My female Tomato clown does a fine job of keeping the sand stirred up. She goes around the tank and decides she wants a hole,backs her tail to the sand and turns the whole tank into a tornado.She is about 3" long and she has to have the tank the way she wants it,if I put a frag or anything where she does not like she will pick it up and drop it on the other side of the tank. If she can't pick it up she puts her head against it and swims as hard as she can,it's surprizing what she can move or knock over.I have to go in with the turkey baster and blow sand off everthing every couple of days,I'm almost to the point of putting her,her mate,and their anenome in a seperate tank.

I would just use that ag sand and have enough to cover the bottom. The play sand i've used and it scratches the glass SUPER easy, so i'd pass on that.

Finally, setting up pictures

In this set of three pictures, start with bottom pic:

Sump

luke33 wrote:I would just use that ag sand and have enough to cover the bottom. The play sand i've used and it scratches the glass SUPER easy, so i'd pass on that.

Thanks Luke. How thick should the sand be at the bottom? Would 1" be enough? Too much?

Looks good.

An inch of sand is plenty. Its really just for looks when its shallow like that.

Back to the RO issue. This RO I bought is not even close of being easy to instal! So I will have to wait for the plumber.

My question is, if I used my water-softner-treated well water for the initial setup, added the salt etc... wouldn't I be able to test the water for whatever minerals and impurities it may have, and treat the water and fix it (if it needed fixing), before adding the LR? I mean, wouldn't the water be fixable? I have nothing but time, and can keep treating it until its ready for the LR. I just don't want to wait... I want to start filling the water today!

Any advice?

Thanks.

That depends on whats in the water. Water softeners dont filter the water the way RO units do. Water softeners do just that, they soften the water by removing minerals like calcium. Well water, especially in areas near agriculture can have very high levels of nitrates and phosphates from fertilizer. It can also have metals and other chemicals in it that the softening process is not going to remove.

Do you have a link to the RO unit you have?

The manual in the RO unit I bought states to "insert membrane in canister #3", sounding as if it was as simple as inserting the filters in canisters 1 and 2. Canister 3, is the top canister in the picture that has the hoses attached and sealed with tephlon on each end. There is no way the removable cap would unscrew all the way out in order to put the filter in. The sealed hose would not allow that. There is no way you can disconnect the hose either, even if you attempt to unscrew the hose inlet, and unscrew the hose inlet, you will not have room to unscrew it all the way because the hose ia attached from the other end and sealed too. The only way to unscrew the canister's cap is to inplug the hose from the cap, which I am not sure if this is meant by its construction, because it does not snap out!!??!!. The manual explains nothing at all other than "insert the filter in the canister"!!!. I have had enough of this thing and will return it for a refund. I will have Culligan come and instal another RO like they did for my kitchen.

This is the one I bought:

http://www.saltysupply.com/Vertex-Purat ... vt1121.htm

chris&barb wrote:...very high levels of nitrates and phosphates from fertilizer. It can also have metals and other chemicals in it that the softening process is not going to remove.

But in this case, are there products to add into the tank that can fix the water by eliminating the above?

Can you get some pic's of your RO/DI unit? maybe we can help?

Dean355 wrote:The manual in the RO unit I bought states to "insert membrane in canister #3", sounding as if it was as simple as inserting the filters in canisters 1 and 2. Canister 3, is the top canister in the picture that has the hoses attached and sealed with tephlon on each end. There is no way the removable cap would unscrew all the way out in order to put the filter in. The sealed hose would not allow that. There is no way you can disconnect the hose either, even if you attempt to unscrew the hose inlet, and unscrew the hose inlet, you will not have room to unscrew it all the way because the hose ia attached from the other end and sealed too. The only way to unscrew the canister's cap is to inplug the hose from the cap, which I am not sure if this is meant by its construction, because it does not snap out!!??!!. The manual explains nothing at all other than "insert the filter in the canister"!!!. I have had enough of this thing and will return it for a refund. I will have Culligan come and instal another RO like they did for my kitchen.

This is the one I bought:

http://www.saltysupply.com/Vertex-Purat ... vt1121.htm

There is a quest fitting that holds the hose in. You need to press down on the ring and the hose will slip out, then unscrew the cap, press the membrane in firmly, screw the cap back on and press the hose back into the quest fitting.

Give me a sec and ill make a video and show you what im talking about.

Also the unit you have is a standard unit and you can hook that up in less then 5 minutes. Dont pay a plumber to do it.

But in this case, are there products to add into the tank that can fix the water by eliminating the above?

Not really, especially when you dont know what you have.Thats why RO/DI units are so great, they remove practically everything.

OMG! Thank you so much for that video! I just inserted the membrane! That was driving me crazy!

In my case, I will have to attach the water suply from underneath the sink that you see behind the tank in the picture above because the RO unit will have to be set underneath the sink. Under the sink are two water pipes (hot and cold) with faucets and a hose is attached to each of them that run water up to the sink faucet system from underneath. I assume there is some kind of a spliter that I can buy that attaches to the cold water pipe where the hose attaches to the pipe underneath? The spliter of course, should accomodate the RO tube size that transports water into the RO. Is there such a spliter?

Plus, in this case, where does the drain tube go once out of the RO unit? I looked at the one I have under the kitchen sink, and saw that they attached it into the side of the sink drain pipe. Looks like they made a hole in the side of the drain pipe right underneath the erator and clapmed it in.

Thanks again!