First Water Change with RO/DI water

[jawwad2004]

I just did a 15% water change with RO/DI water on Monday. I have been fighting Diatoms for about 2 months now, and I really dont see a difference with the diatoms. THey are still there. I mean the RO water does make the water look better. However, would anyone know how long it would take for the diatoms disappear with water changes of roughly 15%weekly?

 

[House of Laughter]

2 months

House

 

[Deanos]

2 months

LOL...I don't think that the answer he's looking for, but it's true.

 

[jawwad2004]

Damn 2 Months. I can see how you came to that conclusion. I guess that means larger water changes!

 

[Barnacle_Blenny]

do a 99% water change and you have no diatoms right away but you'll also have no livestock...hehe

Seriously though IMO get yourself a phosphate reactor and use rowaphos... Plus run a refugium with some macro algae

 

[Tonyscoots84]

how long do u have your lights on during the day and what type of lighting. and how is your flow in the tank... and how big is the tank.

 

[jawwad2004]

do a 99% water change and you have no diatoms right away but you'll also have no livestock...hehe

Seriously though IMO get yourself a phosphate reactor and use rowaphos... Plus run a refugium with some macro algae

I am using refugium, the diatoms actually grow on the cheato, which is kinda weird. I think most of my problems are linked to silicates and not phosphates, so would I really need a phosphate reactor?

 

[jawwad2004]

how long do u have your lights on during the day and what type of lighting. and how is your flow in the tank... and how big is the tank.

I am using 2 250 watt metal halide (bulbs are about 7 months old @ an average of 7.5 hours a day). Supplemented with 2 110 watt super actinic VHO (Installed brand new bulbs last friday @ about 9 hours usage daily).
My tank has about 25x turnover rate. Using an Aquac EV 120 protein skimmer and the tank size is 90 gallon plus 20 gallon sump/fuge

 

[Tonyscoots84]

lighting seems to be perfect.. what kind of sand did you use. and have you tested your water for silicates..

 

[masterswimmer]

If you do a 15% water change every day starting now, you will NEVER replace 100% of your tap water. What you will do is continually dilute the remaining tap water. If you can do a few 30% - 40% WC's then you'll shorten the time you experience diatoms.

Russ

 

[jawwad2004]

lighting seems to be perfect.. what kind of sand did you use. and have you tested your water for silicates..

I am using a mixture of soutdown and aragonite sand. I havent tested for silicates cause I havent purchased the test kit yet.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

silicates are a problem that causes diatoms. (algae) there are also many more things that cause algae outbreaks but thats one of em...

 

[nanoreefer22]

Just take it nice and slow homie. Two months being in school, it'll go by as fast as a fat kid eats cake

<-----Fat kid at heart

But really just take it easy. Like Russ said do a few bigger water changes and it'll possibly* cut the time.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

yessirrrr. lolz... kris everything looking so fresh and so clean ova hea... shhhhhh

 

[DRZL]

Not the anyone listens to me or at least not until someone recycles what I just said

but it is BS that you you need ANY of your tank water to keep your tank alive..there isnt a magic bacteria in your water in a reeftank that keeps things alive. its your rock that does that, not the water....that just gets repopulated in a few hours

go for 3 50% WC, (100% will leave your fish very unhappily gasping on the SB...lol) or as much as you can...i can assure you as long as nothing is exposed for too long (even softies) and the WC is well aerated and made up at least 24hrs before everything will go off w/o a hitch.

its all math and proportions but at 15% you can change your water 20 times and it will still be there just more diluted

Anthony Calfo has written about doing 100% WC in the manner I speak in his own tanks

 

[DRZL]

BTW southdown is aragonite based sand

where are you getting your silicate problem from?

 

[DRZL]

heres a good read
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/watchgantart.htm

Article excerpt

"The size of water change needed per tank varies not only on bio-load, but on several prominent aspects of husbandry, all focusing on nutrient export. More aggressive protein skimming, carbon and chemical filter media use, and vegetable or animal filtration (filter feeders and macroalgae refugiums, e.g..) can alleviate some of the burden on water quality and reduce some of the need for larger water changes. But we cannot avoid water exchanges altogether. Do consider that even with a 50% monthly water change, 50% of the undesirables, and depleted desirables, are still left behind. And those unfavorable ?halves? accumulate and amplify month after month. This is the impetus, in fact, for aquarists with smaller marine aquaria to do 50%+ water changes weekly. They are largely spared the need for protein skimmers, dependence on heavy chemical filter media use/exchanges, and the alchemy of estimating how much of which magic elixirs (supplements) must be added. Best of all, it is all done at a very modest expense of mere tens of dollars per year in extra synthetic sea salt.

Although it may sound remarkable at first to do such large water changes, it is not unnatural by any stretch of the imagination. Is there any better example of the power of dilution than the ocean itself? If you spend any time at all on living reef, you will be astounded to see how much water is exchanged in a moment: millions of gallons of water in flux within sight. Add to that the fact that so many popular reef creatures are intertidal, and we have a good argument to start with for the tolerance of reef creatures to hearty water changes."

 

[jawwad2004]

BTW southdown is aragonite based sand

where are you getting your silicate problem from?

Well it must be directly from the tap water before I installed my RO unit. I just did a 20% change right now, and will do a 30% change by the end of this week as well.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

you got alot of water changes to go.. lolz yea i no they suck..... but end result is tank looks gooddddddddd.

 

[jawwad2004]

Well lthe lights just went on in my tank, and there are barely any diatoms there. I am making more water right now, lol.