bhcaaron

Marine Biologist/Author John Tullock stated that hard water with low, prefferably no, phospates made better saltwater. (I can find exact quote if someone wants to be a bugger!)

What do you know about this?

sgould

I'm sure someone else can speak more intelligently to the hard water point, but my understanding is that there are 2 advantages to it...1) hard water is better buffered against changes in pH, and 2) it contains more of certain minerals, a big one being calcium, that are used by various sw creatures.

Phosphates contribute to nuisance algae growth, so the lower the better.

bhcaaron

So, then, I probably shouldn't get an RO/DI system since that was my main concern.

atmmachine816

No I would get one. RO is the common used one, it makes the water pure so less phosphates. Frequent water changes will help keep the trace elements in the water column more plentiful. Anymore than that I'm afraid I can't help and with what sgould told you. I wouldn't worry too much about the calcium though, because if your going to have really any corals you'll need to test and possibly add a calcium buffer anyways. I would get a RO unit or DI though. PLenty of info on them on the web.

bhcaaron

We, here where I live, have pretty hard water. Is there another way to take care of the phosphates with out taking the hardness away? If that's going to help me better care for my fishies, I want it.

atmmachine816

Um RO filter? Pretty much everybody uses RO water or tries to, I don't think it makes water that soft. Phosphate remover but then your using chemicals, I personally don't like using chemicals.

bhcaaron

No, I'm not using any chemicals. I don't have a tank set up yet. I'm looking for things to better take care of my fishies with out using chemicals where ever I can get away with it.

atmmachine816

Then I would go with RO water, it removes the phosphates and other harmful elements to your fish. The units can be a bit expensive, over 100$.

bhcaaron

Yes, I know about these. However, RO also reduces hardness in the process. My question was if there was a way, perhaps a filter, that took care of the phospates in tap water w/o messing with the hardness.

neverendingninja

I was always under the impression RO made water somewhere between 90% and 99.9% pure, therefore softening it, because impurities in the water are what make it hard.

atmmachine816

I'm not an expert on RO, possibly DI maybe? I don't know of any other methods to keep the water hard. A large saltwater store by me uses only RO water and they have thousands of gallons of water and they have no problems so it can't be that bad. But I don't know?

bhcaaron

Yes. You and I are agreing to the same thing.

RO is not bad at all. Its just that I learned that the minerals in hard water make a much better buffer for PH.

atmmachine816

Well if your planning a dsb, you will probably use aragonite which supposedly helps buffers your pH and your live rock can help some too.

bhcaaron

Aragonite? Have any info on that. I've been lazy this week, but, I still have to look into oolitic sand. Might as well just read up on aragonite if I can.

atmmachine816

Ya sure, here:

here's a list of a bunch of types http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_Aquari...media_caribsea

here's some more http://books.google.com/books?id=V9V...4UnyA#PPA30,M1

That's what I found real briefly i'll see what I can find later, I have some good sites just have to find them again. It seems like oolitic sand might be similar to aragonite, not sure on that.

bhcaaron

Thanks. Seems like aragonite is basically crushed coral. Am I correct? So far, I haven't heard many good things about crushed cora. What do you say?

atmmachine816

um no it's not crushed coral. I'm not exactly sure what it is, I haven't read that far into it. maybe somebody else can explain it to you. I haven't had any problems with mine though. I'll see if I can find a good description of it for you, I can't seem to put it into words.

bhcaaron

Yeah, I find it difficult to fit that sand in those pesky little words too lol