Seachem Prime and tap water instead of ro/di?

[colin779]

Just curious if anyone has ever used tap water and prime instead of ro/di water? I have really good water quality where i live that contains just barely a trace amount of chlorine and not much else. Im attempting to see if i can eliminate and out of the way trip to the lfs for water twice a week.

 

[mfinn]

You are better off just buying a good rodi unit and making the water yourself.




Having said that, yes some people do use tap water successfully.

 

[colin779]

especially since the lfs closes before i get off work, so i can only go on the weekends.

 

[mfinn]

there are some pretty good deals on rodi units these days.

plus now is the time for some great internet deals

 

[colin779]

Here is the water sampling report from 2009

City of Bremerton - Water Sampling Summary

 

[colin779]

I will check around mfinn =)

 

[mfinn]

Melevsreef.com - Reef Store

 

[thatguy559]

whats your tds readings?

 

[colin779]

They do not have dissolved solids as a reading, but they say "NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Unit) is the measurement of water clarity. Monitoring turbidity is a good indicator of water quality."

That level is pretty low.

 

[mfinn]

There are hobbiest grade TDS meters that many of us use.
For instance, my waters TDS tonight is 34

 

[jaysauce]

Ran my TDS meter beneath tap water in Seattle and got a 34 reading as well.

 

[colin779]

From what i have been reading a new ro/di unit will leave you between 0 and 15ppm of tds, assuming your water is coming out at 15ppm, is 34 really much worse?? At that low if you can remove the sanitizers in the water it should be ok?? My water on this side of the water i would imagine is probably going to register about the same if not lower because bremerton doesnt add some of the things to the water that seattle does. Wouldn't and ro system actually strip the water of beneficial minerals and things that are in it? Prime simply removes sanitizers and the things we don't want going into our water.

 

[mfinn]

A rodi unit will give you 0 TDS. Anything else and you need to change one or all of the filter materials.

 

[colin779]

I really just do not want to waste the amount of water that an ro system will, and i do not have the space to recapture it and use it for other things. Trying to do my part =)

 

[cptbjorn]

Getting and maintaining a simple RO unit isn't that expensive here since the water starts out so pure, you don't really need the "standard" 5/6 stage unit like most places sell unless you make a whole lot of water.

I got a bulkreefsupply 4 stage unit and run a 1 micron sediment filter, followed by a 1 micron carbon block, and then the dow filmtec membrane. It has a DI stage after that but the water coming out of the membrane already reads 0-1ppm so the DI doesn't do too much, if I had to buy one all over again it would probably just be a 3-stage.

The sediment filters are 2 bucks each and I change them every 4-6 months, and the carbon blocks are 10 bucks and good for 1 year or 5,000 gallons. Really doesn't cost all that much.

edit: if you don't want to waste water you can also just run a sediment filter and carbon block with no RO, it will be substantially better than using prime. but i'd recommend taking a trip to las vegas where they have massive fountains running in the middle of the desert at 2am with nobody looking at them. our piddly little RO systems are really just a drop in the bucket

 

[colin779]

Would something like this be able to filter the water 1:1?

SpectraPure® Maxpure RO System

 

[mfinn]

Wouldn't and ro system actually strip the water of beneficial minerals and things that are in it?

No. All the minerals that are needed are in good quality salt mixes.



For what it's worth,,, I use tap water.
Been using it for 25 years and 19 years in this one location.

 

[cptbjorn]

Would something like this be able to filter the water 1:1?

RO systems with low waste water ratios (under 2:1) will either have multiple membranes to reclaim some of the waste water or microcontrollers with valves etc to flush out the system every time it is turned off so that the membrane sits in pure water during down time to prevent fouling.

The one you linked will instruct you to adjust the ratio to 4:1, but with our water you could get away with 2.5-3:1 with good membrane life. My BRS unit runs around 2.5:1.

 

[colin779]

I use io reef crystals, i've heard good things about it.

I may give tap water a try for a month or something like that and see if i notice any changes in anything. With quality salt, good skimming, good flow, and good water to start i'm thinking i will be ok. I will just be keeping a close eye on stuff. Thats what a skimmer is for anyways right?

Sorry, mfinn, i didnt see your pm.

 

[colin779]

2.5:1 isn't to terrible. Where can you find something like you mentioned thats just the two filters, sediment and carbon? All i could find was ro.