using tap water?

[sammyp]

my water district reports these params: (ND=not detectable)
(pls note some are in parts per billion or ug/l)

copper: ND - .0.07 ppm
lead: ND - 12.9 ppb
sodium: 3 - 78 ppm
zinc: ND - 0.07 ppm
chloride: 5.3 - 203 ppm
iron: ND - 100 ppb
nitrate: 0.7 - 9.2 ppm
calcium: 0.9 - 37.6 ppm
magnesium: 0.4 - 15.9 ppm
sulfate: ND - 11.9 ppm

i will be using Prime to dechlorinate. it says it removes nitrates too. kinda wondering what happens to it anyway, is an RO unit necessary?

 

[AZDesertRat]

First I hope what you called chlorine is really chloride or something else besides chlorine.
No matter what the report says you need to be using RO/DI for a reef tank, period. Water quality reports are only a snapshot in time of what was present at the time the test was taken and analyzed. Notice the big differences between the lows and highs of the same thing? On different dates they got different results due to changing sources and blends, storm water runoff, changes in treatment techniques and chemicals and feed rates etc. There are way too many variables and while its safe to drink it is not safe for your tank. They also only have to list the things they tesyed for that calendar or reporting year and not everythings is required to be tested every year so you may not see things until a year later. Many contaminants are cumulative meaning they don't evaporate or go away they just keep getting higher and higher every time you add water.
With your own RO/DI, TDS meter and test kits you know the quality of your water every time and its consistent, it never changes if you do the little bit of required maintenance on your unit twice a year and watch your DI resin.

 

[sammyp]

i dunno.. i'm pretty sure its monitored more consistantly then that. i live in a very highly populated area.

EDIT: yes it was chloride not chlorine

 

[AZDesertRat]

I know how often things are monitored I am a water treatment plant supervisor by trade. Some things are only required to be tested every 4 years, others every three, some annually, yet others quarterly and some daily or even hourly. It all depends on what it is and what its historical levels are

 

[TekCat]

Just say NO to tap water!!!!!!! It is primary source of many common problems!!!!

Get an RO/DI unit and forget about it.

otherwise at least buy RO or distilled water from grossery store or your LFS.

REEF-ON!!!

 

[sammyp]

i see. well, thanks for you help. i just have one more question. would a FOWLR tank be ok with this water? (+ salt mix of course)

my eventual goal with this tank i'm planning is a reef but its my first marine setup so i'm not going to be buying anything sensitive for a while. takin it slow.. ya know?

could i hold off on buying an RO unit to lessen the initial setup costs?

 

[AZDesertRat]

Water is the single largest component of an aquarium, you have more of it than rock, sand, corals or fish by far. As I said before some contaminants are cumulative and will not go away so why add them to begin with? If you convert one day you may have levels of copper, phosphates, silicates or other things that could kill corals.

 

[sammyp]

ok. i'll look into an RO unit. i'll need a relatively inexpensive one.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Cheap does not equal good or even mediocre. You can expect to spend $130 to $275 to get a quality unit and a TDS meter to go along with it. Don't try to go the e-bay route or you will be very unhappy. There are lots of sponsors here on RC that specialize in RO systems and are saltwater hobbyists themselves, contact them and ask their advice.

 

[old salty]

Here is a pic of my 10 micron sediment filter and a brand new one next to it. The tap water TDS is about 250 and this filter is only 4 months old. Definately ditch the idea of tap water!!

 

[sammyp]

ok will do

 

[drillsar]

Either get a typhoon III or a watergeneral but ask for a 75gpd dow membrane if you get watergeneral, I forget link to typhoon III but watergeneral is here www.absolutelyreef.com

 

[sammyp]

how abou Kent marine? is that any good?

 

[drillsar]

I was told these:

Watergeneral I have it but get the 75GPD DOW if you do just contact them and they will put one in I beleive at no extra cost.

Typhoon III more then watergeneral heard great thigs

or

purelyh20

Theres sponsors here I know where you can get watergeneral because I bought it but later found out that I should of gotten the 75gpd Dow membrane instead.

 

[xxxjwxxx]

ive recently hooked up my aquasafe system from e-bay. THey are huge on there and I know a lot of members have used them too. Mine has 3 membranes and a di unit on top... I have tested it with a TDS meter, even after 2 years of not using hte membranes and them sitting in the unit, it still reads 0.

I would recommend that system. they go for about 120 shipped. Also my friend bought another unit from e-bay and has worked out great, his reads about 8 ppm and goes down as the unit produces more water. Its the best way to go and easy to hook up with a faucet adapter.. just a little bulky looking.

Heres a link to there e-bay store. They dont have any good deals now but im sure you could e-mail them or they will put more systems up there soon.

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Aqua-Safe-Pure-Water-Shop

 

[daveverdo]

Depending on the size of your tank you don't have to get a Ro unit right now. You can RO water at any Walmart or grocery store for 30-70 cents per gallon. If you only have a 30-50 gallon tank with sand and rock it will cost about $25 or so to fill it. Even with 20% water changes monthly it will only cost lees then $5/month. Buy the RO unit when you can.

Now, if you have a bigger tank, it is worth getting the RO unit sooner.

Dave

 

[ohioreef]

Here we go again with the bashing of ebay units!!

I have an ebay unit and it has worked very well with absolutely no problems. As long as you do your homework and know what you are getting, an ebay unit can be a very good, less expensive route to take.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Again I say stay away from most e-bay units. The number of satisfied customers is much lower with the low quality drinking water units they try to pass off as reef quality units than it is with true RO/DI units. There may be a cost savings initially but time and again it has been proven that they do not perform near as well and as you know water makes up the bulk of your reef system so why skimp?

 

[xxxjwxxx]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8042540#post8042540 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AZDesertRat
Again I say stay away from most e-bay units. The number of satisfied customers is much lower with the low quality drinking water units they try to pass off as reef quality units than it is with true RO/DI units. There may be a cost savings initially but time and again it has been proven that they do not perform near as well and as you know water makes up the bulk of your reef system so why skimp?

I really dont get what your saying...

Feedback Score: 7347
Positive Feedback: 99.8%
Members who left a positive: 7360
Members who left a negative: 13
All positive feedback received: 11158

That looks like a lot of statisfied customers to me...

Even then, they sell the nessecary tools to be able to test your water, so they are not hiding anything in my opinion.

So your telling me they make a water unit that has been proven to get below 0 ppm on the TDS meter? I'd love to see negative #'s on my tds meter!! Please show me. I really don't understand what your trying to get at... If so, why wouldn't I just buy the membranes that these so called "reef systems" use and wouldn it be the same?

BTW
how low quality does a system like this look?
http://www.aquasafecanada.com/2006Rnew.jpg

Also this is the unit that my friend just bought a month ago.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Reef-100GPD-Rev...2QQihZ002QQcategoryZ20684QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

$72.99 + $34.50 Shipping.

 

[AZDesertRat]

I'm sorry you don't get it.
The customers that are reporting satisfaction are mostly uninformed as to what the units are capable or not capable of whne compared to better quality units. If you have nothing to compare it to you are happy. Set it side by side with a Typhoon III or Spectrapure Max Cap RO/DI and there really is no comparison at all.
And yes I can make water that shows up less than 0 on a TDS meter. I do it every day. Most TDS meters are not sensitive enough to read below 5 microsiemens but the new HM Digital COM-100 will get down to about 10 megaohms resistivity and my water is less than that as proven with a Thornton bench top conductivity/resistivity meter.
As for the two units you linked to, yes both are substandard for reef use. First of all they have a poorly designed DI system that uses a hollow tube stuffed with some resin that one does not hold enough and two in no way directs the flow evenly so you get channeling and short circuiting. They also use poor quality pre filters, in some cases granular activated carbon which is a poor choice for a reef tank, and poor quality carbon blocks.

Compare those units to this one and you will see a major difference:

http://www.spectrapure.com/St_MaxCap-RO-DI.htm

Yes it costs more money but they hand test and guarantee it to be better than 98% rejection and it will give you true 18.2 megaohm water that you will never ever see with one of those others.