Cali Kid Corals

SF tap water--how do you treat?

Matt_Wandell

Matt_Wandell

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I'm thinking I could just go with DI and/or GAC to make up some water at home. So what does everyone in SF use to make up their water? Full blown RO/DI seems a bit overkill for a 20-30g tank with LPS and softies...
 
Depends how dirty your pipes are that brings you the water, last i checked (some years back) my TDS was upwards of 180, Eileens I think was 40s or so, so different parts of the city different water qualities. Depending upon how dirty it is you might just burn through resin super quickly even for a small tank.

That said, I do sediment + 2 x carbon + 2 x RO (output of one goes into input of other, doubles output, halves waste water), and a multitude of DI resin chambers (so I'm allowed to get lazy and forget to change... or try to squeeze that last molecule of water cleaning resin dry :D). I also need a booster pump because my water pressure is the crap.

Also I seem to remember that you need a minimum contact time with the carbon for it to be effective, I think if you remove that RO part you'll shoot water through too fast to effectively remove chloramines. (might be wrong on this, as I don't have any way to actually test it)
 
Erin, that's the only filter you use? That bit about the filters needing to be replaced every 150,000 gallons even close to true?
 
Matt_Wandell said:
Erin, that's the only filter you use? That bit about the filters needing to be replaced every 150,000 gallons even close to true?
Click to expand...

http://www.poly-bio-marine.com/ksfaq9.html

The few I know that ended up getting one had to run activated alumina... that gets exhausted fast.
 
Oh and by the way...

http://www.poly-bio-marine.com/ksfaq6.html

run home and through away your RODI... Kold Steril!
 
Matt_Wandell said:
Erin, that's the only filter you use? That bit about the filters needing to be replaced every 150,000 gallons even close to true?
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Erin is not in the city, and his WQ and TDS may be radically different than yours. TDS at my house in Alameda is 30-40, so I just use DI (and some nearby don't even do that). I hear tell that in the city, where the WQ out the tap can majority shift seasonally, is like 300. Not saying KS won't work, just cautioning to compare apples to apples.

I looked into KS once because ASAP used it. I think I got scared off by some of the over the top language in their promo materials, and it seemed to be a poly filter in a canister. :D
 
Thales said:
Matt_Wandell said:
Erin, that's the only filter you use? That bit about the filters needing to be replaced every 150,000 gallons even close to true?
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Erin is not in the city, and his WQ and TDS may be radically different than yours. TDS at my house in Alameda is 30-40, so I just use DI (and some nearby don't even do that). I hear tell that in the city, where the WQ out the tap can majority shift seasonally, is like 300. Not saying KS won't work, just cautioning to compare apples to apples.

I looked into KS once because ASAP used it. I think I got scared off by some of the over the top language in their promo materials, and it seemed to be a poly filter in a canister. :D
Click to expand...

And ASAP used it due to Bob being old friends with Poly-Bio... and he works with them now ;) Not a reason to buy anything IMO.

IMO/IME they are not a replacement for RODI and the claims they make on the website are wild.

IN case you didn't catch it Erin, I was 100% being sarcastic in my "room home and throw away you RODI" ;)
 
yeah, it mentions on the website that RO water can't remove heavy metals/pollutants/etc... ummm actually said right on my box that it does in fact remove all that junk. Now it might be that RO part itself doesn't, but instead the carbon prefilters, but then again who pushes RO water without prefilters? THat's just asking for trouble.
 
Kensington Reefer said:
Kold Steril has been working great
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How do you know? It could be that it isn't doing all that much an you would be fine without it.
I used to run RODI and said it worked great, but then I switched to just DI and it works great.
 
Kensington Reefer said:
I agree with you Rich. But my methods are giving me growing corals and fish (for many years). So: if it ain't broke...don't fix it.
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Great, but this thread is about recommending ways to treat tap water, not about changing current methods. If we really don't know if the particular point in the system is doing anything positive, I would be hesitant to recommend it.
 
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