Cali Kid Corals

Cycling base rock with treated tap water

MontanaBay

MontanaBay

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So I need to cure about ~40lbs of base rock, I don't own a RO/DI unit because of space, roommates, water waste, and cost/volume needed ratio. I normally drive my truck up to Glacier dispenser and fill my 5gal buckets @ $0.35gal. This is usually no big deal since I make about a run a month, but now I'm faced with doing many water changes over a short time period while curing this rock.

So my question is, is it really necessary to use RO/DI water when cycling base rock? I would definitely treat it with Prime for chlorine, but what about silicates and iron?

Thanks,

Josh
 
For cycling rocks treated tap water will be fine. You'll still want to get an RO/DI system. It makes up for the initial cost very quickly.
 
Don't know how big are the pieces but if you have multiple toilets stick the pieces in the tank. I did it with my nano when I first started and have been doing it with freshly made plugs. Saves money on water too. :)

Agree with Dyngoe in regards to the RO/DI.
 
Yeah, I really want to get one and have battled the numbers over whether it would be cost effective for me or not.

I only need about 10gal a week, so I worry about the membrane drying out and having to replace the canisters before EOL. I also need to convince my roommates to be cool with swapping the hose over manually on the washer and to be cool with using waste water in it.
 
So, you spend ~$25 a month on water from the store. You can get a decent RO/DI setup for <$180. This will pay for itself in 6 months. I'm not sure what you mean about your roomates switching the hoses? Why would you do this? Just plumb your waste water to a bucket outside and use it for your plants.
 
[quote author=MontanaBay link=topic=4458.msg54179#msg54179 date=1220219269]
Yeah, I really want to get one and have battled the numbers over whether it would be cost effective for me or not.

I only need about 10gal a week, so I worry about the membrane drying out and having to replace the canisters before EOL. I also need to convince my roommates to be cool with swapping the hose over manually on the washer and to be cool with using waste water in it.


[/quote]

Unless you hav a broken unit it should never let the membrane go dry. No worries there :)
 
[quote author=Dyngoe link=topic=4458.msg54180#msg54180 date=1220221385]
So, you spend ~$25 a month on water from the store. You can get a decent RO/DI setup for <$180. This will pay for itself in 6 months. I'm not sure what you mean about your roomates switching the hoses? Why would you do this? Just plumb your waste water to a bucket outside and use it for your plants.
[/quote]

I only spend around ~$14 a month. The only real space I have to hook it up would be in the utility room with the washer and drier. The only threaded faucet in there would be cold water in on the back of the washer. I live with 5 people, so hooking it up in the kitchen would be trouble and the bathrooms have old school copper faucets with no threads. I could run the whole thing outside, but that would be annoying too.
 
[quote author=MontanaBay link=topic=4458.msg54179#msg54179 date=1220219269]
Yeah, I really want to get one and have battled the numbers over whether it would be cost effective for me or not.

I only need about 10gal a week, so I worry about the membrane drying out and having to replace the canisters before EOL. I also need to convince my roommates to be cool with swapping the hose over manually on the washer and to be cool with using waste water in it. [/quote]

They have splitters so you could run water to the washer and dryer at the same time and you shouldn't have to switch hoses.
 
any problems with hooking up to the hose faucet outside? Just as long as I remember to bring it in on the few days it freezes in the east bay.
 
You could just get a Y branch fitting with individual valves at homedepot for like $10.. then you won't have to keep connecting nit and disconnecting it..

I think island creation is talking about curing plugs and newly made baserock.. Not cycling it in his toilet tank :)
 
[quote author=fishnfst link=topic=4458.msg54193#msg54193 date=1220246184]
You could just get a Y branch fitting with individual valves at homedepot for like $10.. then you won't have to keep connecting nit and disconnecting it..

I think island creation is talking about curing plugs and newly made baserock.. Not cycling it in his toilet tank :)
[/quote]

to install that I would need a blow torch, solder, and pipe cutter right?

yeah, I don't think I'll be cycling my base rock in the toilet :)
 
nah you can get one that has hose bib threads on all three ports.. The incoming side will be female hose thread and the two outgoing ports will be male hose bib.. The two outgoing sides will both have individual shutoff valves so you can shut off the ro/di setup and not shutoff water to your washer... Let me see if I can find a pic of one.. If you go to home depot they normally have them where their garden hoses are hung.. Sometimes they are outside near the pool supplies.. They will have like 20 different kinds.. You jsut need one similar to this.. Then if you're ro/di setup doesn't have the right connector you jsut need a 1/4" john guest fitting to female hose adapter.. Those can be had at most hydroponic , reef, lfs, urban farmer, my garage :)... Type stores....

Product_308.jpg
 
[quote author=fishnfst link=topic=4458.msg54197#msg54197 date=1220248497]
nah you can get one that has hose bib threads on all three ports.. The incoming side will be female hose thread and the two outgoing ports will be male hose bib.. The two outgoing sides will both have individual shutoff valves so you can shut off the ro/di setup and not shutoff water to your washer... Let me see if I can find a pic of one.. If you go to home depot they normally have them where their garden hoses are hung.. Sometimes they are outside near the pool supplies.. They will have like 20 different kinds.. You jsut need one similar to this.. Then if you're ro/di setup doesn't have the right connector you jsut need a 1/4" john guest fitting to female hose adapter.. Those can be had at most hydroponic , reef, lfs, urban farmer, my garage :)... Type stores....

Product_308.jpg

[/quote]

sweet, looks like I'm getting a RO/DI unit :)

Might go simple with something like this: http://www.airwaterice.com/product/1COMPACT/Compact_75_GPD_Reefkeeper_RODI.html

and support our sponsor.

Anyone feedback on this unit? Or the Mighty Mite RO/DI?

Cheers,

Josh
 
[quote author=fishnfst link=topic=4458.msg54193#msg54193 date=1220246184]
You could just get a Y branch fitting with individual valves at homedepot for like $10.. then you won't have to keep connecting nit and disconnecting it..

I think island creation is talking about curing plugs and newly made baserock.. Not cycling it in his toilet tank :)
[/quote]

Ha,ha,ha Yeah I was pretaining to base rocks. You don't need to cycle base rocks unless their already seeded. But I'd cook them for atleast 1-2 weeks.
 
That one doesn't look too bad.. My ro di setup uses a full size di cartridge though.. I think that one wuold probably be fine.. Ians has one with the smaller inline di cartridge.. Maybe he'll chime in on how well his is working.... How much water a week are you going to be making? Do you have any other kinds of fish tanks besides teh reef?

Many people get shocked with how much byproduct or waste water a rodi setup makes.. I use all the waste water for my other fish tanks water changes so it doesn't go to waste.. It's already dechlorinated and has just slightly higher tds than your incoming water...
 
I'll be running 75gal total in reef tanks, so about 10gal a week, plus the weeks when I need to do bigger water changes. So a very light load.
 
How big is your current tank? Does it have a sump? If the sump is big enough, I'm wondering if you can just toss the rock in there and let it cure. Just throw in one piece at a time.
 
[quote author=Elite link=topic=4458.msg54219#msg54219 date=1220295920]
How big is your current tank? Does it have a sump? If the sump is big enough, I'm wondering if you can just toss the rock in there and let it cure. Just throw in one piece at a time.
[/quote]

I'm actually doing that now to seed one piece of rock at a time, but there is not much room for the bigger base rock.

How do people like Prime as a dechlorinater? Looks like its suppose to remove N and ammonia too....I've always been skeptical of these things, is it really an all in one?

Cheers,

Josh
 
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