Reverse Osmosis Water

[tyleratl]

I'm getting back into the marine aquaria hobby, but this time I want a reef tank. I have ordered a 34 gallon Red Sea Max which will be here on Tuesday. In preparation, I was at Sam's today and bought 24 gallon jugs of Crystal Springs Reverse Osmosis purified water. The only thing that gives me pause is that they have added potassium bicarbonate, calcium chloride, and magnesium chloride "for taste."

My question is this. Will these added minerals have any adverse effect in a small reef tank? As for the salt, I plan on using the Red Sea Coral Pro salt that came with the Red Sea Max. After I use that up, I'll probably transition to Reef Crystals.

Thanks for your input!

 

[tyleratl]

Thanks . What is TDS?

 

[victor626nj]

tds stands for total disolved solids..and welcome

 

[tyleratl]

I checked the water quality report for the water I purchased at Sam's Club. By the way, it was 65 cents per gallon jug. Anyway, it has a TDS of 22 according to the report. Although not zero, is it too far off to use?

 

[tyleratl]

Well, after learning about TDS from you guys, I have been doing some more research. As DAWG pointed out, a TDS of zero appears to be the ideal goal in a reef tank. The water that I purchased probably has a TDS of around 22 if one is to believe there water quality report. In any case, it's probably several times lower than what you would find in tap water. Now, I know that tap and water don't go together in this forum, but I want to share something that I read in a book I purchased entitled the "Marine Reef Aquarium Handbook" by Robert J. Goldstein and recently copyrighted. He states that "in general, the one time use of tap water to mix the salts for the reef tank poses no risk." "Risks arise when tap water is used repeatedly as make-up water to replace evaporative loss, and some contaminants build to significant adverse concentrations." That being said, I wonder if I can apply that line of thinking and use my "better than tap water" RO water (with a TDS of 22) for the startup and then search out a better source for make-up water and water changes. What do y'all think?

 

[wolfie]

sshhhhhh. better not let people hear this. ( I use tap water for the first 6-8 months of my reefing.) Not knowing any better and there were no local club in New Mexico so I I had to go with the LFS advice.

AS long as you knew what you getting yourself into then I say go for it. Your tank will need to be cycle anyway and it a start till you can get an RO/DI or get water from lfs.( still wouldn't trust lfs water without testing it.)

 

[tommygunn17]

gettn' my ro water from publix, for several months now.. never better (.30 gal. )

 

[kzoo]

Invest in an RO/DI unit if you plan to have a reef tank for any time. Lugging water home all the time sucks.

 

[dannybradley]

I add Magnesium chloride and calcium chloride to tanks on a regular basis. The potassium bicarbonate should give up the potassium pretty quickly and only act as a buffer for your tank. You won't get 0TDS from that water, but that doesn't mean it wasn't 0 before they added the salts in for taste.

 

[tyleratl]

Thanks. I'll have to check out the Publix option next time or buy a RO/DI unit.

 

[skriz]

you can try and save a few bucks here and there, but in the end you end up paying for it. That water will probably be okay as long as you're okay with fighting algae. I would much rather enjoy my tank rather than work on it, so RODI is the only option for me. You can buy rodi systems pretty cheap now and they're well worth it.

As far as tap water, it contains metals and chlorine. Neither of which you want in a reef.

 

[tyleratl]

What is a good RODI unit that isn't too expensive? And, can you easily connect and disconnect it from the faucet?

 

[jefft]

tyleratl;120904 wrote: What is a good RODI unit that isn't too expensive? And, can you easily connect and disconnect it from the faucet?

I just recently bought this one to replace one I accidently threw away.

 

[roland jacques]

They start about $100 shipped for a cheep one. $140 plus shipping, gets you into a very good quality RODI.

I like to recomend the water saver units from Thefilterguys.biz for people who use a lot of water (drought and all). They save 60% water and 60% prefilter expence, but they cost a little more.

correction Thefilterguys.biz not org

 

[skriz]

jefft;120906 wrote: I just recently bought this one to replace one I accidently threw away.
http://cgi.ebay.com/AQUARIUM-2-110GPD-RO-2DI-REVERSE-OSMOSIS-water-FILTER_W0QQitemZ120207967316QQihZ002QQcategoryZ20756QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem">http://cgi.ebay.com/AQUARIUM-2-110GPD-RO-2DI-REVERSE-OSMOSIS-water-FILTER_W0QQitemZ120207967316QQihZ002QQcategoryZ20756QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem</a>[/QUOTE]


that's the one I bought! I also have an inline tds meter so I can keep an eye on the water quality. I never put out anything over ZERO tds.

I backflush the rodi regularly and just recently changed the DI resin.

 

[roland jacques]

Skriz;120910 wrote: that's the one I bought! I also have an inline tds meter so I can keep an eye on the water quality. I never put out anything over ZERO tds.

I backflush the rodi regularly and just recently changed the DI resin.

That the one i got also.(modifide to be a Water Saver)

The prefilters are poor quality, that is the main down side. Just change you prefilters to good ones, at 1000 gallon of produced water.

 

[dartfrog]

I get my h2o from Kroger out of a Glacier water machine. The water has a TDS of 0. Its $.29 a gal. They also post the date when the tech. has serviced the filters, usually every 2 months.

 

[tyleratl]

If the Glacier machine water produces 0 TDS water, I really like that idea. For a small 34 gallon tank like I have ordered, seems like a reasonable option.

 

[dartfrog]

I just get 10 gal. when i'm grocery shopping. I've heard stories of ro filters running to long and flooding house. I can buy alot of water for the cost of the ro filter, and I don't have to worry about servicing filters!

 

[skriz]

WHen they servie the filters, all they do is run bleach through and flush. They don't change the filters every 2 months.

But, if the tds is zero, then that's a great option as long as you don't mind hauling the water. fwiw, my $100 rodi has been running for over 2 years now and still produces zero tds. As long as you have safegaurds in place, there's very little to worry about and the cost becomes minimal.