Question about reverse osmosis water

phishman1 · 10/26/2020, 03:01 PM

I keep getting different answers depending on whom I ask. If I don't want to go to my LFS and trudge home with RO water in a bucket what sort of alternatives do I have? I google it and have read where you can use Purified water, or distilled water. Today here in Daytona I went to another fish store as my usual one is closed on Monday and the guy there told me you can either use purified water or even bottled drinking water, since its only used to top off the tank after evaporation.

Still not sure what to do..

djryan2000 · 10/26/2020, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phishman1

I keep getting different answers depending on whom I ask. If I don't want to go to my LFS and trudge home with RO water in a bucket what sort of alternatives do I have? I google it and have read where you can use Purified water, or distilled water. Today here in Daytona I went to another fish store as my usual one is closed on Monday and the guy there told me you can either use purified water or even bottled drinking water, since its only used to top off the tank after evaporation.

Still not sure what to do..

You can always buy an RODI machine. Lugging buckets of water is one of the necessary evils of the hobby.

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Sk8r · 10/26/2020, 04:07 PM

A four cylinder ro/di system is a big outlay to buy the unit, but after that, getting more media for the cylinders is relatively cheap. And you're not carrying gallons of water home from the store, nor are you at the mercy of when the grocery store last changed THEIR media. (The stuff lasts months and months depending on how much gunk is ]in your tapwater and how much water you need.,) Go for your own unit, my advice, unless you have a nano-nano. Water is hugely important. To answer your question, ro is adequate. Ro/di from the unit yo8u can buy is real good. When I lived in an apartment (with my own washing machine) I put a Y connector on the cold line and used half the Y for my ro/di into a 5 gallon bucket. You can also connect under a sink. A trek through YouTube I suspect will show you how to do that.

FTReef · 10/27/2020, 07:31 PM

Probably the best way to look at it is there is perfect, good and good enough....

You can always test your tap and it might be good enough. RO is better and RODI is best. When I first started in the hobby twenty years ago I couldn’t afford everything it takes to do this hobby right so I was using tap with conditioner to dechlorinate for my FO tank. It was good enough. I don’t think my water killed anything. When I got back into it and wanted to try corals I was using distilled water as a top off or RODI water from my lfs. Walmart distilled water is .98. Rodi water was $1.30ish and saltwater from my lfs was 1.60ish.

Going through about .5-1 gal per day to top off and about 8-10 gal per week for changes I did the math and realized I’m break even in 6 months or less (to do it right with rodi water).

FTReef · 10/27/2020, 07:35 PM

Sorry, I meant to say break even on buying a RODI system for the house....

I’m by no means a plumber but I managed to do a pretty nice install of a 6 stage system with a drinking water attachment.

billdogg · 10/28/2020, 06:40 AM

^^^What they said^^^

Buy one and install it yourself. I got mine from www.buckeyehydro.com There are similar units from BRS and other online vendors.

Mine is in the fishroom in the basement. What I did was install a simple spigot in the cold water feed line to the hot water tank and then attach the ro/di to that. I also run a line up to the icemaker so that I have purified water and ice and my fingertips in the kitchen.

There is no way at all I would even consider schlepping buckets of water from the LFS, and I think that buying distilled or other water from the grocery store is silly as well.

10/26/2020, 03:01 PM	#1
phishman1 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Daytona Posts: 62	Question about reverse osmosis water I keep getting different answers depending on whom I ask. If I don't want to go to my LFS and trudge home with RO water in a bucket what sort of alternatives do I have? I google it and have read where you can use Purified water, or distilled water. Today here in Daytona I went to another fish store as my usual one is closed on Monday and the guy there told me you can either use purified water or even bottled drinking water, since its only used to top off the tank after evaporation. Still not sure what to do..

10/26/2020, 04:07 PM	#3
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	A four cylinder ro/di system is a big outlay to buy the unit, but after that, getting more media for the cylinders is relatively cheap. And you're not carrying gallons of water home from the store, nor are you at the mercy of when the grocery store last changed THEIR media. (The stuff lasts months and months depending on how much gunk is ]in your tapwater and how much water you need.,) Go for your own unit, my advice, unless you have a nano-nano. Water is hugely important. To answer your question, ro is adequate. Ro/di from the unit yo8u can buy is real good. When I lived in an apartment (with my own washing machine) I put a Y connector on the cold line and used half the Y for my ro/di into a 5 gallon bucket. You can also connect under a sink. A trek through YouTube I suspect will show you how to do that. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

10/28/2020, 06:40 AM	#6
billdogg Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Grove City, Ohio Posts: 10,806	^^^What they said^^^ Buy one and install it yourself. I got mine from www.buckeyehydro.com There are similar units from BRS and other online vendors. Mine is in the fishroom in the basement. What I did was install a simple spigot in the cold water feed line to the hot water tank and then attach the ro/di to that. I also run a line up to the icemaker so that I have purified water and ice and my fingertips in the kitchen. There is no way at all I would even consider schlepping buckets of water from the LFS, and I think that buying distilled or other water from the grocery store is silly as well. __________________ I'll try to be nice if you try to be smarter! I can't help that I grow older, but you can't make me grow up! Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef with 40b sump, RO 150 skimmer, AI Sol Blue x 2, and a 60g Frag Tank with 100g rubbermaid sump. 2 x Kessil A360w lights, BM curve 5 skimmer

10/27/2020, 07:31 PM	#4
FTReef Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: Gulf Coast of Florida Posts: 32	Probably the best way to look at it is there is perfect, good and good enough.... You can always test your tap and it might be good enough. RO is better and RODI is best. When I first started in the hobby twenty years ago I couldn’t afford everything it takes to do this hobby right so I was using tap with conditioner to dechlorinate for my FO tank. It was good enough. I don’t think my water killed anything. When I got back into it and wanted to try corals I was using distilled water as a top off or RODI water from my lfs. Walmart distilled water is .98. Rodi water was $1.30ish and saltwater from my lfs was 1.60ish. Going through about .5-1 gal per day to top off and about 8-10 gal per week for changes I did the math and realized I’m break even in 6 months or less (to do it right with rodi water).

10/27/2020, 07:35 PM	#5
FTReef Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: Gulf Coast of Florida Posts: 32	Sorry, I meant to say break even on buying a RODI system for the house.... I’m by no means a plumber but I managed to do a pretty nice install of a 6 stage system with a drinking water attachment.