RO/DI Here Today! - Lighting

JeffDubya

JeffDubya

New Member
Woohoo! My RO/DI filter arrives today! Exciting, because as soon as I get my water change completed, the sooner I can add my cleanup crew! I'm stoked!

Anything in particular I should know?

I have been told that the first bit of water out of this unit should be thrown out. How much, exactly? does it vary?

Also, I have read that it doesn't always help to run cold water through the RO/DI filter. I thought I was fortunate that I had a bib indoors I can just connect this puppy to, but maybe not. Seems like the worst thing that will happen is a reduction in my GPD, I wonder if there is a way to calculate that.

I called my water treatment plant here in town, and the first guy I spoke to said that he didn't think they put chloramine in the water. Good news for the filter?

After that, I NEED that cleanup crew to start doing its' thing. I have the hair algae starting to grow. I really didn't need to run the lights this week, but I wanted to have something growing when put the critters in so they would have something to eat when they show up!

Here is my lighting schedule: Thoughts?
 

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skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
Why are you running no daylight bulbs from noon to three? Or am I just misreading the chart? Other than that it looks okay to me but you may want to shorten your photoperiod by 2 or 3 hours and then lengthen it up to this schedule over several weeks. This will allow the cleaners to catch up with the algaes before they get a real good foothold in your tank.
On the RO unit just run cold water through it, the problem comes in when waqter temps get below standard room temp, an RO units membrane is designed to filter water at about 70 degrees, if the temp is lower it filters less and if it is warmer it filters a little more. The carbon filter on the unit is there to remove both chlorine and chloramine, you just can't let either one get to the RO membrane because they will cause it to break down. There is no exact amount of water that you need to discard, I usually toss about the first 5 gallons out. You will want to do this for the first time you use the unit and the first water made after changing out filters.
 
JeffDubya

JeffDubya

New Member
Heh... noon to three is my son's nap, and we located the tank in his room. The light and noise from the fans keep him awake!

Still waiting for the UPS man...

Thanks, Skip! (Mr. New Moderator Guy...)
 
JeffDubya

JeffDubya

New Member
skipm said:
Other than that it looks okay to me but you may want to shorten your photoperiod by 2 or 3 hours and then lengthen it up to this schedule over several weeks.
Click to expand...
Question.

When you say "photoperiod" do you mean my daylight, or EVERYTHING?
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
Mainly the daylighting, the actinics don't promote algae as much as the white lights can.
 
JeffDubya

JeffDubya

New Member
WOOHOO! First seven gallon bucket of RO/DI water is done! Salt is added, and the powerhead is mixing things up while the heater brings up the temp. CAN I WAIT 24 HOURS?

Well, we shall see.

I do have a bit of a conundrum, as I only have one extra heater, and this is one of those few occasions where I am doing a 50% water change, so I am not going to buy another... I'll have to look and see, I used to have a "beer belt" for brewing beer... it's basically a heating strap that wraps around a glass carboy or plastic bucket for fermentation. I don't know what temperature that stabilizes at, but I bet it would be close. If anything, I could set some cold RO/DI aside and cool it off if it is more than 80, but my guess is it is not. If you get things too hot during fermentation, you kill the yeast...
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
Equalizing the temp isn't as important now since you don't have any livestock in the tank. Just make the water kinda close so you don't cause the bacterial bed damage.
 
JeffDubya

JeffDubya

New Member
Well, anyone that has been following my posts knows I have had a pH problem with my water, and I have put a lot of buffers in that water to bring it from 7.8 - 8.0 to (FINALLY!) 8.2.

There was some speculation that once I got RO/DI water, this problem would vanish. I am happy to report this speculation was correct! I tested my water straight from the filter this morning, and the pH is 8.8 with no buffers or any additives. So good news!
 
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