RO water

[kirkwood]

I'm wondering if using RO water from the machine at Kroger would produce high enough TDS levels to irritate SPS corals.. leading to browning out and eventual death over a 6month - 1year period... I'm asking this because I've always used Kroger RO water from one of the Glacier machines and my SPS (red planet, no name acros, spongodi, tri color, jedi mind trick monti) are browning out and I'm seeing some STN... However I have made other major changes over the past 6 months such as a switch from T5 to all LED lighting (combo eshine, and MM boxes, both with UVs), and I also upgraded my tank from a 55 to a 120gal and definitely had a phosphate spike early on when I added a bunch of cured rock...

anyway, I'm switching to a home RODI unit so I'm hoping that lower TDS will lead to a rebound in the coloration of my SPS.. or maybe I just need to wait for the stress of the LED and tank switch to wear off... ??? any advice or experiences you've had like this to shed some light on the subject would be appreciated... I miss the beautiful colors of my favorite corals...

 

[rdnelson]

Do you have a TDS meter? That is the only way to be certain. If you are buying from the same store each time it could be that the filters need changing. I would highly recomend just getting your own. You can get portable units from

 

[kirkwood]

I do not have a TDS meter, but I finally got my RODI working properly (i had a problem with the flow restrictor on the out line of the RO housing)... I did a 10% water change today, and have my RODI on my ATO.... I'm just hoping that lowering the TDS levels will help bring back the color in my SPS... Today I also changed out my carbon and GFO reactors that were at about 10 weeks of use...

 

[maelstrom79]

Where in kirkwood do you live? I'm over near eav.

 

[ralph atl]

could be the lights.....

but it's phosphates & Nitrates...I wouldn't worry so much from ro water as your system of removing phates & trates in your system is much more important....so much so...

 

[kirkwood]

mysterybox;791841 wrote: could be the lights.....

but it's phosphates & Nitrates...I wouldn't worry so much from ro water as your system of removing phates & trates in your system is much more important....so much so...

i tested my nitrates a few weeks ago (ELOS kit ) and they were 0.. You're probably right about the phosphates because when I upgraded to my 120gal in June I took a bunch of live rock from another members tank and cured it in the sun for a couple days because i didn't want to run the risk of introducing any unwanteds into the new tank.. So all the new rock went in at once along with the live rock from my 55gal tank, and I've now learned that the dry rock releases a lot of phosphates into the water... I had a significant hair algae bloom for about a month with some bubble algae, but that has come in check now... I ran 1.4cups of GFO in my reactor for about 8 weeks, and I just replaced it this past weekend... So I'm hoping that I've come through the phosphate spike and the SPS can begin to recover, however I haven't seen any positive signs yet... I also run an undersized skimmer for my size tank, however I only have 4 small fish (PJ cardinal, coral beauty, royal gramma, damsel) so I figured for the time being my skimming was sufficient...

i hear a lot of members talking about the problem with the "spectrum" in LEDs, and I thought the lack of adequate spectrum could make the SPS lose its color...

 

[rjrgroup]

Kirkwood;791759 wrote: Today I also changed out my carbon and GFO reactors that were at about 10 weeks of use...

:wow2:

 

[ralph atl]

GFO and Carbon will usually last a week or two...after that it's pretty much saturated of coated with bacteria and rendered ineffective.

 

[rdnelson]

mysterybox;792176 wrote: GFO and Carbon will usually last a week or two...after that it's pretty much saturated of coated with bacteria and rendered ineffective.

Just to clarify in my own mind, the time frame is affected by the amount of bio load you have isn't it? In my case, I have a very small bio load (still recoverring from the major crash) and therefore my carbon should last longer shouldn't it?

 

[ralph atl]

It should last longer, yes, but if it's rendered ineffective from bacteria coating, I would rinse it weekly with RO water....then you should be ok.

 

[rdnelson]

mysterybox;792198 wrote: It should last longer, yes, but if it's rendered ineffective from bacteria coating, I would rinse it weekly with RO water....then you should be ok.

Good Idea. Never thought of rinsing. Currently I am at about 4 weeks but I just got a big jug of Rox Carbon in payment for some work I did yesterday so I will change it out in the next day or two then rinse it regular.

 

[mc524]

I used to buy my water from Kroger as well. Though I bought the 2.5gal RO/DI jugs from the shelves. I just tried to get the latest dates I could. Did that for a year before buying my own RO/DI unit. Never tested the TDS of that water from the jugs. However, even now with the use of my own unit which shows 0-1 coming into the DI and 0 coming out...I haven't notice any change in my tank.

Possible that if you were getting JUST RO water, it could possibly show up on a TDS meter. I know if I turn my system on and turn my TDS meter on. I will get a reading of like 10-12 but comes down in a couple of seconds. So I have a T and a ball valve that I open and allow that water to drain prior to getting into my DI filter. Once it comes down to 0-1 that I close that valve and open the DI outlet valve.