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mrcopitr
11-22-2001, 01:41 PM
Hi guys,

I'm new to this group and new to the reef hobby. I'm currently setting up a 86 gal reef at this time. I've been reading about R/O water and its importance to the success of reef keeping....in your opinion is it necessary if your municipal water is from underground wells and is of such a good quality that it doesn't have to be chlorinated.....

Hope to hear from you soon on this, and looking foward to discuss more the hobby

best regards

Marco

canadawest
11-22-2001, 05:04 PM
Hey Marco, welcome to the board.

The best advice for using tap water is to test it. Test it for all the things that will be harmful to your tank, especially chlorine, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, phosphates and metals (copper kills inverts).

Our municipal water is pretty clean here as well, registering only 17ppm on my TDS meter, but contains chlorine and phosphates, so I bought an RO/DI unit which gives me ultra-pure water at 0ppm.

If your tap water tests out ok, great. If not, then invest in an RO/DI unit as it's much cheaper in the long run than buying RO water from the supermarket or water delivery companies.

Reefmaster
11-22-2001, 11:44 PM
given that we don't have the gear to test the tap water, we called the regional district who supplies (sells) us water and they came out and ran the analyses on a sample. if you call your water supplier i understand by law that they have to provide detailed analyses. worth a try. shane

StirCrazy
11-23-2001, 12:01 AM
what was the results from your sample Shane?

Steve

Silverfish
11-23-2001, 12:18 AM
I did not have my water tested before I got a ro/di, but it tastes like it's fresh from the hot-tub compared to my filtered water! images/smiles/icon_eek.gif

Silverfish
11-23-2001, 12:20 AM
Cyano seems to have disapeared too... knock on wood

Reefmaster
11-23-2001, 08:32 PM
can post the test results here if ya like...

ReefPureCEO
11-28-2001, 09:44 PM
Well I say everyone needs an RO/DI system. Why worry about all the problems that come with fouled water. You end up buying water from the fish store make your own for pennies a gallon plus its fun and feeds my children. lol

Samw
11-30-2001, 04:06 AM
Reefmaster, can you post your water test results?

Andrew, what is a TDS meter? Do you use your RO unit for your drinking water too?

canadawest
12-01-2001, 04:48 AM
Hey Sam,

A TDS meter is a device that measures Total Dissolved Solids. Basically it tells you how pure your water is. A reading of '0' means you have no impurities of any kind in the water (which is what you get with RO/DI water)

Anything can cause dissolved solids. From metals, to phosphates to the chlorine in our drinking water. I use one to test my RO/DI water for purity, and as soon as I get a reading, I know it's time to change my DI filter. It's also a good way to check the efficiency of your RO membrane, so you know when it's about time to change that too.

As for using it for drinking water, no I just use the carbon-filtered water from the water dispenser in my refrigerator. Seeing as my tap water only reads 17ppm on the TDS meter, I suspect that it's not too bad. Once the dispenser filter system removes the chlorine and smells from the water with the carbon filter, it actually tastes pretty good.

There are some doctors that recommend that people shouldn't drink RO/DI water because it is too pure, and our bodies need some of the metals and minerals that are present in the drinking water. I'm not a scientist or biologist or doctor, so I can't comment either way on that one.

Besides, if I use it for drinking water as well, it just uses up the filters that much faster, which ends up costing more money so I take the "scraps" from the fridge and leave the "good stuff" for the fish! images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

StirCrazy
12-01-2001, 02:20 PM
hehe I am no doctor, but I know when we make water on the ship it is pure water and if your not used to it you get the SH*** if ya know what I mean hehe

Steve

Samw
12-01-2001, 02:43 PM
Thanks for the details Andrew. Have you measured the TDS of your carbon filtered water? I am interested to see how effective the carbon filter is.

I know what you mean about saving the good stuff for your fish. I started buying RO water and only for my fish. I still drink only Brita carbon filtered water.

I read your bad news and hope that things will turn around soon. I can guess what it must be like. My brother is in the same boat.

naesco
12-01-2001, 06:51 PM
I have a Spectapure RO/DI system manufactured in Arizona.
In looking to buy some replacement filters I happened to search the FAQ on their website.
I am not a technical person but the answer to the question of whether DI in needed in the Vancouver watershed was no because of low PH water.
Based on that FAQ I continue to use RO and have discontinued the DI.
IMO Spectapure manufactures the stuff so if they say no, I believe them.
Any comments?

canadawest
12-02-2001, 03:18 AM
<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Water straight from the tap: 17ppm
<LI>Water from the fridge dispenser (carbon filtered): 17ppm
<LI>Water from my Reefpure Tornado (4 stage RO/DI): 0ppm
[/list]

I suspect that removing the chlorine doesn't really change the TDS of the water as it's likely the phosphates (which test at 2-2.5ppm in my tap water) and other metals or minerals that keep the reading at 17.

All I know is it tastes better and is odourless out of the fridge, compared to a glass of straight tap water. (Works the same as Brita filtered water)

Samw
12-06-2001, 02:40 AM
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by canadawest:
[QB]<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Water straight from the tap: 17ppm
<LI>Water from the fridge dispenser (carbon filtered): 17ppm
<LI>Water from my Reefpure Tornado (4 stage RO/DI): 0ppm
[/list]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's very interesting. What about the RO Water from Safeway? Have you ever tested it? It should be 0 ppm I'd imagine.

[ 05 December 2001: Message edited by: Sam W ]

DJ88
12-06-2001, 03:18 AM
Sam,

The problem with the store bougth stuff to me is that you don't knwo how often they change the mambrane and filters on the systems. Sigh.. otherwise it is a great source of H2O

canadawest
12-06-2001, 04:18 AM
Actually I was curious of the TDS reading of the Safeway RO water as well, but I got my TDS meter after I got my RO/DI unit, so I didn't have any Safeway RO water left around to test.

I would suspect that it would be low, but probably not 0. And like Darren mentioned, you have no idea how old the membranes are on those things. The water could actually have higher TDS readings than our tap water if the RO membrane was completely gone.

And what if the installer used copper anywhere in the lines? I shudder to think! images/smiles/icon_eek.gif