A
Anonymous
Guest
Sorry if I'm a little fuzzy this time around.. - Been a few short nights and this day has been pretty long....
Good deal on the new LFS! - I would reserve putting any loyalty on one or the other quite yet though.. - Better to see how they operate in person and see how they treat the livestock in their care and how they let it go out the door. (A truly good LFS will question you if you try to buy a combination of things that doesn't normally work out well..)
The price they quoted you IS pretty high for both the RO water and the premixed salt, but considering all you need is about 2.5 gallons every two weeks (buy it in a 5 gal container and you've got basically a months worth of water changes..) Thats not too bad.
DI is DeIonized water. Basically a long word for an effectively final chemical filtration process that pulls (adsorbs) charged molecules from the remaining stuff after its run through the other filters involved in an RO setup. In a nutshell, it finishes off the process and brings the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) down to 0 whereas just plain RO will usually leave the TDS at around 20.
Distillation processes can sometimes put water in contact with certain metals which can leach off back into the water. A single gallon very likely won't cause you any issue.. A dozen probably won't eaither. But with enough time you could build up the metal concentration in the tank to disastrous levels. -- Better to steer clear of the distilled stuff.
Go with the RO/DI from the LFS if you can.. Second option is the RO from Wallyworld.
On the lights... - Yeah, you can get started with just the ones you have right now to get some water/rock/sand in.. But you'll want to go with one of the PC setups.. Either the 24w (Odyssea or whatever its called) or the 2x9w setup. If the 24w will work and not have the legs hanging off in space, get that.. - The more light, the better! (To a point.. it IS possible to have too much too..)
But... -As long as the rock doesn't have any photosynthetic hitchhikers.. - Yep, you can fill it now.
And yes, most of us do leave our tops open. Pretty much only people who cover are those with small kids who can't seem to leave their damn hands out of it (thats my situation sometimes) or those with fish that are notorious for jumping. Even then, for those with jumpers they usually leave off any glass/acrylic tops and instead go with an "eggcrate" top instead. (Eggcrate meaning the white plastic "grid" usually found in florescent ceiling tile covers..) Like this:
See the white eggcrate holding the "frag" up?
Not really needed for your setup though.. - Not unless you get a fish thats a known jumper. (Though its not a bad idea to have one to put over the tank before lights out.. - Like I've said before, some fish will freak and jump when the light suddenly go out..)
Good luck, keep everyone posted!
Norm
Good deal on the new LFS! - I would reserve putting any loyalty on one or the other quite yet though.. - Better to see how they operate in person and see how they treat the livestock in their care and how they let it go out the door. (A truly good LFS will question you if you try to buy a combination of things that doesn't normally work out well..)
The price they quoted you IS pretty high for both the RO water and the premixed salt, but considering all you need is about 2.5 gallons every two weeks (buy it in a 5 gal container and you've got basically a months worth of water changes..) Thats not too bad.
DI is DeIonized water. Basically a long word for an effectively final chemical filtration process that pulls (adsorbs) charged molecules from the remaining stuff after its run through the other filters involved in an RO setup. In a nutshell, it finishes off the process and brings the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) down to 0 whereas just plain RO will usually leave the TDS at around 20.
Distillation processes can sometimes put water in contact with certain metals which can leach off back into the water. A single gallon very likely won't cause you any issue.. A dozen probably won't eaither. But with enough time you could build up the metal concentration in the tank to disastrous levels. -- Better to steer clear of the distilled stuff.
Go with the RO/DI from the LFS if you can.. Second option is the RO from Wallyworld.
On the lights... - Yeah, you can get started with just the ones you have right now to get some water/rock/sand in.. But you'll want to go with one of the PC setups.. Either the 24w (Odyssea or whatever its called) or the 2x9w setup. If the 24w will work and not have the legs hanging off in space, get that.. - The more light, the better! (To a point.. it IS possible to have too much too..)
But... -As long as the rock doesn't have any photosynthetic hitchhikers.. - Yep, you can fill it now.
And yes, most of us do leave our tops open. Pretty much only people who cover are those with small kids who can't seem to leave their damn hands out of it (thats my situation sometimes) or those with fish that are notorious for jumping. Even then, for those with jumpers they usually leave off any glass/acrylic tops and instead go with an "eggcrate" top instead. (Eggcrate meaning the white plastic "grid" usually found in florescent ceiling tile covers..) Like this:
See the white eggcrate holding the "frag" up?
Not really needed for your setup though.. - Not unless you get a fish thats a known jumper. (Though its not a bad idea to have one to put over the tank before lights out.. - Like I've said before, some fish will freak and jump when the light suddenly go out..)
Good luck, keep everyone posted!
Norm
