Water Quality

[Marco Vasquez]

Your chlorine is a little high. Do you know what normal is? 17000-19000 is what I have.

ICP recommended 19000

 

[anthonygf]

That’s my big concern. That’s why I’m buying water until I get my ICP results back. I’m planning to add another carbon filter to rodi and still add prime. I’ll probably upgrade my entire rodi system.

Did you not see my reply? The chlorine in the ICP test is not from your RO/DI, it is in the salt mix.

 

[anthonygf]

ICP recommended 19000

ICP recommended 19000

Okay you do know, that is good. Maybe mix up your salt container a little before mixing. I don't know the dangers of the chlorine being that high. Maybe Randy can help with that.

 

[Marco Vasquez]

One thing I forgot to mention is before the clown died I noticed him passing a tapeworm, so I treated the tank with prazipro. That might explain some of the random readings from ICP.

 

[anthonygf]

One thing I forgot to mention is before the clown died I noticed him passing a tapeworm, so I treated the tank with prazipro. That might explain some of the random readings from ICP.

That is possible.

 

[Marco Vasquez]

Hello all. I started my Biocube 32 about 4 months ago. I started out with dry rock and cycled with microbacter. Everything seemed ok except I could never get an accurate ammonia reading. I started out with API and was getting a cloudy blue result, then switched to another brand with little yellow test dots (I can’t remember the brand). I got two clowns and set up a qt tank with basically the same parameters. They were in there for 6 weeks and I transferred them to the biocube. The male was struggling and I realized he was passing a tapeworm. He died soon after. I treated with prazipro. I added an anemone and it died immediately, then the female clown was acting strange so I put her back in qt, she recovered and is doing well. I was still getting bizarre ammonia tests so I got a new API. It was reading a cloudy white. I mixed distilled water with fresh saltwater I mixed from rodi and finally got a yellow result. I’m sure my city water (South Tampa) is crap. My TDS is reading 0. I need to have options for clean water. Have any of you experienced this? Ph holds steady at 8, no nitrates or nitrites, OG at 1.023 and temp at 78°.

I just wanted to post a little update: I got my ICP results for my rodi and tap water back and nothing seems out of ordinary. It turns out all my issues were caused by extremely high salinity. I’m guessing my ICP test from the tank water was showing high chlorine when it was most likely chlorides from so much salt. My rodi and tap showed no chlorine

 

[Maddmoney]

Ah, AquaticLife. That may be your issue. I might be wrong (I am no chemist) but I believe ICP tests can show Chloramine as Chlorine.

That was the reason for my question about Chloramines, as not all carbon blocks are created equal. I had a RO Buddie (also by AquaticLife, but smaller) and after about 6 weeks of creating RODI water I tested the chlorine and it showed positive. I was surprised at how quickly the carbon had depleted but bought a new AquaticLife carbon filter, ran it for 30 mins and tested again and it immediately showed chlorine.

I contacted AquaticLife and they told me that the RO Buddie carbon does not filter out Chloramine. I checked my local water test (available online) and, sure enough, they use Chloramine. This may not be the same as their bigger filters but it does seem a bit of a coincidence.

I added another canister with a better carbon block and the problem went away. If this is your issue then it might be a simple case of switching out the carbon block for a different one. I used the one from BRS, which is only $17 so not a huge expense.


The first step to all of this is to find out whether your tap water has chloramine. You might be able to find the local water quality report online.

I’m going through this exact issue now. Extremely puzzled why live stock are dying.