how important is DI water?

[SFish]

What about the stuff you can buy to remove Cu that they use on fresh water tanks? I myself would not use tap water or well water but I know it's possible to do so and have a great tank. You know Cu is only one thing that can be in tap or well water that can be harmful.

 

[scybulski]

for Reef a must and depending on the types of fish you have. Esp depending on your location. they put all kinds of stuff in your water. also if you have a well that opens up a list of metals that could have a problem.... if you are going to spend money on the hobby, always good to have it just in case...

 

[Boom215]

thanks everyone, i asked because it looked like the RO portion of most filters are just simple carbon filters. i have a whole house carbon filter and figured that might be enough. its not, so RO/DI filter it is

 

[SFish]

They are not made of carbon

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis

https://youtu.be/rK7UVY_7K8w

 

[WiDataTech]

A carbon filter is not the same as an RO membrane. The carbon will remove things from the water, and ro uses pressure to force water through a membrane. Only a small percentage of clean water makes it through, the rest is rejected wastewater.

 

[SFish]

This is a drinking water RO filter so you wouldn't have the holding tank or the post filter but it will show the basic idea

 

[Mordir]

In addition to having one you must also test for TDS and ensure you replace the media when it starts to test positive. A combination of over feeding, not maintaining my rodi unit and then bad husbandry has my entire tank covered. I mean the ENTIRE thing. Back wall, rocks, sand....one massive flowing gha plant.

 

[SFish]

Also a pressure gauge is useful for telling when the prefilters are starting to plug