Bo0ger1, show me your tank...

I started reading those long posts but have to confess I got distracted
and spent an hour or so peering into my reef instead: that sort of
thing seems to happen a lot. Skipping down to the references I note
that some of them are 25-30-35 years old! Reefkeeping has changed a lot
from that time of the old "coral graveyard", I think the needs of
modern reef tanks are quite different and maybe you can't use the same
agruments anymore.

If you have high NO3 (or PO4) then you need water changes, completely
agree with that. Originally mine were up in the 40-50ppm, I solved this
by:-

1) starting to grow Cheato in the sump
2) changing my feeding regiem
3) adding a DI pod to my RO system.

On point (3), I discovered that my RO water had about 7ppm of NO3 in
it, top-up & water changes were actually contributing to high NO3! DI
pod fixed that.

As an aside, I'm amazed that one of the articals above advocates using
tap water rather than RO for top up & water changes, a sure-fire recipe
for high NO3, I think. Although I'm guessing that most of you are on
the other side ofthe pond (I'm a Brit.), maybe you have better water
quality than me!.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I started reading those long posts but have to confess I got distracted
and spent an hour or so peering into my reef instead: that sort of
thing seems to happen a lot. Skipping down to the references I note
that some of them are 25-30-35 years old! Reefkeeping has changed a lot
from that time of the old "coral graveyard", I think the needs of
modern reef tanks are quite different and maybe you can't use the same
agruments anymore.

If you have high NO3 (or PO4) then you need water changes, completely
agree with that. Originally mine were up in the 40-50ppm, I solved this
by:-

1) starting to grow Cheato in the sump
2) changing my feeding regiem
3) adding a DI pod to my RO system.

On point (3), I discovered that my RO water had about 7ppm of NO3 in
it, top-up & water changes were actually contributing to high NO3! DI
pod fixed that.

As an aside, I'm amazed that one of the articals above advocates using
tap water rather than RO for top up & water changes, a sure-fire recipe
for high NO3, I think. Although I'm guessing that most of you are on
the other side ofthe pond (I'm a Brit.), maybe you have better water
quality than me!.


Yeah but you have better beer !

wrote:

As an aside, I'm amazed that one of the articals above advocates using
tap water rather than RO for top up & water changes, a sure-fire recipe
for high NO3, I think. Although I'm guessing that most of you are on
the other side ofthe pond (I'm a Brit.), maybe you have better water
quality than me!.

My water tests out 0 for NO3 but 0.5 for phosphates. Agricultural areas (or
areas downstream from them) are much more likely to have NO3 in the water.

Tap water quality varies from place to place, so it really isn't possible to say
that a particular individual either should or shouldn't use it. It also is
likely to change in quality. Case in point - back in the 70s, the city of
Atlanta drew its water from the Chattahoochee river. I've seen perch swimming
near the intakes. It was rated the best water available in the U.S., including
bottled water. Manhattan tap water ranked second. Perrier was #10.

Since then, the entire area upstream of Atlanta has been heavily developed, and
the quality of the water has gone way down. Septic tanks and lawn fertilizer
will do that.

George Patterson
Those who do not study History are doomed to repeat it. Those who DO
study History are doomed to watch every one else repeat it.

wrote:

Skipping down to the references I note
that some of them are 25-30-35 years old!

That's the bibliography and further reading section; not exactly references. The
latest item in there is 1996, so this particular article must be less than 10
years old.

Most important is the fact that Mr. Fenner is a highly respected marine
scientist in his own right, so this isn't a case of someone reading a bunch of
books and writing up an opinion based on that.

George Patterson
Those who do not study History are doomed to repeat it. Those who DO
study History are doomed to watch every one else repeat it.