# Skimmer & Water Conditioner?



## malawi4me2

I've been reading about the AquaC Remora Protein Skimmer, and the user's manual says that using water conditioners or stress coat will cause the collection cup to overflow. Is this true? I am under the impression that some people succesfully use conditioned tap water in their reef tanks, and this is what I am planning to do. I do not have the place to store RO water for water changes, and I don't have the money to buy RO water for water changes. Do I have any other options?


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## Osiris

Hey there,
So ya venturing over here eh?

Yes it is true with any skimmer it will. You shouldn't have to treat water as u should be using RO or RO/DI water, and buffer it. I have read that only conditioner that won't make it go crazy is prime..but then again shouldn't need it....


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## malawi4me2

So, RO or RO/DI is the only way to go?


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## Osiris

yea otherwise u going to have problems. With algae and stuff. Better health in all ur livestock this way in SW, i use RO water in milk gallons as top off that i leave in pantry.....


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## malawi4me2

Thanks Marty!


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## icp

i use tap in my 390g when i do a water change and yes it makes the skimmer go crazy but only for a day :mrgreen:


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## malawi4me2

What exactly does it make the skimmer do? :? Does it overflow into the floor, or does it back-up into the tank? Would a RO unit still be worth the $$$? How do you use a RO unit? I'm planning on keeping some soft corals (xenia, leather corals, and maybe some zoos), along with some snails, hermit crabs, and a couple of blood shrimp.... Would RO water make a really noticible difference in their health? I'm new to the whole SW thing, and have _so_ many questions!
ICP- What do you keep in your 390g? I'd love to see some pics!


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## Osiris

np malawi, yea it is worth it u can get i believe 3 or 6stage one on ebay for lil over 100 bucks well worth it. It makes it serisouly overflow and water everywehere. Though if u stick ur hands in tank it pauses the skimmer for a hour or so. 

As for the corals and stuff, You'll need good light what size tank u thnking of doing? they sell 48" PC lighting 220w for around 100 bucks including shipping which is a steal. Yea ur going to have to use RO water or RO/DI water for them corals much much much much much much much much much much better health.


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## malawi4me2

Well... I guess I'll just have to get a RO thing, then!  It's a 30g tank (20x22x21"). Right now I have 96w PC (50/50) on it, but I _may_ eventually upgrade to that Coralife one that has the two rows of 65w actinics and the metal halide in the center if I really get the hang of SW! I'm gonna add livestock _very_ gradually, and the hardiest stuff first. I'd eventually like to have a copule of fish also (some type of flasher wrasse, and a blenny/goby of some kind...), but that's _way_-on down the road! LOL Redpaulhus already okay-ed the basics but now I'm working on planning out the technical stuff! :roll:

Here's my original post about my set-up, and what redpaulhus had to say:


malawi4me2 @ Mon Jan 24 said:


> I have kept FW tanks for many years, and I am now thinking about trying my first SW set-up. I have a spare 30g (20"x22"x21") tank (formerly housed my Tanganyika cichlids), Eheim 2213 Canister Filter, and a 20" Coralife Aqualight 4-tube 96watt 50/50 lighting.
> I have been advised to ditch the Eheim, and purchase a quality protein skimmer (the skimmer would provide enough filtration). (I thought skimmers were usually used in conjunction with a filter... :? )
> Is the lighting that I currently have sufficient for a few not-too-demanding sessile inverts? Would the same fixture with 4-tube 10,000K lighting be better?
> I will use live aragonite sand and live rock. I also would like to keep a few soft corals, some motile inverts, a bottow-dwelling fish (some type of goby or blenny), and another small fish, for a total of 2 fish. Would this be overstocked considering inverts.? How much LR should a tanks with those dimensions have? What type of LR is the best (Florida, Fiji, etc)?
> I want this to be a fairly basic set-up. I'm not prepared for metal-halide lighting, UV-sterlizers, calcium-reactors, and all of that equipment! Does this sound possible? I understand that a tank this small would be harder to keep stable than a larger one. I'd appreciate any input regarding my ideas! It'll be _at least_ a month or more before I even start working on this.





redpaulhus @ Mon Jan 24 said:


> That sounds like a perfect setup - I think you could do an awesome tank with those inhabitants and that lighting.
> That shape tank should work really well with that light - you wouldn't be able to keep really light-hungry inverts like tridacnid clams, but you should easily be able to keep most soft corals (ie leathers, toadstool leather, 'tree corals', xenia, green star polyps, zoanthids, shrooms, ricordia, etc) happy. Some may do better higher up on the liverock, some lower, but there shouldn't be any real problems.
> 
> Personally, I prefer the liverock, sand, skimmer approach _without_ a classic filter (ie no HOB or canister) - the liverock will handle the biological filtration, and the skimmer is essentially chemical filtration. By avoiding mechanical filtration you can keep nitrates and other dissolved organics low(er).
> If by motile inverts your thinking shrimps, snails, hermits, and maybe a brittle star, you should be golden.
> A lawnmower blenny would do great in there, or some neon gobies. A percula or false-percula clown would work as a second fish, or a royal gramma.
> or... if you really give the tank a little time to settle first (maybe 6 months), you could even try a dwarf angel - they are usually ok with soft corals, although an occasional one will decide to 'nip' at them.
> http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/fishes/angels/centropyge/index.htm
> Other ideas for a second fish include cardinalfish, firefish, and one of my fav - chalk bass.
> As for liverock - whats best depends alot on your area. I can get really good (primo!) liverock from a LFS here for about $5.50 a lb - he buys in bulk and cures it in a greenhouse before bringing it to his shop (as needed). Its full of interesting shapes, nice coraline algae, etc. And since its local, I can hand pick just the pieces I want.
> If there are no shops like that near you, mail order pacific rock will generally have nice shapes, low density, few hitchhikers, and nice coraline algae.
> On the other hand, cultured Florida rock will have lots of encrusting goodies (sponges, algae, corals, etc) on it that wouldn't survive shipping from the pacific, but it will often be less interesting looking and more dense.
> If your gonna add alot of corals, you'll probably never see the goodies from the florida rock (I've seen quite a few tanks were I couldn't even see the liverock under the corals).
> If your gonna go lite on the corals, it may be worth getting the florida rock - especially if you don't live far from FL.
> You may want to check out Dale at www.gulf-view.com --- he has deals on 30lbs of FL rock with shipping...
> or someplace like www.liveaquaria.com - where they have some liverock packages, but shipping isn't usually included in the list price.
> I'd look for about 30-40 lbs - it may be hard to get a shipment of less, and you'll be able to do some neat aquascaping (especially if you have interesting shapes).
> I'm with you in terms of low-tech - I don't use a UV or a calcium reactor (my reef is mostly soft corals).
> I'd stick with the 50/50 bulb (at least at first - if you decide its not enough, you can always try the 10,000k bulb, but then you might end up adding a 15w actinic bulb to get the nice colors back...)
> HTH
> Red


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## icp

it has 1/2 gal collection cup and a tub going to a 5gal so it rarely overflows .... i just keep fish ( bat , puffers an many other generic fishes) no corals or any thing interesting yet :mrgreen: it still in progress so when (if) i ever get it finished ill post some pic's :mrgreen: i would also recommend a ro with those corals and with a 30g is should be easier to keep all the levels in check if you have a ro :mrgreen:


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## Osiris

just a note, them lawnemower blenny's, not all are trained for prepared foods some need only self-sustaining systems....but if u buy one have the LFS show u it eats live foods like brine shrimp or frozen food like mysis. U can get dried seaweed at a grocery store for way cheap, it's in the oriental section i think its called roasted seaweed instead...same thing.


Marty


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## malawi4me2

Cool! Thanks y'all!


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## malawi4me2

A three stage is one with two canisters, right?  How often do the filter cartridges have to be replaced?  Those replacement cartridges are pretty expensive in my area ($50-90).  Is there any particular brand y'all recomend?  I've looked at some by Coralife, Kent Marine, and Seachem.
One more quick question:  Do the salt mixes have a buffer to keep the pH stable already in them, do you just rely on the buffering capacity of aragonite substrate, or will I have to add additional buffers to the water?


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## malawi4me2

Bump...


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## Osiris

three stage fitleration? u mean like a fuge, sump thing or filter?
most dont use mechanicals filters unless needed for something else. From what i have heard that the salt should have everything in it to buffer it back along with a substrate capable of buffering it out. I bet if u have a storage bin with aragonite bottem and put RO water in it as prepared water for WC's be perfect.


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## Osiris

three stage fitleration? u mean like a fuge, sump thing or filter?
most dont use mechanicals filters unless needed for something else. From what i have heard that the salt should have everything in it to buffer it back along with a substrate capable of buffering it out. I bet if u have a storage bin with aragonite bottem and put RO water in it as prepared water for WC's be perfect.


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## Osiris

three stage fitleration? u mean like a fuge, sump thing or filter?
most dont use mechanicals filters unless needed for something else. From what i have heard that the salt should have everything in it to buffer it back along with a substrate capable of buffering it out. I bet if u have a storage bin with aragonite bottem and put RO water in it as prepared water for WC's be perfect.


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## malawi4me2

Well... I don't exactly understand the three stage RO thing, but I guess it goes through three different types/methods of purfication? I ordered the SpectraPure Maxpure 40 GPD RO/DI system (and all the little valves and all for it) from marinedepot.com a few minutes ago. It seems like a pretty good one (it's actually a four stage... whatever that means... LOL), and everyone that I have talked to seems happy with SpectraPure systems. Thanks for the reply, Marty!


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## Osiris

o lol now i understand, yea perfect, really only three stage units, ones that are more then that double up on something else...which is good u know? Usually i seen people hook them up to a coldwater line before it hits there washermachine...if u own a home and its in basement or something..


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## fishgfish

you can buy one of those sink attachment purifiers. There is one for aquariums makes about 10gal/minute works well. If you have been using your tapwater, dechlorinated, you don't have to add conditiner, reefchrystals salt will dechlorinate water.


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## Osiris

i would not use tap water though. IMO, and many others. Also you will burn through them attachments for sink way fast, hence why i did not suggest it.


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