question about RO/DI usage

[Jonathan G.]

if i set up my tank using regular tap water and i switch to ro/di water how long do you think it will take to get my water to become mostly ro/di water? you know what im trying to say or no?

 

[wrightme43]

yep and it depends on how much you change out at a time
50% will lower it 50% the first change and then another 50% will only lower it 25% then another 50% will only lower it 12.5%. See what I mean. It is usally best to start with rodi if you have bad dirty tap water so it doesnt soak nasty junk into your live rock, and sand if you have it. The rock and sand has a pore structure just waiting to absorb the nasty stuff from tap water. Just my 2 cents. Steve

 

[Jonathan G.]

so it's never too late to switch over the only thing that will really suffer is the rocka nd substrate?

 

[gobie]

In Theroy He Is Correct It Would Also Depend On Organic Build Up In Your Tank.thins Such As Phosphate And Other Pollutents. The Thing You Must Remember Doing It Right Is Better Than Trying To Play Catchup And Correcting Something That Is Already Screwed Up. I Have Seen Tanks Run Well On Tap Water. And I Vs Seen The Other Spectrum Where They Look Like Sterial . If You Are Going To Run Tap Water Get A Tds Meter Test Your Water Before You Decide To Run With Out An Ro Know What Phosphate Levels Are Too.

 

[wrightme43]

Man I agree with Gobie on the testing for TDS. I live in KY and our water sux, I am betting OH has got some pretty nasty stuff in there too. RODI from Day one is what I was trying to get across, not that it would be a good idea to use tap. When you factor in salt and everything that goes into 4 50% water changes it is really not cost effective at all. As a matter of fact on a 100 gallon tank your looking at alot of money more than the cost of ro from the start. HTH Steve

 

[gobie]

i started out with a di only system when i was in colorado i was recharging the resins every 50 gallons and every 500 new resins just wasnt worth it. ro was much better way to go. sure it wastes water but it lasts much longer.

 

[Jonathan G.]

wait expain to me in a simplier term what u guys are talking about.... do you use ro water or ro/di?

 

[gobie]

first i started out usind just di cause i didn't like the idea of waste water that an ro produces. then i went ro/di because of too many polutents were in the water and my di didn't last long.

 

[wrightme43]

OK RO is reverse osmoisis about 4 gallon down the drain for one gallon out. It gets about 90-95% depending on temp and pressure. DI is DeIonization resin. It gets the rest of the junk and produces with my unit from Aquasafe systems on ebay 130$ delieverd a reading of 0.00 Total dissolved solids. That means anything in my water I put there. I have control of what goes in. Not the water company who only has to abide by some what I would call very lax rules about what I am supposed to drink. Added benie is ultra pure drinking water and coffee and tea water. HTH Steve

 

[NaH2O]

I always recommend RO/DI water - I think it is great when talking about a reef tank. The TDS (total dissolved solids) on my water prior to going into my RO/DI unit is almost 500ppm....coming out of the unit it is 0. In some parts of the country, hobbyists can get away with tap, if their TDS is very low, however, some water companies add things like phosphates to the water, so really why mess with it. If you have a low TDS, then your membranes, and resins will last longer than those of us with bad water. Here is a thread that I hope you find helpful - there is a link to another post I did that explains RO/DI a little deeper: TDS and RO/DI