Hi eveyone,

I have recently bought my first marine tank - its holds 130L and has filter skimmer lights etc.

This weekend I am going to start setting up with live rock, live sand and water, but I have a dilema about the water side of things.

My local Marine shop recommends buying their RO water, but I would rather prep my own at home with the salts you can buy - mainly because my 'local' Marine shop is 10 miles away from me.

Can anyone advise whether RO is better for the tank?

How difficult will it be for me to mix my own water, and is there a real price difference in buying RO and making my own?

thanks in advance....

Hi Caz,

Yes, RO water is the best possible for your tank. RO water is pretty much totally pure water. Tap water contains all sorts of nasties that are bad for fish and coral. Stuff like chlorine, chloramine, nitrate, phosphate etc. With RO, tap water is put through an RO Unit which removes all these bad things.

It can be done with tap water using declorinater and stuff like that put RO is highly recommended. You can buy RO Units that can be attached to your water mains so that might be something to look into. A good RO Unit is about £70.

Salt water is pretty straight forward to mix. Just need containers, bucket of salt, RO water, refractometer/hydrometer, powerhead or air pump and a heater. Then just add the salt to the water, mix it in, check the salinity using the refractometer until its right, stick in a powerhead/air pump to circulate, add heater, leave overnight and then add the next day.

__________________
8' x 2' x 2' - Piece of Ocean.
6' x 2' x 18" - Wild Caught Zaire 'Moba' Frontosa
4' x 2' x 20" - Malawi
4' x 22" x 18" - Malawi + Victoria
4' x 18" x 18" - Breeding Cuban Cichlids.
Trigon 190 - Paratilapia Polleni
30" x 1' x 1' - Hospital Tank
2' x 1' x 1' - Tropical

and

7x - 1' and 2' cichlid fry tanks

hi n welcome to the forum,RO is always the way to go when it comes to marines...if you can afford it, buy ya own ro filter, a helluva lot cheaper in the long run...if not, get yaself a few containers and get them filled, should last a while + save on trips to the LFS

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WHO'S YA DADDY

wow - that was quick indeed.

OK - so I wil just get my RO water from LFS and maybe invest in my own RO converter unit in a while......presuming I don't get it all wrong and kill everything I buy!!!!

thanks

Yes that would probably be best and cheaper in the long run. As you have a small tank a 25kg bucket of salt would last months and if you were to get a 75g per day RO Unit, plenty of water there.

Any RO water you dont use in the tank you can drink

__________________
8' x 2' x 2' - Piece of Ocean.
6' x 2' x 18" - Wild Caught Zaire 'Moba' Frontosa
4' x 2' x 20" - Malawi
4' x 22" x 18" - Malawi + Victoria
4' x 18" x 18" - Breeding Cuban Cichlids.
Trigon 190 - Paratilapia Polleni
30" x 1' x 1' - Hospital Tank
2' x 1' x 1' - Tropical

and

7x - 1' and 2' cichlid fry tanks

OK - another stupid question.......do I still need to add Marine Salt to mixed RO water from LFS?

They didn't mention that I needed too when I spoke to them the other day, but I just want to check....

thanks

you can get "plain" ro[no salt added] or "salted" ro[salts been added]but if you buy salted ro check what the sg is on it

__________________
WHO'S YA DADDY

Hi caz,
I`ve looked into RO water for my trops, getting it from lfs takes more planning,(pick ups etc) but probably the cheapest. I looked at buying my own, but bear in mind, RO units for every 4litres of water that goes in, you only get 1litre of processed water out, so be aware if you on a water meter.

Look forward to seein your setup, and welcome to the forum xx