moving back to the Bay Area in December

Jamie1210 · #1 10/11/2007, 08:43 PM

Here is my situation, and I guess my question is, what would you do in this situation?

I'm moving back to the bay area (Fremont) to live at home again from Los Angeles in Dec. bc I'm done with school. I have a 55 gallon hex tank that's currently a FOWLR setup. The equipment/lighting is definitely reef ready. My problem, though, is that my parents have been using tap water. It's already got live rocks in there too that i'd like to use. My question is: if i start adding my corals in there that I currently keep in LA, are they going to be ok? The tap water is obviously treated first--they use aquasafe. The corals are some LPS and mostly softies.

And is it worth slowly switching to RO/DI water each time I do a water change? (I have heard that the metals from LR in tap water will always leach back into the water ... so is it even worth it ...)

thanks a lot!

Jamie

nasotang · #2 10/11/2007, 09:44 PM

Fellow Bruin???

Probably need more information about the tank condition. If there's unwanted hair algae (or turf/cyano/etc) you may want to cook the rocks before you use them. That'll probably also take care of unwanted nutrients in the live rock.

If the tank at your parents house doesn't have a lot of fish or corals I'd probably do a big water change with fresh saltwater made up with RO/DI and run a phosban reactor to remove phosphates. Use a nitrate sponge to soak up any nitrates.

blink* · #3 10/11/2007, 11:26 PM

Funny enough, I use tap in my reef. No mortalities I can attribute to that practice. EBMUD water may be different though, as I am in San Mateo county and before that, SF. Of course, my tank ain't exactly TOTM material.

blink* · #4 10/11/2007, 11:35 PM

Funny enough, I use tap in my reef. No mortalities I can attribute to that practice. EBMUD water may be different though, as I am in San Mateo county and before that, SF. Of course, my tank ain't exactly TOTM material.

Jamie1210 · #5 10/11/2007, 11:48 PM

nastotang--yep, fellow bruin! But I'm actually finishing up grad school right now at CSU LA. Thanks for the suggestions ... currently, there's just the occasional brown algae on the acrylic--nothing major...but then again, my parents never have the lights on! and that will soon change

How effective do you think a phosphate reactor would be?

blink--too many acronyms for me lol .... what does TOTM and EBMUD mean?

thanks!

GRocks · #6 10/12/2007, 12:28 AM

TOTM = Tank of the Month
EBMUD = water company in the east bay

nasotang · #7 10/12/2007, 01:44 AM

Finishing up grad school...Congratulations!

The phosban reactor has worked for me to reduce my phosphates to zero, although I don't use it all the time.

If all you've got is brown algae, it might not be too bad. You could test your tank water and also you tap water to see what the levels are before you make a decision on how to proceed.

I used to use tap water early on, but noticed that I couldn't keep unwanted nutrients near zero. The corals did fine but weren't as colorful as they are now especially the sps. I think some people do have success using tap water, but it probably does range from water district to water district.

blink* · #8 10/12/2007, 02:36 AM

Mmm, it's true that I've never had a nitrate reading of 0. SPS grows, some extremely fast but I've seen better color in other tanks and nutrient levels are most likely the cause. LPS are doing as good as I've seen anywhere else. Just a thought, if there was ever any copper in that tank to treat the fish, you might have to toss the rock. I've heard that LR sequesters heavy metals and leach them out over time. Double check that, though. I'm not exactly Mr. Science.