Brita as Potential Water Source?
- Thread starter dntx5b9
- Start date
dntx5b9
New member
Ok, understand the importance of RO/DI or water with 0 TDS. However, if I am mainly concerned about my algae issue, can I test for phosphate and nitrate (already tested and it's 0) in my water source and continue using the tap water if I don't have any phosphate and nitrate in the water?
The short answer is no. There are dozens of other metals and junk to test for that are bad for fish.
Bottomline, if you want a reef tank, IMO you must have a RO/DI unit. For a FOWLR you can pull it off. There are many that do, including the first 6 months of my tank. You will have nuisance algae to deal and you wil have a tough time with more sensitive LS such as a anemone. You have to decide what you want in your tank. When I started mine I was FOWLR for life. I got the reef itch and now I am making many upgrades to accomplish what I want to accomplish.
That's my .02.
Bottomline, if you want a reef tank, IMO you must have a RO/DI unit. For a FOWLR you can pull it off. There are many that do, including the first 6 months of my tank. You will have nuisance algae to deal and you wil have a tough time with more sensitive LS such as a anemone. You have to decide what you want in your tank. When I started mine I was FOWLR for life. I got the reef itch and now I am making many upgrades to accomplish what I want to accomplish.
That's my .02.
To answer the question about TDS increasing with a tap water filter; the activated carbon used in some will release both phosphates and carbonates into the treated water. That is because they use high ash carbons that may be fine for drinking water but not designed for aquarium use. Usually such carbons increases the pH of the filtered water.
The hands down answer to using any hang on the tap filter is cost. Unless your tank is in a mayonnaise jar the expendables will quickly mount up and make that full fledged RO/DI look mighty good $$$wise.
Oh and-
Hi reefer_for_life & TankWatcher
[welcome]
The hands down answer to using any hang on the tap filter is cost. Unless your tank is in a mayonnaise jar the expendables will quickly mount up and make that full fledged RO/DI look mighty good $$$wise.
Oh and-
Hi reefer_for_life & TankWatcher
[welcome]
dntx5b9
New member
OK, I have decided to get a MIGHTY MITE w/ DI from airwaterice.com. Does anyone how long before I need to change the filters? Since I have a 20G tank, wondering if I should buy extra set of filters, or just get the unit. Thanks everybody for your input. So is this unit a good unit? I saw some in ebay for about $120, and Drs Foster and Smith have units starting around $150. Any recommendations? Finally, what's the difference between RO only unit and RO/DI? Thanks, again.
The overall life of the DI cartridge is a function of the incoming TDS. The harder the tap water from the faucet the less life you get out of the DI stage. Therefore it is hard to give you a finite lifetime. I would say buy an extra set of prefilters and a DI cartridge. After you run the system for awhile you will get a better handle on how often you use up the expendables.
As to RO vs DI-when you run water through the RO section you remove anywhere from 95-98% of the materials in the original tap water. The DI then only needs remove the remaining 2-5%. If you ran tap water straight to the DI unit it would need to remove everything, which it can, but it would last only 1/20th-1/50th as long. The RO section saves you big $$$. Yet using the DI section is always a good idea as it can remove things an RO can't and that 2-5% that remains can hurt your tank.
As to RO vs DI-when you run water through the RO section you remove anywhere from 95-98% of the materials in the original tap water. The DI then only needs remove the remaining 2-5%. If you ran tap water straight to the DI unit it would need to remove everything, which it can, but it would last only 1/20th-1/50th as long. The RO section saves you big $$$. Yet using the DI section is always a good idea as it can remove things an RO can't and that 2-5% that remains can hurt your tank.
