Planning Progress on 20g

[wbzorker]

Finally! I can now say that I know some of the corals I would like to have. I've only figured out soft corals so far but the following caught my eye: Yellow Leather, Button Polyps in either yellow or pink, Sea Mats, and Yellow Polyps. I'm not saying I would want them all in the same tank, only that I would be pleased to get them. They all seem to be pretty, hardy and have less to no aggression issues. Plus, while I'm not researching fish yet, I stumbled on a Scooter Blenny and fell in love. The jaunty perch and stubby face sucked me in lol.:1luvu:

Am I correct that making a list of the various corals that I like, grouped by color or something and then choosing just a few for my tank from each group would be a good way to plan? Thinking about it, grouped by size and shape might be better. Do you add coral to a tank in small increments, like you would fish, or do you try to add everything at once like you would planting a land garden? Are any of the items listed so far hard to come by?

Finally drove to a LFS that carries SW stock. All the rocks looked bare and the tanks were either poorly lit or just plain dirty with algae and cloudy water. Their two SW display tanks had no lights on at all and natural light on a cloudy day in a dark store did not do them justice. The FW section was well lit and cared for and then I found a frag tank. It was spotlessly clean with dozens of unlabeled frags on racks. I'm afraid that seeing the frags didn't help me plan my corals at all. "Puppy syndrome" kicked in and everything just looked cute. It was a good thing that my tank isn't set up yet or impulse buying would have set in fer sure.:hmm3grin2orange:
Still, I learned a lot from the trip. Their live rock tank was filled with aptasia and I saw bristleworms in the sand. Seeing them in real life helped me to better understand them.

Pure water is giving me a headache. If I buy water, for a 20g, I'm pretty sure it would be 5g a week for water changes. Carrying water is a challenge for me as it has to be done in small increments. It would be doable, just. If we had a small R/O system it could either be hooked to the kitchen faucet or the yard faucet. Either way, I'm still toting water. Getting a larger system and hooking it up in the basement is a possibility, but I hate to start off a new project by having a plumber come out :-) Neither my hubby or me are "handy"at all. Plus I've gotten the impression from my studies that for every gallon of pure water that you get you "waste" 95 to 99 gallons of water. I could reuse some of the waste, but that seems to get me right back to carrying water. Sure wish I could find a good answer to this.

I've never quite understood the concept of water waste anyway. Sure, every gallon of water that goes down the drain comes from my city water supply. But then it goes to the sewer plant for treatment and gets reused by somebody else, so it's not wasted. We aren't in a drought here and I pay per gallon for the water. The water that I put on my lawn stays locked up in plant tissue more or less, so it's removed from the water supply completely. Wouldn't letting water go down the drain instead of using it on the lawn actually be better for my town and the environment? Sigh....if anyone understands this better, please speak up.

Thanks to everyone that is helping me along here:11:

[Dave66]

Wendy,
It depends greatly on the quality of the RO or better, RO/DI, unit on how much waste water there is. Top of the line units waste between 10 and 15 percent; less if the membrane is properly maintained. But you're looking at between seven and nine hundred dollars for such a unit.
Mid-range units waste roughly 50 to 60 percent of the input water. They run between two and four hundred.
The lowest units do indeed waste 90 to 95 percent of the water, and that's money down the drain.
Up to you which to choose. But remember, you get what you pay for. Buy the best, and you'll have the best. Buy the least, and it can ultimately cost you more than the best in waste water and repairing shoddy merchandise.
By the way, though its VERY advisable to have a good RO or better RO/DI unit to mix marine salts with or do evaporation top offs, you can't drink or cook with it. The water that comes out is pure water, no electrolytes, no minerals, no nothing. Without the electrolytes the water is 'dead', and it really isn't good for you to drink it. You'd have to buy a commercial product to add to the RO/DI water to make it suitable for drinking and cooking with. Don't use the reconstituted RO/DI water with your aquarium, though.
Corals you mentioned would be fine together, but I'd suggest you take a look at my book list - the link is in my signature - and look through the reef section.

Dave

[wbzorker]

Thanks, Dave. Your waste water explanation helped a whole bunch. I'm guessing that $500 will be the total I can allocate for the unit and installation by a plumber. What would I give up by choosing a mid-range unit compared to a $900 unit? Will my stocking choices be limited? Will the stock that I do choose do poorly?

Ages ago, I grew flowers competitively and learned that it was all about the dirt. If you made the best dirt before planting, you grew the best flowers later on. I'm not looking to compete with my tank or even breed, but I do want to maintain healthy stock. Will the mid-range units work best for these goals?

I studied your book list and appreciate you taking the time to write it out. 1 book down, many, many to go :-) With two in the mail, I hope to be better informed the next time I post.

Thank you again,

Wendy