Should I be more careful during maintenance?

[Benoit Martin]

I am wondering if my maintenance habits could cause problems now or in the future.
I have a FOWLR 120G tank with the intention on adding Softies and LPS in the near future.

By maintenance I am mostly talking about water changes and regular cleaning of filter socks, protein skimmer and other equipment.
The things that I got in the habit of doing and now wondering if I may be asking for trouble are:

• When cleaning my mesh filter socks, I rince them with warm to hot tap water without using any soap or other cleaners. I then squeeze as much of the water out and put them away to dry for the next use (I have 2 sets that I alternate). My tap water has very low TDS (I am lucky) but I know that it's not as good as RODI water. Are my socks clean enough or am I slowly adding unwanted particles in my water over time?
• I also use tap water when cleaning my skimmer, pumps, gyre, etc... I try to get as much of the water out before putting them back in the tank but I do not dry them. I do not use any cleaner on those either (no soap, etc...)
• I use a Python system to get the water out for water changes. Between water changes, I keep it in my garage next to my water station but not in any container, just exposed to air. There are no chemical around it (no cans of paint, oil, etc...). My garage is pretty clean but it is probably collecting some dust, etc... I always make sure it's clean before I put the succion part back in the tank and run under tap water if in doubt.

I do understand that the more careful I am, the better, the more I use RODI over tap, the better, etc...
I have had those habits for about 2 years and so far so good. Maybe I have just been lucky so far...

What I am basically asking is, am I being way too careless and will this cause major issues at some point?
How careful/paranoid do I need to be about the water I use to clean and how I store equipment?

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

I always had good results washing filter socks in the washing machine in hot water with no detergent or bleach. Got them nice and clean for the next use. No need to use RODI water for cleaning socks.

 

[HB AL]

Your fine. I hose off my socks with the garden hose and hang them to dry. I also use tap water to clean pumps etc...

 

[Cwentz758]

I run my socks through a hot washer cycle with normal bleach. Then let them air dry until I swap them out

 

[old salt reefer]

I use tap water to clean pumps, skimmers, etc. and wipe dry with rag/paper towel.

 

[brandon429]

All of that is fine I rinse my sandbed in tap occasionally as a blast clean then ro to flush out the tap, then re use the perfect grains as a super clean skip cycle bed cleaning.

 

[brandon429]

120 gallon rip clean

I’ve decided to perform a rip clean on my 120 with 100% new water. The tank has been running for 5 years and was battling Dino for several months. I used the bacteria method from elegant corals and worked great I haven’t seen Dino in months now. But I tried several other methods including...

www.reef2reef.com

consider reading Jons 120 gallon thread

thats the degree you are able to clean, if done orderly and carefully like he did. You probably won’t need this degree of clean, but so many care options can be seen in this thread to show a strong 120 reef life plot

that above is to show perspective in rinsing items in tap. Literally his entire reef but the rocks was rinsed in tap. And it’s a pro reef $$


you won’t need to do this, but to see what’s possible is to know the boundaries. We didnt rinse his rocks in saltwater, but AmaleeC did and her system was fine lol. It’s not the ultimate poison prior rules held. She was determined to blast off algae with a pressure washer. And she did. The skip cycle of that re set tank really amazed me it’s specifically right here:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/amalee’s-75g-build.700029/page-4

theres the two most extreme uses of tap water seen in reefing. No dechlor

straight tap on reef.

why would any human use it on the sandbed? For total control over a reef, if wanted. she initially had tons of algae and then she instantly didn’t, I could not find fault with that.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I use tap for cleaning. I do use rodi wash bottles and Prime to lightly rinse the socks to remove any bleach. I think the few drops of evaporated tap water minerals won’t make a difference in anyone’s reefs

 

[Tamberav]

I am wondering if my maintenance habits could cause problems now or in the future.
I have a FOWLR 120G tank with the intention on adding Softies and LPS in the near future.

By maintenance I am mostly talking about water changes and regular cleaning of filter socks, protein skimmer and other equipment.
The things that I got in the habit of doing and now wondering if I may be asking for trouble are:

• When cleaning my mesh filter socks, I rince them with warm to hot tap water without using any soap or other cleaners. I then squeeze as much of the water out and put them away to dry for the next use (I have 2 sets that I alternate). My tap water has very low TDS (I am lucky) but I know that it's not as good as RODI water. Are my socks clean enough or am I slowly adding unwanted particles in my water over time?
• I also use tap water when cleaning my skimmer, pumps, gyre, etc... I try to get as much of the water out before putting them back in the tank but I do not dry them. I do not use any cleaner on those either (no soap, etc...)
• I use a Python system to get the water out for water changes. Between water changes, I keep it in my garage next to my water station but not in any container, just exposed to air. There are no chemical around it (no cans of paint, oil, etc...). My garage is pretty clean but it is probably collecting some dust, etc... I always make sure it's clean before I put the succion part back in the tank and run under tap water if in doubt.

I do understand that the more careful I am, the better, the more I use RODI over tap, the better, etc...
I have had those habits for about 2 years and so far so good. Maybe I have just been lucky so far...

What I am basically asking is, am I being way too careless and will this cause major issues at some point?
How careful/paranoid do I need to be about the water I use to clean and how I store equipment?

None of those things are an issue. I clean everything with tap. I imagine most people do. I rinse my sand in tap, my equipment, my socks... and most of this stuff is for 20g tanks not 200g. Hell I have even topped off with straight tap a few times but I don't recommend that.

Heck, my friend has a nice looking LPS/Softy full tap water tank and they are not the only one. Just depends what's in your tap water.

You can find many examples of tap water tanks right on these forums... not all tap water is the same but no way a little tap is going to harm your 200g tank when some people use FULL tap

Tap Water Reef Tank

People who have been very successful running a reef tank just on tap water and water conditioner let’s see you tank or here your story. I know running a reef tank with an RO water system is the way most people go with obvious advantages, but it was done pretty successfully before they were...

www.reef2reef.com

QUESTION OF THE DAY - TAP TAP TAP: Come on be honest....TAP Water?

Let me start with a disclaimer that RO/DI water for your saltwater reef aquarium is FAR superior to TAP water and you're taking a big risk using water straight from your faucet! Now that we got that out of the way let's talk about tap water today. What about it? Well are you using tap water...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[brandon429]

Tamberav

I didn’t know u did some tap rinses on sand that’s usually so offensive to most the notion cannot be reasonably entertained.


its not particularly fun work to run, so I put it off months and months of lazy export changes

then just when it’s all yellowing up and stressing I rip clean it... next day all reset. Corals brighter than ever

To me it’s the flushing portion of reef dentistry as an analogy


neat to see so many varied uses of straight tap.

we are all using dwell times that are brief so it’s not buzzsawing the bacteria like bleach will. The tap rinse is cutting biofilm for sure, but not as bad as bleach, so Amalee’s reef rock didn’t recycle when she blasted it with jetted tap water from a portable pressure washer.

it’s slightly good at cutting bio films so we all like rinsing media in it, some filter bacteria are always left behind. Tap is cruddy water pipe cross sections show...but it’s power flush endless run availability makes it a core tool for reefing

 

[Benoit Martin]

Thanks all for the responses. I didn't even know some people were doing just tap. It makes me feel a lot better about what I do

 

[Thaxxx]

All of that is fine I rinse my sandbed in tap occasionally as a blast clean then ro to flush out the tap, then re use the perfect grains as a super clean skip cycle bed cleaning.

Hey Brandon,
Do you clean the whole "Cup" of your sandbed at once?

 

[brandon429]

Yes and in relation to the water volume, it’s same impact ratio as a 500 gallon reef or any other size which is how we’ve been pulling the move off for five years in the sand rinse thread. I’ve justified my pico reef through scalability lol

plus with much coral in only a gallon, and the bed is six inches, I’ve maximized all ratios against favor using the old rules. Rip cleaning the pico should kill it, there’s no dilution to rescue like large tanks. Though the sandbed is the greater surface area, the rocks are simply enough for every tank even without sand, including mine