Where does your water come from??

[Lbrewer34]

Safeway RODI??? If its drinking water its not DI just RO or just particle and carbon filtered, more likely the later. The purity drastly depends on the supply.

Don

The sign on the front of the machine says ro, di, and uv filtering. I might be mistaken on the di part, but it's my only real option until I get a ro/di unit. Just curious if using distilled water in the meantime would be better than the water from the machine.
Thanks,

Lee

 

[DonW]

The sign on the front of the machine says ro, di, and uv filtering. I might be mistaken on the di part, but it's my only real option until I get a ro/di unit. Just curious if using distilled water in the meantime would be better than the water from the machine.
Thanks,

Lee

Its not DI and more likely not RO. DI is not for drinking and the machine makes water to fast to be RO. Your best investment is a TDS meter. Even if you never own a rodi system at least you can test your water to rule out problems.

Don

 

[Noobtosalt]

RO/DI. TDS from tap here is 160-180.

 

[eww]

At the advise of a well respected long time reefer on here we bought water from one of these machines in front of a local Albertson's store for months before we finally invested in a good RODI unit. When we tested the water from the machine is was surprisingly low TDS at 003. Yes we had algae issues that are now clearing up but I don't think it was from the water as the issues continued after we switched to the RODI unit. It seems it was more of an issue with the tank being set up and filled with livestock too quickly. Tank husbandry and good GFO seem to be doing the trick now. I would not rule out these store machines entirely but you should make sure it is a machine that has a date posted on it with the last time the filters where changed. We made sure they were always changed within the last 10 days and never had any water problems. We found the units inside the stores never have this posted and the store employee's could never tell us anything.

 

[DonW]

I would not rule out these store machines entirely but you should make sure it is a machine that has a date posted on it with the last time the filters where changed. We made sure they were always changed within the last 10 days and never had any water problems. We found the units inside the stores never have this posted and the store employee's could never tell us anything.

Date of service is handy but doesnt mean much. Incoming tds means a whole lot more. A machine in a high tds area will put out high tds water a machine in a low tds area will put out low tds water. You have to test to know for sure but you cant count on the fact that your safeway is going to be as good as mine or vise versa.

Don

 

[WABlonde]

Help me out here. What is TSD? We generally get sea water from LFS OR we'll get RO water and add salt. But as of lately, we've been using tap for the QT tank which hasn't experienced any algae growth in the few weeks (yet).

Linky here to our latest testing results. But I really don't know how to read it for Aquarium use.. Maybe someone does?

 

[eww]

Date of service is handy but doesnt mean much. Incoming tds means a whole lot more. A machine in a high tds area will put out high tds water a machine in a low tds area will put out low tds water. You have to test to know for sure but you cant count on the fact that your safeway is going to be as good as mine or vise versa.

Don

True true Don. I always would recommend testing to make sure what you get it usable. In our case we got a TDS reading of 3 so it was good enough for what we could afford at the time.

 

[eww]

Help me out here. What is TSD? We generally get sea water from LFS OR we'll get RO water and add salt. But as of lately, we've been using tap for the QT tank which hasn't experienced any algae growth in the few weeks (yet).

Linky here to our latest testing results. But I really don't know how to read it for Aquarium use.. Maybe someone does?

TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids. I don't know all the technicality that goes into that but they sell a pretty inexpensive tester that will read your water in a few second and tell you how pure it is. You want as close to 0 as possible before you add any salt mixes. I have been told you would be ok at up to 10 but I don't know about that. Our RODI unit puts out 0 water all day so we don't have any worries until the filters/membrane wears out and the TDS starts creeping up. Someone else here I'm sure will know how to read the report you posted a link to.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

thats right, I voted plain tap water!!
BUT!!! my tds is 20-22 out of the faucet(which is extremely rare),
and I use a "zero water" filter(a pitcher filter better than britta that comes w/ TDS meter)
that then takes it down to 000 tds for top off,
but use dechlorinated tap for changes.

normally I would never do this, but since I tested the water I feel pretty comfortable.
I also run GAC 24/7 so any residual heavy metals/pollution are prolly picked up in that...
I have been doing this for almost a year and no major algae issues at all.
although I do have an insane skimmer and run biopellets as well as the GAC...

Technically means you use DI

 

[Krish]

RO/DI leads so far at 75%. I thought it would be much higher than that though.

 

[fishoutofwater]

i use NSw. been using it for over 10 years with great results. cant complain.

 

[J.R.]

I use a Kent HiS RO/DI Maxxima 4 stage. I get between 120-160 TDS going in and 0-1 TDS coming out, and thats w/o the DI. I am only cycling the rocks in barrels so I didnt want to waste the DI cartridge yet.

 

[Dalbery]

I use both ro/di and nsw. I get my nsw at the Seattle aquarium. Hard to beat 5 cents a gallon for filtered UV'd nsw. It needs its salinity bumped up a bit but I don't mind

 

[ReefLogic]

sure wish I was closer to Seattle. There is no NSW here....most stores pull a dumb look when I asked about it.

 

[mfinn]

So who's the smarty pants that voted plain tap water??? :nono:

I voted tap water.
I have been using tap water since 1985 when I setup my first salt tank and have had pretty good luck with it ever since.
I do use a product called Start Right as a dechorinator and I also use a bulk reef supply dual reactor for carbon and gfo.
I would not recommend this to anyone, but it's what I do.

 

[Krish]

I voted tap water.
I have been using tap water since 1985 when I setup my first salt tank and have had pretty good luck with it ever since.
I do use a product called Start Right as a dechorinator and I also use a bulk reef supply dual reactor for carbon and gfo.
I would not recommend this to anyone, but it's what I do.

If it works for you than that's all that matters. Just goes to show how there is more than one way to skin a cat in this hobby

 

[mfinn]

Just goes to show how there is more than one way to skin a cat in this hobby

my thoughts exactly.:clap2:

 

[ReefLogic]

I voted tap water.
I have been using tap water since 1985 when I setup my first salt tank and have had pretty good luck with it ever since.
I do use a product called Start Right as a dechorinator and I also use a bulk reef supply dual reactor for carbon and gfo.
I would not recommend this to anyone, but it's what I do.

I say the exact same thing when people ask me. I tell them they shouldn't do it....but I wouldn't do it differently.

 

[Lbrewer34]

Date of service is handy but doesnt mean much. Incoming tds means a whole lot more. A machine in a high tds area will put out high tds water a machine in a low tds area will put out low tds water. You have to test to know for sure but you cant count on the fact that your safeway is going to be as good as mine or vise versa.

Don

So i checked out the water machine today and it said carbon filtering, ro and uv filtering twice, nothing about di. I pay $.41 per gallon at Safeway for this, if i drive a little farther out of the way I can get ro/di at a lfs. It seems I would be better off in the long run making the drive for the ro/di, at least until I set a system up. I don't think anything in a store would compare to something you manage and maintain, i am just looking for the best alternative until I set my own system up.

 

[the6goat6man6]

i use distilled cause i have no where or no one to buy ro from. But i do plan to purchase a RO/DI system soon! I figured distilled was better than tap