TDS Test Results for those of us without an RO/DI

[Stray32]

I brought a few water samples over to Ray's last night (thanks again) to have them tested with his TDS meter. Since I don't have an RO/DI unit, I wanted to know my best option for water in the area. Here are the results:

1. Tap Water (Castle Shannon area) - 164!!!!!
Much higher than I expected and a prime example as to why
you should use anything but tap water.

2. Shop N Save Glacial Self-Serve Water - 22
Better than I expected, but still not great. They claim the
water is RO, carbon filtered, and UV cleaned, and it
probably is however, I doubt they replace their filters very
often which some of you suggested in my previous post.

3. Walmart Green Cap Drinking Water - 2 The Winner!!!
Ray was even surprised by this one. At 79 cents per gallon,
it's the most expensive as far as store bought water goes,
but it is clearly the best.

 

[JonReefer]

how come you tested the Drinking water instead of th Distilled wate from walmart? I would expect the Distilled to be better to use since it should be pure and not have minerals and such added to like the drinking water for taste.

 

[Stray32]

I read in a previous post somewhere on RC that the Walmart drinking water was the best alternative to RO/DI. It is filtered through RO. Not sure if the distilled could do any better than a 1 or 2.

 

[JonReefer]

I was always under the impression that the minerals and such they added for the taste was bad for teh tank helping algae grow...If thats not the case I will start buying that as I have always used the DI water there

 

[TomNeely]

When I lived in Cranberry TWP the walmart had RO water for $0.33 a gallon at 3-4 TDS.

This is what I used in my 20 gallon.

 

[Stray32]

The consensus in the general forum is that distilled is better than the drinking water. I didn't check the TDS of distilled, however, I imagine it is decent.

 

[ironwill723]

by walmart green cap water are your referring to this???

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10315236

 

[Mitsuko]

I have always used the "purple cap" distilled water without any problems ever. Just my 2 cents.

 

[ironwill723]

Mitsuko...how much are the purple caps running for at walmart these days?

 

[Mitsuko]

I only have a 5 gallon minibow. With that said I only buy 2 gallons at a time and it's so cheap I dont even bother looking at the price. I believe its the same as the green cap drinking water. Best guess would be .76 cents for some reason.

 

[Stray32]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14411075#post14411075 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ironwill723
by walmart green cap water are your referring to this???

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10315236

That's the stuff...

 

[ironwill723]

Ok. So I am about to get into getting some corals for my 36g. If I wanted to switch from tap to bottled (because I don't want to buy a RO/DI at this time) would I just do a large water change using the green/purple cap water instead of tap to make my salt mix?

 

[JonReefer]

gonna take some time to get all the phospahates out of the water from using tap...I would also use a phosphate reactor http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=11586
and the Phosban..to help pull out all the bad stuff thats still in there as well. Granted its not going to hurt your corals much but probably get alot more algae

 

[ironwill723]

If I do like a 95% water change will that get most phosphates out?

 

[cloakerpoked]

I'd recommend going a somewhat slower route with phosban, carbon, and regular smaller water changes. You wouldn't want to shock your system with other parameter changes. The phosphates themselves won't kill your system, so best to do it slowly than risk having everything else get all screwed up. That's my 2 pennies...

 

[Tswifty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14417710#post14417710 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ironwill723
If I do like a 95% water change will that get most phosphates out?

Definitely don't want to do that... you'll shock the heck out of your system. 50% is about the max I would ever change in one sitting... that would only be for an emergency reason... and the params of the mix and the tank water would need to match EXACTLY.

Also... as stated above Phosphates aren't going to kill your corals, but will effect their color, and help fuel nuisance algae. Pursuing phosphate reduction remedies would be wiser... such as running GFO in a reactor (which is very effective at the aggressive reduction in PO4), or using a refugium... and Carbon is never a bad idea to run.

On small systems I see the argument for using bottled filtered water... but on larger systems it just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[cloakerpoked]

not when ro units are $140 shipped off ebay...

 

[ironwill723]

Makes sense to me. I am eventually going to get a RO/DI but with the tank only being 36g w/20g sump/ref. at this point bottled is cheaper for me.

 

[ironwill723]

I live in Washington PA and I can get 5 gallon distilled bottles for $4.25 at Dean's Water Service. $42.50 isn't bad for 50g total.

 

[Tswifty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14418001#post14418001 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ironwill723
Makes sense to me. I am eventually going to get a RO/DI but with the tank only being 36g w/20g sump/ref. at this point bottled is cheaper for me.

Honestly... people want to spend money on fish and corals and all the "pretty" stuff that goes in their tank, and don't spend enough time setting up an appropriate system for their inhabitants to flourish.

Save your cash... lay off the fish and corals for a few weeks, and get yourself the equipment you need to have a long term healthy tank.

Think of it in relation to the total cost of your system... maybe 10% if that... and that's thinking of a nice $200 RO/DI system. People don't like to "waste" money on equipment so they skip or buy cheap... and it always comes back to bite you in the *** in the long run.

Just my .02

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14418017#post14418017 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ironwill723
I live in Washington PA and I can get 5 gallon distilled bottles for $4.25 at Dean's Water Service. $42.50 isn't bad for 50g total.

Which still has TDS in it, and you do that a few times... there's you're RO/DI unit.

Assuming you do 20% water changes every month... that's 10 gallons a month, or 120 gallons a year. or $102.00 on water. If you change more for any reason the cost goes up. You're RO/DI would pay for itself in a year (more than likely less than that).

Anyway... just some food for thought. A lot of people look at it as the initial outlay of cash. $4.25 seems a lot better than $200... but that $4.25 adds up over the course of a year.