Does anyone out there just use De-ionized water without RO?

[chrisman]

Would De-I be enough for a reef system, or is Reverse Osmosis a big deal?

 

[ade]

For the longest time I just used straight well water ran through a whole house filter and carbon block. But at that time I had a mixed reef without sps. Depending on your TDS out of your RO you might not need to run through a DI but I dought it, IMO I would go with as close to 0 tds as you can. Kind of starting with a clean canvas, that way you can take the water out of the equation when it comes to trouble shooting tank issues.

 

[coolfish5]

I've run RO without DI for a while and get consistently 1-2 TDS. I still have algae issues on occasion so it could still be missing some.

I would think running DI only would get expensive unless you run a kati-ani system where you can recharge the media, which is a lot of work. Have a look http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...en=PROD&Product_Code=KATIANI01&Category_Code=

 

[J. Montgomery]

The RO membrane is the work horse of an RO/DI water purifier. It removes >90% of the TDS from your input water, and the DI 'polishes' the water coming out of the RO membrane.

If you're going to only use one, go for an RO membrane. DI resin probably the most expensive part of an RO/DI system, and you'd be burning through it very quickly if you were using DI alone to clean up your tap water.

 

[chrisman]

thanks everybody, i guess i was just thinking about all of the waste water that RO makes in the process.

 

[J. Montgomery]

i was just thinking about all of the waste water that RO makes in the process.

The waste water from your RO is probably inconsequential compared to the amount of water you use bathing, doing dishes, washing clothes, etc . . .