RO/DI Water Questions

sharkfinsean

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 14, 2012
69
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Baltimore, MD
Do I need it, Why do i need it, What do I use it for, Can I buy RO/DI Water offline or do I need to buy the RO/DI Water systems to obtain it?
 

cichlid_king

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 14, 2011
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Fond du lac, Wisconsin
Do I need it, Why do i need it, What do I use it for, Can I buy RO/DI Water offline or do I need to buy the RO/DI Water systems to obtain it?
RO/DI water stands for reverse osmosis, dionization. You only REALLY need ro/di water if you are doing a reef tank. RO/DI water is tap water that goes through steps of purification to become pure water with 0 tds,nitrite and nitrate. It is perfect for reef tanks because it doesnt contain any chemicals that algae feeds on and the corals love it, especially SPS. You can purchase RO/DI water offline at some LFS but not all of them. It is fairly expensive because it sometimes takes 3 gallons of tap water to produce 1 gallon of RO/DI. There is also maintenence that you need to do with a system ie: filters need to be changed etc.

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sharkfinsean

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 14, 2012
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Baltimore, MD
Define reef for me, corals? I am planning to stock my tank with a Cleaning crew from petco (30 gallon package link: http://www.petco.com/product/101417/Cleaner-Package.aspx?CoreCat=LiveFishHPSaltwaterPackages ) 10 Cerith Snails, 5 Nerite Snails, 5 Margarita Snails, 1 Sand Sifting Starfish, 5 Red Leg Hermit Crabs, 5 Blue Leg Hermit Crabs, 1 Medium Cleaner Shrimp and 1 Arrow Crab, 2 ocellaris clownfish and a pajama cardinal would this count as a reef setup, also please allow me to know whether you think this is too much to stock a 30 gallon tank with
 

cichlid_king

Feeder Fish
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Feb 14, 2011
916
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Fond du lac, Wisconsin
Reef means corals. You can have fish with the corals too. That would be okay in a 30 gallon. You could put a couple more small fish in it too. Are you using anything for filtration? How much live rock do you have?

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sharkfinsean

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 14, 2012
69
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25
Baltimore, MD

cichlid_king

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 14, 2011
916
1
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Fond du lac, Wisconsin
I wouldnt buy LR or LS from petco. I would buy it from your LFS that isnt petco. Get aragonite sand, probably about 40 or 50lbs for a decent SB depth. You can buy dry rock. I would get 30lbs. Then you have a couple options to cycle your tank... You can either do it the old fashioned way(this is the way i do my tanks) and rot a prawn in your tank for your ammonia source, or you can use fast cycling products(i dont really like these methods) or you can buy a piece of LR and let the bacteria spread to the other rocks. The first method takes about 6 weeks, the second takes 1 day and the third takes about 3 months.

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sharkfinsean

Feeder Fish
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Dec 14, 2012
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Baltimore, MD
What's wrong with petco? And are you sure about 50 pounds of sand for a 30 gallon tank and Where can I obtain dead rock, i just did a quick search on google and all I could find is live rock?
 

RefriedPenguin

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 4, 2012
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Oklahoma
Dead rock just means that it's rock that used to be live... Sometimes it has dead bacteria in it that has to cure... Meaning basically you'll have an ammonia spike from the decaying bacteria.. If I understand that correctly?

I purchased a bunch of rock from Marco Rocks and he shipped it all and I had it by the end of the week.

I quick search will bring up his website

"http://www.marcorocks.com I believe but not 100% sure


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cichlid_king

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 14, 2011
916
1
0
35
Fond du lac, Wisconsin
Dead rock just means that it's rock that used to be live... Sometimes it has dead bacteria in it that has to cure... Meaning basically you'll have an ammonia spike from the decaying bacteria.. If I understand that correctly?

I purchased a bunch of rock from Marco Rocks and he shipped it all and I had it by the end of the week.

I quick search will bring up his website

"http://www.marcorocks.com I believe but not 100% sure


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Yup. The bacteria on the piece of LR will die off creating an ammonia spike which will cause ammonia eating bacteria to grow and start the cycle.

I buy all of my dry rock from marcorock. The quality of the rock is awesome and free shipping.

The rrason i dont buy from petco is because 90% of them dont care about what they are selling. They dont care of it dies when it walks out the store. I like to buy things from people that care and that do it because they love marine and freshwater animals.

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