Confessions of a Tap Water user

[genesisblue]

Hey all,
After about 6 months of having no growth on corals, unhealthy fish, cyano, and crazy diatom blooms I decided to do what I should have in the first place: I bought a good quality BRS RO/DI 5 stager. I changed half the water in my 20 gallon tank and about 25% in my 55 gallon tank and already I can see a difference in water clarity.

My question is this: How much more water should I change out of my tanks (20 gall and 55 gallon) and does the RO/DI unit take care of chloramine? I know that the carbon should handle chlorine itself, but I read something on here about chloramine.

Also I have an incoming TDS to my DI cylinder of 2 and an exit TDS of zero, so I'm getting pure, delicious RO water. Are these TDS in line with what everyone else gets?

One more thing: How long should I wait/How much water should I change before i start adding in clams and other water parameter sensitive creatures.

Thanks a ton and I'm glad to be part of the RO/DI club, which everyone should be in.


Adam

[xcreonx]

Personally, I would change as much water as I can to dilute the tap water in there. I might do 4 or 5 50% changes. Chloramine last a pretty long time in water, which is why it's used over chlorine, but it's the heavy metals that stay in there for the long haul.

As far as I know, a standard DI filter will not totally remove chloramine. I found a chloramine specific DI filter for my setup as my city uses it in the tap water.

[Squidmotron]

Been there. It's really up to you. If you can't wait for clear water, do more now. But eventually you'll get there with each water change.

[Neptunes World]

I would just forgo wasting time, water and salt. I would take my corals out (if I could), put them in a bucket of tank water, same with the fish, put all new water back i nafter sucking every last drop out I could and spend an hour or two on the weekend acclimating the fish and coral to the new water. Then you consider it a lesson learned n spending a weekend acclimating was your punishment and move onward and upward. :dance:

[Blayz77]

I saw either a brs video or read an article on here saying that if u have chloromines in your water you will need a chloromine specific ro/di unit. Otherwise it could result in some kinda reaction like amonia if i remember right. You dont want to be putting that in your tank. Im no expert but its something to look into to verify.