[olsaltybastard]

Welcome to RAG!!


My biggest suggestion would be to purchase decent equipment from the get-go. Are you going to put an MSD ignition on the Camaro, or will a Chinese made look alike work for you? This is the attitude to take with salt water equipment; it runs in a rather hostile medium and must be well made to work for years.

You will need to purchase an RO/DI water filter. At a minimum, it should have a pressure gauge, vertical DI resin canister and a Filmtec RO membrane which makes 75gpd at 98% rejection. It should have a high quality carbon filter, not granular activated carbon. In other words, stay away from ebay. Buckeye field supply, air water ice, filter guys, or Spectrapure are where you should shop for this. Water is the most important ingredient; 89 octane gas with some octane boost is not a substitute for C16 on race day.

The next piece of equipment you should invest in is a refractometer. Check the home page of RAG for one of the nicer ones. This allows you to properly check the salinity of the water you make; actually it uses refractive index, but lets not get too technical. Hydrometers have fallen out of favor over the years.

You will need lots of salt. Water changes are an important part of filtration for a successful reef tank. The usual rule of thumb is 10% every week. You can tailor this to your needs or the needs of your tank. High quality salt is much easier to work with than low quality stuff which is usually lacking in many elements in their proper portions.

Take your time, go slow, read some books, ask questions, ask more questions, and welcome to RAG.