Water purchasing question

S

stevecards

New member
Hi Everyone,

First, let me say hello. Local St. Louis guy that got directed to these boards just last week. I had no idea there was such an active salt water community in the area!

Anyway, I digress. I'm curious as to who of you buy your water from LFS in the area, and if you could make any recommendations. I have a 75g FOWLR, but I don't presently own a RO unit. As a result, my topping off and water changes are pretty much done with treated tap water. I've been fighting algea problems for quite some time now, and I believe this is the cause.

Anyway, dumb question, but is the water sold by the stores a good way to go (short of buying an R/O unit of course)? Some seem to sell both fresh and salt, and I'm not sure if there's a difference between buying the 'pre-salted' and just buying fresh r/o water and mixing the salt at home. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
Hi there. :wavehand:
Is there a reason why you don't just simply get an RO/DI unit? I don't think I'd buy water from any of the stores personally.
 
yeah spend the $200 on a good RODI unit, and make your own water, in the long run its cheaper, plus you have water any time you need it.
 
I am out in St Charles and I get my RODI and Salt water from Marine Solutions. I have a small tank though and don't use much RO. Maybe a few gallons a week if it is hot. Their water seems to be fine. The salt water usually runs about 1.023. I plan on getting an RODI as soon as I can since buying it does add up.
 
ro/di was the best thing i've gotten in a long time.. that being said i used to drive out the gateway for my water and MS before they were open. getting pre-made salt was nice but driving and hauling it around was more of a pain then making it my self..
 
Honestly the only reason I haven't yet purchased an RO unit is because I haven't had the chance to research them properly. When I first started out in the hobby last year I wasn't aware of them (or their value), and then I kept getting conflicting information on whether or not they were all that crucial since I'm only doing FOWLR. While we're on the subject, would anyone be willing to make some suggestions on either a unit, or some good links where I could start pulling in some information? I don't have a really large water need at this point so I wouldn't need one that puts out a ton.

I'm hoping a switch to RO water addresses my algea problem because honestly I don't know what else could be the cause besides the replacement water I'm using. All my parms are great, I don't over feed the tank, I run my lights an average amount of time. Keep a steady temp of 78, and salinity of 1.027.

The puzzling thing is I seem to have two different problems. One is on the substrate. I don't think it is diatoms, but I can't be sure. Sort of reddish, and it basically goes away at night with the lights off, but once the daylight lamps come on, it appears very quickly. And during the day, it only appears on the substrate that is getting direct light. Anything underneath the rocks or overhangs remains clean.

The second type is on the LR itself. It started very small in just a few places--with about the size of a pinhead, very flat, and a darkbrownish color. Over time it has spread to cover larger portions of the LR. I've tried scrapping it off without much luck at all. It's a very solid mass--not stringy at all, and just appears to blanket parts of the LR.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the replies. I look forward to chatting again!
 
I got my RO unit from TWP. It was like $130 or something for a 50 gallon per day, 3 stage unit. My tanks were pretty much algae free (other than green, which my tangs took care of). I highly reccomend the RO/DI unit.

Adam
 
eBay here too. RO6100+DI from thier filterdirect eBay store. At 30% monthly even on a 75 gallon at .50 a gallon that's a little over 10 bucks a month and in 12 months you're ahead.
 
I got the coralife pure flo II but it had a bad RO membrane and I was going threw 1 DI unit every 40 gals. I ended up buying a new RO membrane from MS and it works fine now. I got the unit from www.bigalsonline.com they have very cheep shipping.
Bill
 
I use only Spectrapure and could not be happier with it. They are a sponsor here on RC and are top notch when working with you and answering your questions.

Oh and

[welcome]
 
go to ebay under home and garden and pets and type in RODI and you will see the average and all types for what you need.
 
My guess is your tap water is adding phosphates to the tank.

Getting an RO/DI unit is worthwhile even for FOWLR b/c you get a more consistent bucket of water each time. Your tap can vary considerably from season to season or even day to day, depending on where you live.

www.purelyh20.com is a good place to start. They have good prices, good customer service, and they support SEASL. They should be able to tell you everything you need to know about selecting a unit.
 
Last edited:
I wanted to thank everyone again for all their valuable input. Maybe I'll see some of you this Saturday at the Gateway Aquatics event!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
Salt water in wood
Replies
6
Views
1K
C.Eymann
C.Eymann
Reignfire
Stray current
2
Replies
31
Views
701
griss
griss
A
New, but Not New to the Hobby
Replies
17
Views
3K
Guygettnby
Guygettnby
T
I'm confused...
Replies
12
Views
342
wvned
wvned
B
Threw in the towel - Free SW stuff
Replies
0
Views
679
BSAJim
B
Back
Top