Linkia catastrophe!

[sbauer86]

My orange linkia spontaneously died this morning and I was wondering what could cause this. He has been thriving since I put him in there 5 months ago.

[TechGuy40]

Stars a very sensitive to changes in water parameters. What are your nitrates? Any changes in anything else suddenly?

[jeremyreef]

did he wither away or is it still intact?

[sbauer86]

ill test the parmeters today. Last week the nitrates were a little high as well as my amonia, which is always a little high because of the area I live's water. He withered away and my arrow crab decided to snack on his corpse.

[chromiumlux]

Do you have an RODI system?

[TechGuy40]

Do you have an RODI system?

Yea really man. Putting ammonia into your water is bad bad idea. Buy an Ro system, or at least RO water. I think I paid $150 for my system.

[sbauer86]

well im not putting amonia in there its just in my citys water aturally but i've recetly started doing water changes with RO from a pet store but I guess it was too late for my star

[chromiumlux]

I got mine from AirWaterIce. Reefkeeper 4 stage for 189.00. Got '0' tds on the DI line. I later added another dual DI just to be sure. I got tired of hauling water, and I'm quite sure you will too. One of the best investments I made.

[sbauer86]

Well my tanks are only 16 and 10 gallon so its only a few buckets a month its not too bad.

[TechGuy40]

Well my tanks are only 16 and 10 gallon so its only a few buckets a month its not too bad.

Thats not that bad I guess. Still a good investment. After the membrane my TDS is 1-3, and zero after the DI.

[sbauer86]

Sorry new to this and dont know all the terminolgy yet. Whats the translation of that last post?:confused:

[jeremyreef]

tds stands for total dissolved solids. the closer to 0 the more pure the water is. a membrane is a filter in the unit that rejects bad water out of one hose and good water out of the other. di is short for deionization. this is another method of filtration.

[sbauer86]

Thank you!

[jsharp1]

Does anyone have a rodi system with a hookup for drinking water? I've been looking at some setups and noticed that some have that option. Lol, prob stupid question, but does rodi taste like regular water? So use to drinking reg water with all the chemicals and additives, just wondering if it tastes different?

[chromiumlux]

My system has a seperate ro port and the water is great for drinking. Plus if you can hook it up close to your washer install a y line junction and run the wastewater to your washer. saves on the water bill. If you all come to the march meeting at my place you can see my setup.

[jeremyreef]

i drink my ro/di water. i get 0 tds as well. it just feels like a liquid is in your mouth no real taste its great.

[marinelife]

I hope you are not drinking before the DI as it is bad to drink from the DI.

[chromiumlux]

Huber Heights water is terrible. Last I checked it was 494ppm TDS of who knows what in the water. Smells bad and since my softener went out we are noticing lime and crust deposits all over everything. Will be replacing shortly, but the water out of the RO only tap generally runs 4ppm to 11ppm TDS and is the best drinking water. IMHO. 0 tds is what you want for your reef. If you get anything other than 0 there is either a problem with the flow restrictor, membrane, or the DI media needs changed.

[jeremyreef]

I hope you are not drinking before the DI as it is bad to drink from the DI.

i have before, dont do it much anymore because i have a ro drinking water system. what does it do? or how is it bad?

[marinelife]

Not sure how true it is but:
DI removes all of the electrolytes out of the water and when you drink it, your body will actually lose electrolytes in order to remain balanced.

[sbauer86]

how do u test for TDS?

[marinelife]

TDS Meter:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TDS_meter

http://www.marinedepot.com/HM_Digital_Inc.-Testing_Equipment_for_Saltwater_Aquariums-HB-FITE-ct.html

[TechGuy40]

Not sure how true it is but:
DI removes all of the electrolytes out of the water and when you drink it, your body will actually lose electrolytes in order to remain balanced.

Haha. Last time I drank the DI water, I was making Gatorade.

[jeremyreef]

i think it might be a rumor, i found this write up and it makes sense to me :

Deionized water simply means that certain dissolved stuff has been taken out of it. It is a step below distilled water.

Most things that dissolve in water become ions. Ions are simply charged atoms (or groups of atoms). For instance, when salt, which is NaCl (sodium chloride), is dissolved in water, it separates into its constituent ions, Na+ (the + means it is positively charged) and Cl- (which is negatively charged.) So salty water, and also barbecue sauce and mineral water, all have lots of ions.

Most inorganic (not from living sources) compounds that dissolve in water will separate into ions. So when
water is deionized, most of the inorganic impurities are removed. It would not have any dissolved minerals or heavy metals like lead or mercury, for instance.

However, it could still have dissolved organic compounds, which don't form ions when you dissolve them. Examples might include alcohol, sugar, or more realistically, nitrates like you find in fertilizer or pesticides.

So deionized water could theoretically be bad for you. It could have bacteria or dioxin or rattlesnake poison in it.

But if you ever see deionized water in real life, it is basically purified tap water. The reason they make deionized water is that in certain cases, you don't want dissolved minerals in the water, but you don't need absolutely pure water. A humidifier or a steam iron might take deionized water, because deionized water won't leave white mineral deposits inside. Because it has relatively few ions, deionized is actually a pretty poor conductor of electricity. Apparently those spot-free rinses at car washes use deionized water, again because it leaves no mineral spots. And it is cheaper to make deionized water than absolutely pure water.

So you could drink it with no problem. I certainly would.

drinking deionized water is not detrimental to your health. Water is water. However, you should not plan to live the rest of your life drinking deionized water. The reason for this is you fail to intake the valuable minerals, and ions that your body needs to function properly.

[marinelife]

Ok so it is safe but not healthy since it is missing minerals.

[jeremyreef]

yeah it just takes out a little too much