Dego's First Tank - All-in-one, 3-sided nano

[Eric65]

If the final voting comes down to a tie, I say you get bonus points for shipping it cross country!!

[Dego Red]

Thanks everyone.
I lit the tank up tonight with my rock work inside...looks exactly how I wanted it to. I'm also finalizing a BIG order with a certain sponsor...

DADDY'S GOT GOODIES COMIN'!

lol

out for now...

[chrischris]

wow looks great
glad to see it made it through shipping

[Dego Red]

So the FedEx guy dropped by today.



For those of you keeping track...
- AC Jr. with...
DC8
Serial port
Temp probe
Lab PH probe
- MJ1200 for salt mixing/water changes
- Hanna TDS meter
- Medium MagFloat
- A/N/N, Ca, Alk, PO4 Salifert kits (Mg was back ordered)

Substrate and salt is from the LFS. Sooo close to being ready to fill!

[aquawolf]

Nice little bundle of goodies, that is like Christmas time all over again.

[benzzz]

All you need now is H2O.......

[miniwhinny]

CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!!!!!!

How exciting.

[Dego Red]

Originally Posted by benzzz

All you need now is H2O.......

Speaking of this, I have a question for you all.

Now, I've searched on this, but I can't find a specific source for what would be defined as a "safe" or acceptable TDS reading. So what do you guys think?

I've read that some people see 200ppm straight out of the tap, then their RO gets them down to under 50ppm, and the DI does the rest to 0ppm. So since only a RO is necessary (in most cases), is anything under 50ppm "ok"?

My readings are:
60ppm from the tap
30ppm after the Brita (was just curious)

Should I mix some up with salt to check the PO4, etc and go from there? I still have lots of options...but fill me in!

[Danyen]

man, 60ppm from the tap is pretty fantastic. generally, once the TDS creeps above 10 people change out their filters. I've used 30ppm water and only had minor issues. I'd still use an RO/DI. The filters will last quite some time with source water like that.

[chrischris]

i think 0ppm is what you want to use but 30ppm will work

[Dego Red]

Well algae growth is a concern, but since all I'm looking to do is cycle on this stuff I'll have 6 weeks to get an RO/DI before needing a water change. For now I'll either fill with a brita filter (new one, should be < 30ppm), or just go to the store and get 30 gal of RO water there...after a satisfactory TDS reading, of course.

Danyen,
What did you mean by "minor issues"? Some algae growth, or otherwise?

[Danyen]

just a little algae growth from using 30ppm water. Some hair algae in one spot of my tank with low flow. It was manageable. What I've got now is disgusting. I started getting RO from a new LFS a few weeks ago and I've got a hideous outbreak of cyano and hair algae.

[DarthOcellaris]

You should be ok with a tds reading that low....you could treat the water with Prime but that would throw off your nitrate and ammonia readings. Might throw off all test readings but I know it will skew those two in particular.

[Dego Red]

Alright, thanks guys. I just ran to Lowe's and picked up 6 five-gallon buckets. I'm gonna head to the store shortly to test and hopefully bring home some water with a little lower TDS. If not, no big deal - I'll just run the 30ppm water for now. I'm only cycling, and I'm gonna need a 50% water change after its finished anyway, so I'm not that concerned.

With any luck, the next time I post will be with filled pictures...

[Dego Red]

So I have my water, salt and equipment all ready to fill...but then I had a little delay tonight - lol


Short story is here:
http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=113283