues. Algae doesn't need detectable levels to have plenty of phosphate to grow. Unless you want to fight the problem long after you eventually get RO/DI water, then go ahead with tap. It would be easier and cheaper in the long run to simply get the RO/DI unit and make your own water. It will save you a lot of time and frustration in the future, as well. FWIW, good units can be had for ~$150-$180 USD and will be all you need to have good quality water.
 
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