Reef Goddess

A new day! It's nice waking up to bright sun, as opposed to the June gloom (clouds) we had just a couple of weeks ago. Bring on the heat :)
I picked up my 10 gallons of RODI water yesterday for my weekly waterchanges. I get my water at a local purified water business here in Burbank. They consistently test at 1-3 ppm on my TDS meter. Works for me! In case you have no idea of what I am talking about. The TDS meter tests for the amount of dissolved solids in your water. You want under 10ppm. There are a lot of impurities found in your tap water. The most obvious are chlorine and chloramines, but it is also likely to contain nitrate, phosphates and other organic components, heavy metals and toxic elements. You do not want this in your aquarium! You can buy a commercial dechlorinator at your LFS (local fish store) but that will not remove the other impurities.
*****Even if you purchase your water from a LFS or from a water purification business (like I do), you still need to test this water regularly. The last business I went to for water was testing at over 200ppm! I promptly found a new source! You can get a decent TDS meter on eBay for under $20. That's where I got mine.
So....I put my 10 gallons or RODI water into my mix bucket last night. It's in there with a heater (set to my aquariums' temp.) and a powerhead to keep the water circulating. You don't want stagnant water. The water should be at the proper temp. this morning...and in about 5 min. I will be headed out to my bucket to add the salt. I use D-D H2Ocean Magnesium Pro PLUS Salt Mix. It's pricey...but you truly get what you pay for. It's fabulous salt!