Buy RO/DI Water near 44118

[Futurecanadian]

Hey guys,

I am looking to buy a few 5 gallon buckets of RO/DI water for top off purposes. I currently have been using tap and realize how bad that is for the tank. I do not have the cash to buy a RO/DI unit for myself right now, so I am looking for a short term fix.

Does anyone know a local place I could buy this from, or doe any of you want to sell me some from your units? I am in Cleveland Hts.

Thanks a ton,

 

[chuggy]

yo tuck i got it bring some containers over

 

[PirateFish52]

You can always hit up Marc's for Distilled Water. It's usually about 65 cents a gallon.

 

[Futurecanadian]

Thanks Chuggy. Where in Cleveland do you live?

Pirate, is that the same thing?

 

[chuggy]

im in highland hts 44143 about 15 20 from ch

 

[Jeff Trout]

The super wal-mart by me sells ro water!!

 

[Futurecanadian]

Whats the difference between RO and Distilled? Which is better?

 

[PirateFish52]

RO and Distilled are pretty much the same.

Both can be used as topoff and to be mixed to make salt water for reef tanks.

 

[Jeff Trout]

I dont think ro and distilled are the same!!!
I thought that distilled is not as pure as ro

 

[Futurecanadian]

Aww Sh**, Now I am more confused... I need an expert on this lol. I also, need to check out Walmart near Jeff Trouts home... which where is that?

 

[moparcolt]

I have used spring water from the grocery store as well, It is filtered and usually works fine. I have never done any tests on it to see how it checks out. has anyone else? A friend of mine had Deer park spring water checked by a friend who worked for a water treatment place and he said it was almost perfect as far as water goes nothing in it but H2O

 

[ReefWidowed]

sometimes distilled water has been run through copper pipes, and has residue....I'd test before I filled a tank with it

 

[99probfishaint1]

Futurecanadian,
I know the walmart (by my school in pa) also sells RO water, so maybe it's at all of them.. If I were you I'd call them to check that out before driving farther than needed.

 

[StanD]

Hey Gang:
Interesting questions and info. Thought I would add a few factoids from my experience
RO and DI quality depends a lot on the quality of the equipment that is producing the product. When I lived in Cincinnati, I purchased RO water from a local grocery store chain. Used it and had no problems. I had access to a world class analytical chemistry lab and had them analyze samples of the RO water vs. my tap water just out of curiosity. Turned out my tap water was more pure than the "RO' because he membrane (and I am guessing the prefilter / carbon) and had not been serviced / changed since the machine was installed. I might suggest that since most of us reefer types are wound pretty tight, your chances of getting pretty good RO water is better than buying from a grocery store. Packaged stuff in grocery stores is also suspect in that I am not aware of any regulatory standards that anyone really is checking for most of the "bottled" waters.
One last observation is that I have always wondered why we go so crazy making sure our water is so "pure", but we feed fish food that produces fish manure that one turd introduces who knows what.....
Just my 2 cents

StanD

 

[MeVsTheWorld]

I tested some distilled water(2 kinds) from the grocery store, it gave a 1 tds. I tested the spring water(2 kinds) it gave a 184 tds. I also have a ro machine at a local drugmart and it tested 24 tds. My tap was at 230+/-. I finally broke down and bought a ro/di setup and now have around 13 from my ro and 0 after the di. I still used the drugmart water until I received my equip. at $.25 a gal it was better than my tap. I still bought distilled for my top off. Save some money and invest in the ro/di. Any of them should be fine as long as your getting 0 tds. I got a pretty good deal from air,water,ice it does what it is intended to do. Good Luck!

 

[PirateFish52]

I used to use Distilled Water from Marc's for about three years, until I got sick of toting 20 gallons home at a time up 3 floors of my condo building.

I broke down and bought an RO machine and it is way more convenient, and cheaper in the long run, than purchasing Distilled water in gallon jugs. Using an RO machine is the better way to go, simply out of convenience.

RO is better than Distilled, and if given the choice, you should use RO.

However, in my experience, I have seen them to be basically the same. No algae blooms either way out of the ordinary, corals thriving under both, and I couldn't vote out using Distilled again if my RO machine took a dive. It's not like Distilled water is like using battery acid in your tank.

I have also not seen a marked difference that would make me never use Distilled if I had to.

As for Spring water, it shouldn't be a choice. Buy the Distilled water that is on the shelf right next to it if you don't buy an RO machine.

So Jeff Trout is right. Sorry to freak you out Jeff with my lack of specifically explaining my point.

 

[PirateFish52]

Also, you can have the purest water and still have problems in your tank.

The best water won't cure lack of timely water changes and good water husbandry.

 

[PirateFish52]

Scientists opinion about the difference, if anyone is interested:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00223.htm