The Puffer Forum

That's all I'd recommend for SW.

Drj it's the last stage of your cycling process. You get a large diatom bloom, it'll be gone in give or take a week.

drj1259 wrote:i have only been in SW conditions for about 3 weeks i think. Anyways my base rock appears to be growing brown diatom algae on it. Is this ok because everything i have heard is that brown diatom algae is bad and since my puffer will most likely eat any CUC i dont know what else i could do to keep this from becoming a big problem its beginning to grow in the sand too( and yes i stir the sand though)...i have cured live rock in the tank also . Any advice would be great

+1 Especially if you want to keep corals and don't want to deal with the eventual hair algae out break.

Pufferpunk wrote:That's all I'd recommend for SW.

RODI is a very valuable process. For invert tanks in SW it is close to essential. I would not consider using my tap for a reef or for other demanding inverts. For some special processes in FW it is equally valuable - I could not have bred some of the FW fish I have done if I had not had high-rejection RODI to generate the highly de-mineralized water I needed to make the very soft acid water those fish required. But working with reconstitute water requires more cost and care and time investment than many hobbyists can readily provide.

But RO and DI are both demineralization techniques which are commonly paired to produce appropriate water more cheaply and efficiently than either process alone. Neither is a "rubbish" remover. To me that states that the water is polluted and requires both mechanical and chemical filtration to be potable and useful. Both phosphahte and soluble silicate are normal water components and at least the former is an absolute requirement for captive hobby tanks to support life. Even in FW tanks, I would not try to support Otocinclus cats in silicate-free water. Their normal best food is diatom algae, which requires soluble silicates to divide and grow.

If phosphate and/or soluble silicates are an issue in your particular water, but the rest of the water profile is okay for your needs, phosphate-removal media is fully as effective and much cheaper than RODI. It is also likely to be far easier to manage than RODI. Reconstituting the needed minerals in highly purified water is not a simple task, nor a cheap one.

My primary objection is that terms such as "rubbish" present entirely a highly misleading picture of tap water. The majority of captive wet pets are likely to do better in tap water than in most hobbyists attempts to produce "ideal" water for some particular wet pet. A case in point is the longevity of my own personal wet pets. All of those critters have spent the majority of their time in my care in my tap water. that does specifically include the longevity work on F-8 in light BW - none of that work was done in RODI water.

HTH

hm very interesting stuff RTR. I think that i will continue to keep doing what im doing and see how it goes.. never had problems with algae in FW or BW just when i went to SW so maybe like others said its just part of the cycle for the base rock

Diatom issues are worse in new tanks, and do frequently fade as the tank is establishes. That is because in part the "new" tank with all new water has the highest concentration of soluble silicates. Later, few tanks get more than 50% water partials weekly. That would give a maximum of only half the concentration of a new tank. That drop is enough for most systems.