TDS Question...

[GaryP]

I have a theory.

Not feeding results in nutrient poor water. Nutrient poor water results in die off. Die off results in decay. Decay results in phosphates. Phosphates result in algae. Algae results in this thread. This thread results in this theory.

[GaryP]

I think you skipped a few steps there. Try to stay with me Joshua...

[GaryP]

Actually, its not phophates that are the problem. You drink tons of it in a soda. Nitrites and arsenic are the big problems in tap water in the US. Not in this area, but in other areas they are an issue. They're using phosban in some parts of the US to remove arsenic. They had some big issue in California with waste from dairies contaminating the ground water. The waste resulted in elevated levels of nitrite. Nitrite in human binds to hemoglobin, like cyanide and carbon monoxide does and prevents oxygen from being exchanged in the blood. There was some death of children attributed to this. A lot of dairymen from California moved to Texas. Go figure. They're clustered up around Stephenville now.

[cbianco]

I have a theory.

Not feeding results in nutrient poor water. Nutrient poor water results in die off. Die off results in decay. Decay results in phosphates. Phosphates result in algae. Algae results in this thread. This thread results in this theory.

My head is spinning! :blink

Christopher

[GaryP]

Basically, everything needs food. If your tank is sitting there with just live rock and sand and no nutrients being putting into the tank, stuff is going to die. When it dies, it decays and produces a lot an excess nutrients that leads to the algae bloom. These same critters that are dieing may be the same ones that were absorbing your excess nutrients when the tank was being fed and they just release it back to the water. In other words your tank is cycling again. Without some sort of constant input of nutrients, it will just continue to cycle and go through boom and bloom cycles. When the food from this die off is consumed, stuff will start to die again and the cycle will just start over again. I'm guessing that you're probably not doing water changes and other maintenance type stuff while the tank is empty, right? This probably increases the cycling issue.

The question is, is your head spinning from my post or the shooters you did last night?