# Brown sand?



## Puddjuice (Mar 11, 2004)

I do not remember this problem in my last aquarium, what is it?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Diatoms, how long has this tank been set up ?


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

beat me to that one, diatoms.....


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## Puddjuice (Mar 11, 2004)

Ok, how do I get RO water. My tank has been cycled for as long as you would a a freshwater tank. I did the shrimp trick where you put a piece of raw shrimp in there to kick off the algea bloom. I neglected the RO water, where can I go to get this? The diatoms stopped but, after I cleaned my sand to get the diatoms off the sand bed and when I re-added water it came back on my LR. Will this go away? Hopefully, if not this is alot of ruined LR.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Puddjuice said:


> Ok, how do I get RO water. My tank has been cycled for as long as you would a a freshwater tank. I did the shrimp trick where you put a piece of raw shrimp in there to kick off the algea bloom. I neglected the RO water, where can I go to get this? The diatoms stopped but, after I cleaned my sand to get the diatoms off the sand bed and when I re-added water it came back on my LR. Will this go away? Hopefully, if not this is alot of ruined LR.


check with your LFS if they will sell you RO if not then order a unit online when i reseached for mine i found www.filterguys.com to offer the best bang for the buck, but there are a number of sites that sell good units and all differnt size and configuration.. if your going to spend the money for an RO filter spend teh extra cash for teh DI stage.

tap water and reefs do not mix you will likely have algea issues for as long as you use tap but keep in mind that RO wont prevent all algae its normal for there to be multiple stages of algae blooms. until the tank has reached an ecological balance. this could take about a year.

the other thing you should do is have a cleaner crew in there, mainly snails and crabs they will eat most of the algae and stir the sand plus it adds life to the tank and they are interesting to watch.


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## Puddjuice (Mar 11, 2004)

So a good cleaning crew will help with the algea and diatoms. How much crabs and snails do you think would be suitable for a 10 gallon nano?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

in my ten i started with 5 blue legs 5 nerite snails 5 cerith snails and 2 astrea snails. that seemed to do a pretty good job.


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## Puddjuice (Mar 11, 2004)

With constant water changes, a good cleaning crew, what else can I do to help prevent unsightly algea? Protein skimmer?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Puddjuice said:


> With constant water changes, a good cleaning crew, what else can I do to help prevent unsightly algea? Protein skimmer?


of course a protien skimmer will keep your water conditions better but with a small tank and regular water changes theres no need to spend teh money on a skimmer.. another good thing to do is keep the stocking light.. nor more then two small fish with no excessive feeding.. or no fish at all


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## Puddjuice (Mar 11, 2004)

Thanks for the input, I am getting a good cleaning crew. I would like 2 clowns in here, and I guess I will have to deal with their waste because even though it's the most known salt water fish, it is my favorite.


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

the best diatom muncher i've purchased has been my fighting conchs. they keep that nasty brown sh*t in check. plus they're fun to watch.


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## His Majesty (Apr 5, 2005)

yeh conchs are real good. i had a tiger conch and it munched on all the alagae. brown and green


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## Puddjuice (Mar 11, 2004)

Does these brown diatoms stain the rocks? I don't have the means of getting algea munchers untill next week.


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

it might bleach out your coraline if it is left too long. it might block out the light, so the coraline may lose its colour.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Puddjuice said:


> Thanks for the input, I am getting a good cleaning crew. I would like 2 clowns in here, and I guess I will have to deal with their waste because even though it's the most known salt water fish, it is my favorite.


clowns might be the most well known but they have a ton of personality, they are like dogs


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## Puddjuice (Mar 11, 2004)

My LFS has 4.4 gallons of pre made salt water. I guess it would just be cheaper to get an RO filter. I am looking into them.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Puddjuice said:


> My LFS has 4.4 gallons of pre made salt water. I guess it would just be cheaper to get an RO filter. I am looking into them.


ive used tha before, i think it was called nutri sea.. what ever the name its ok but not cost effective.. you will spend more up front on an RO or RO/DI unit but you will have better water and you could use the RO for any other fish tanks you have..


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## Puddjuice (Mar 11, 2004)

Is this do-able for an RO unit? Or should I get something bigger and better? If I just need it for a 10 gallon?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...amp;pcatid=4467


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

Puddjuice, search for "Aquasafe" reverse osmosis/deionization filtration systems. they sell on ebay. it's a canadian company, but they ship from Washington state. VERY good bang for your buck. it's what most ppl up here use.

they even have systems made for aquarium use. i think i spent less than 200$, and got a TDS meter, water pressure gauge, and 1-2 years worth of replacement filters.

if i were you i would go that route. saves a tonne of money in the long run.

check ebay though, they sell primarily on there. if you need i can probably get their email address again as well.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

the unit that you linked is not what you want.. if you really want to eliminate your water as a potential source for algae then you want to remove 100 percent of nasties from the water, that means RO/DI.. you can get a sufficient system for 175 - 225.

go with what puff said or go directly to the other water filtration sites like

Buckeye Field Supply
The Filter Guys
Purely H2O
Air, Water & Ice

going though a site like dr fosters and smith will not get you the most bag for the buck.

when selecting a unit keep in mind that even though you only need a few gallons a week a 75gpd filter will give you the best performance from the membranes and it wont take ten hours to get 5 gallons of water. even thought the unit is rated at 75gpd the chances of you actually getting that level of performace is highly unlikely. you do not want to hook it up to a float switch with an auto top off directly from the unit, this creates the potential for tons of problems. its a very good idea to get the pressure guage you need to have more then 30psi for the unit to work properly. TDS meters are also pretty much a necessity, you can just use a hand held or the dual meters are usefull too. the more information you can get about the way your system is performing the better position you will be in getting the most out of it.

here is an example of a basic affordable unit 
http://www.airwaterice.com/product/1TYPHOO...per_75_GPD.html


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## Puddjuice (Mar 11, 2004)

I know this is ebay but it looks like Purely H20 filter, or is it not the same?

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Reef-6st-100GPD-Re...bayphotohosting


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

im not a big fan of the small piggy back style DI.. im not sure what the purpose is of that chamber after the DI with activated Carbon.. a very important factor is the quality of the filter media that you purchase. if you buy a cheap sytem with cheap fitlers your not saving much if you have to replace the filters in a short time. i honestly think you should just bite the bullet and spend the extra money for a unit that is going to perform consistantly right out of the box and for atleast a year. even if it means wiating nother week or two if you cant afford it now it is worth it in the long run.

once you get the unit there are procedures to follow to ensure the best life of the filters and best output in general..

for a compact unit these are the best options, there are others but these would be best on a budget you can always add features like a PSI guage and dual TDS meter later and you can upgrade to a full size DI chamber, the other budget systems with only 1 or 2 RO chambers arent worth it since you will be replacing the media more frequently . if your going to spend 80 - 100 then why not just go the extra 30 percent and get the right thing the first time?

#1 best option for the lower budget systems
http://www.airwaterice.com/product/1COMPAC..._TDS_Meter.html 
this includes a tds meter, that alone costs about 30 - 50, anohter great feature is the di bypass this will extend the life of the di media..

2nd best
http://www.thefilterguys.biz/ro_di_systems.htm
$135.00 - OCEAN WAVE FIVE STAGE 75 GPD RO/DI 
this is virtually the same thing as the AWI compact three but does not have the bypass or include the tds meter but it has cear DI stage

100 gpd filters are not as effective as 75 gpd.. baiscaly what that means is you will be pulling less from the RO side and make teh DI do more work which means shorter DI life and the di is more expensive to replace


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## Puddjuice (Mar 11, 2004)

I'm gunna get one of those, not sure which yet. I think I will end up getting the filter guy one.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Puddjuice said:


> I'm gunna get one of those, not sure which yet. I think I will end up getting the filter guy one.


the filter guy one has the clear housings which is a nice thing to have..

side note the ebay unit you posted has that yellowish DI media, im guessing the color is because i is not color change media, most of the reef specific units use black media that turns that yellowish brown color when it is spent.. in either case you should have a TDS meter to tell you the performance of teh filters

The DI bypass and Flush feature is very usefull, when you run a unit its performance will increase so for the first 5- 20 minute before the tds reachs its lowest point it is best to run the flush/bypass so you are nto sending this higher tds water through the DI stage essentially wasting the resin. this is where a tds meter is worth its weight in gold. the better you can monitor your levels the longer your filter cartridges will last.

spend some time reading up the info on the vendor sites to fully understand everything. it can makeyour head spin but eventually it all makes sense


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

the aquasafe has clear resin chambers as well.

100GPD, and it comes with a 4.4 gallon resevoir, faucet, and some other sh*t.

check it out if you can.

i forgot to add, ive heard very good things about the Buckeye systems, but i got more bang for my buck with the aquasafe. plus i havent heard anything bad about them. on top of that, both systems use the Filmtec membrane, which is the best that you can get.


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