R/o Di??

[kawicivic]

I am getting ready to setup my first saltwater tank... been doing the freshwater thing for a long time and needed something a little more interesting. I just graduated college and have not found a "career" yet so I am setting this tank up on what little money I can scrounge up...

With that being said.... my biggest problem so far has been finding an RO DI source. I live about 4 blocks for the Home Environment Center on Riverside but they only have RO water. I am sure this would be fine to start a tank on (any experience here?) but don't know if how they compare to other places in the area. Does anyone know of any place that sells RO or RO/DI water for less than 50 cents a gallon? (HEC sells 5 gallons for 2.47)

Thank you in advance! I am hoping to join the actual members group as soon as my tank gets set up!!

Josh

 

[goat585]

I use RO water not RO/DI on my tanks. I have no major issues with it. I also keep mainly soft and LPS corals so the extra solids in the water really do not make much of a difference to them. If you are going to keep SPS corals I would tend to lean towards using RO/DI but since you are just starting out I would not attempt to keep SPS.

Keep it simply and gradually attempt more difficult specimens as you gain experience.

 

[kawicivic]

i am gonna start with fowlr until I buy new lights... after that i will still probably avoid sps... this about my third attempt to start saltwater.... every time i end up stopping bc I know how much it costs to do it correctly.... this time I had a little help from a friend who is starting too so I just decided that I could do it too.... I will hopefully be patient enough to do things correctly. I know most of the right things to do or where to find the info. I just needed take the initial steps which I have.

anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[awesomefrog]

I'm in the same process you are--still working on putting my first saltwater tank together. I bought an RO/DI setup on eBay really cheap. You can get them here for around $60--shipping is about $37--with filters and everything. It's a modest investment that will be much more cost effective in the long run. (I've used it for my planted freshwater tank, drinking water, and it makes great ice cubes if you hook it up to an icemaker!)

 

[awesomefrog]

I also got all the parts to put together some DIY lights for a reef tank from hellolights. they were much cheaper than buying lights that were already put together. It helps if you're comfortable working with electrical stuff too.

 

[cichlid nutz]

I have heard some medical problems with drinking DI water. RO water is fine but the DI part supposedly can be dangerous.

 

[chemman1]

Yes because after going through DI it is pure water, no other ions at all, atleast thats what we hope for since we want to put "pure" water into our reefs. The problem with drinking pure water is that the ions in your body will constantly diffuse to the where ever they can be in lowest concentration. Eventually, since your not taking in any ions (like you would with normal drinking water) and your always loosing ions in your waste you will have a major electrolite imbalance.

 

[awesomefrog]

If you want drinking water that isn't deionized you can add a "tee" fitting before the DI cartridge so that you have one line for drinking water and the other for aquarium water.

 

[kawicivic]

i dont want to drink it... just want my fish to swim in it


if i wanted electrolytes i would drink gatorade:rollface:

lol

any other suggestions for sources? the ebay one is looking pretty nice