first reef tank - RO, DI & salt mix questions
 

I'm totally new to SW tanks. I have a 20 gallon tank with a 10 gallon sump plumbed and ready to go with a bakpak2 skimmer. I'm ready to add water but I'm not sure how to proceed. First there is the RO or DI issue. I can get a tap water DI filter at J&L (I'm on Surrey water) or I can buy RO water at Save-On Foods. Ocean Aquatics also sells RO water. I'm somewhat hesitant to buy a RO unit at this time. Is DI "good enough" or do I need to go with RO? Has anyone had any recent experience using RO water from Save-On? I say recent because I believe that they recently switched suppliers.

Then there is the salt mix. Instant Ocean, Kent Marine, Seachem or Tropic Marin appear to be the choices. Is one going to be more suitable than the others?

Welcome to the hobby:)

I would say go with the ro water from the store. Just ask them how often they change there filters. The di filter just removes anything that is left over from the ro.

For salt youwill get varied opinions. I used to use Instant ocean and switched to tropic marine as it is higher in calcium,magnesium etc.I think that is just a preference. I have never used the others so i can't comment on that.

Have fun:)

For a small set up like that you could get away with using an Aqua Pharm tapwater purifier.Its a DI filter.It would probably only be good for your first fill up before becoming used up,even though the box says its good for 300 gal.You would have to check prices to see if this is cheaper than buying water.If you go the buying water route I would suggest going with Ocean Aquatics.I would think these guys keep a closer eye on their filters.Water from food stores can be iffy when it comes to purity. As for salt,talk to Wendel when your at Oceans.

Just the RO will be ok till you get your RO/DI unit.

The first thing you should buy is a RO/DI unit before anything else IMO, it will save you frustration, headaches and money down the road.

I used one of those aquarium pharmacutical DI filters and it knocked my water down from 65ish to between 5 and 10 ppm, so it works fairly well, but RO/DI is defininitely better with between 0 and 1 ppm.

I 2nd that !!

Foe water I just us a regular aquarium pharmaceuticals DI filter on my 46 and IMO it dose the job. For salt I use instant ocean simply because it is fast dissolving and cheap witch I relay like unlike Kent where I herd that it takes for ever to dissolve and it is quite a bit more. With Instant ocean you have to add your own supplements witch takes no more than 2 minuets.

Like mentioned before salt is your own preference.



:biggrin: HAPPY REEF KEEPING:biggrin:

welcome
 

welcome to the hobby:biggrin: -i highly recommend investing in at least a deionizer to reduce undesireable algal growth as mik_101 said, when investing in a nice reef tank, optimum quality source water can make quite a noticeable difference. -As for salt i prefer kent for it's dissolveability, i've tried kent and instant ocean, and preffered kent, it's very fine and dissolves easily, anyways good luck and welcome:mrgreen:

You get what you pay for.
I use RO/DI and tropic marine Pro salt.
After investing so much in the tank and live stock, i'd like to keep criters happy.
few $$ saved is less then a drop in the ocean compare to what we spend anyway.
I have NEVER seen dirtyer salt then IO.

ya i'm gonna have to agree instant ocean is'nt the first choice on my list,
i'm really happy with kent salt, sure it's 50% more $$ but IMO its worth it, well i don't know whether it's ''dirty'' as you say all i know is that i like kents' dissolveability better, finer too:smile:, as for aquarium pharmaceuticals DI kit i'm quite impressed with it's efficiency-

Hey, what do your Ca and Mg levels actually test at with RO/DI + Tropic Marine Pro?

Thanks everyone!

It turns out that an Aqua-Safe RO-DI system isn't as expensive as I thought. They sell them on eBay for $85 US including shipping. Compare that to $45 for the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals tap water filter and the choice seems obvious.

I would like to understand the differences in the salt mixes. Instant Ocean doesn't say too much about theirs. Kent and Seachem both talk about enhanced levels, i.e. greater than found in natural seawater, which puzzles me. Is this a good thing? It appears that Tropic Marin simply replicates natural seawater which sort of makes sense to me, keeping in mind of course, that I've never had a reef tank.

"Kent Sea Salt contains enhanced buffer levels and enhanced levels of important minerals, such as calcium, strontium, iodine, iron, cobalt, rubidium, lithium and many others."

"Seachem's Reef Salt will support and promote enhanced calcium and alkalinity stability for those wishing to maintain calcium above Natural Sea Water (NSW) levels (400 mg/L) as well as providing NSW levels of bromide (65 mg/L)."

"Tropic Marin Sea Salt contains all 70 trace elements in the natural concentrations of the ocean. No more, no less."

I agree with what's been said above about the RO/DI water saving you from a lot of algae problems. I started with that 1 1/2 years ago and have never had hair algae in my tank.
On the topic of salt, I started with IO but determined it was really messing with my numbers. After looking at a lot of the forums on RC and others, I have gone with Marine Environment salt...really awesome stuff! Gotta get it only from Aquarium illusions in Edmonton though as they have exclusivity in Western Canada. They ship Greyhound and are excellent to work with.
Just my 2 cents.

welcome aboard dcmoore;

As you are probably noticing after reading all the posts, there is a lot of difference in opinion regarding most aspects of this hobby which adds to its fascination. You would think that simulating natural sea water would be the best for your SW tank. However, we have small closed systems which results in rapid depletion of several minerals and trace elements in the water. Therefore, it may be better to increase the dose of calcium, magnesium etc. so the levels don't fall below physiological levels too quickly. However, if you have a fish only system then probably cheaper salt like IO may be perfect for you. However, if you are planning on having a reef tank then I would start with a more expensive salt that has higher levels of Ca and Mg which means you have to spend less to supplement these. Pick one brand of salt that is easily available and stick with it (if you are happy with it). This is good for consistency and will let you become familiar with the characteristics of that brand of salt. Regular water changes are also important to keep the mineral and trace element levels in the appropriate ranges.

Happy reefing,
Shane