Tropical Fish Forums

[stryoftheyear]

Hi, well I'm planing to set up a SW tank soon and just wondering do you really need a RO system to keep saltwater fishes? My dad's friend just uses a normal fuacet filter to filter his water and wondering if that will work fine. If a fuacet filter won't do can you recommend me a cheap RO system, I'm kinda low on money right now.

Thanxs.

[dale]

Hi stryoftheyear, welcome to the forum.

What size of tank do you have / intend on having?

For a small tank, bottled water (as for a water cooler) may serve you but for a larger tank a R/O unit will pay for itself over time.
Normal tapwater may contain chlorine/chloramine, heavy metals, phosphates and nitrates and the levels of these may fluctuate widely depending on water/weather conditions at the source. Normal tap filters don't trap out some of these elements. In this article here http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_small_aquarium_filter.php I describe a filtration regime for a 33G. tank using bottled R/O water from the store. It cost me $3/wk.
To initially fill the tank you could use tap water (test a sample first) and run carbon and phosphate removers if neccisary.

Sorry, I can't recommend one R/O unit over the other. Perhaps someone else can.

Hope this helps,
Good luck.
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[stryoftheyear]

Thanxs for the welcome.I'm gonna be using a 30g tank. It use to be a freshwater tank but I'm going to clean everything out and start all over with new gravel etc. So buying the water from a store is OK for me, but how can I tell its R/Oed water? Is it distilled water, and wouldnt I have to buy a lot since I'm gonna be changing the water like a freshwater tank?oh and can I reuse my filters from my old freshwater tank?
sorry about all these questions.

[dale]

Hi stryoftheyear,

Most of those Q's are answered in the article. In that case I was using a 33G. tank so your experience should be the same.
R/O means reverse osmosis, a form of filtration. You do not need distilled water. This is the common form of water sold for water coolers and the dispenser or seller will state it is R/O filtered water (in the article I use a 5G. water cooler bottle that I fill up at the supermarket each week).
Yes you can probably reuse your F.W. filter, just wash it well and remove the biological component. What brand and model is it.
_________________
Intelligence is not having all the answers; it's knowing how to think!

[stryoftheyear]

I have a Marieland Bio-wheel and a Aquaclear 70

[dale]

Hi Stryoftheyear,

The A.C. unit is fine, it is the brand used in the article.

I think you meant Marineland? Perhaps the penguin series?
To use it in a S.W. application disable the biowheel (take it off). The penguins also have filter cartridges which I am unfamiliar with. Perhaps someone else can chip in with regards to how those things hold up with regular cleanings.

Any S.W. penguin filter users out there with some experience to share?
_________________
Intelligence is not having all the answers; it's knowing how to think!

[Psyfalcon]

I don't like the cartridges, as they do not clean out very well. You might end up replacing them more often than a sponge or sponge + filter floss.

Since I only have a single fish in my 10, it does not get bad unless I get over- generous with my feedings, but if I had 2-3 larger fish (clowns/gobies/blennies) I would dislike cartridges even more.

[Fishboy86]

Hey stryoftheyear well I'm running my 55gallon with a Penguin filter I kep on using the cartriges but for the extra storage I use Nitrate sponge to help keep my nitrates down they rarely go beyond 10ppm thats what I'm doing also heavy skimming helps you out a lot.