Purchasing RO water from Food Stores

[edikpok]

As I do not have an RO system, I buy my water from Safeway / Superstore which are located pretty close to my house. I was wondering about the quality of this water.... Is it OK to use this water for aquarium system? do you know if they add any additives to it?

Thanks!

[Snaz]

It has been speculated those "community" machines are not serviced regularly and not trustworthy.

Better to go to a local water bottling company as that is their business. We have one here in Surrey that gave me a full tour and opened the log books detailing maintenance and regular testing. I know of at least one other nano reefer who gets his water from this guy:
http://www.aquaibiza.com/

[Myka]

They are hit or miss. Some stores are really good at keeping their filters changed and won't run above 2 ppm. Others I've seen up to 18 ppm. I haven't seen anything over that personally. You can always buy yourself a portable digital TDS meter ($35 or so), and you can be sure what quality you're getting.

[BlueAbyss]

I get my water from a local company that bottles distilled water. They guarantee it to be under 0.9 TDS, and when they have damaged 18.9l jugs they send me them for free (and deliver it too). In my experience, the water from the grocery stores will always be much better than the water from the tap, no matter what.

[hockey nut]

I have in the past used store water for my reef tank with no problems. It should say on the water unit how they process their water ( uv , reverse osmosis etc etc ) and I'm pretty sure they don't add anything to the water as well.

hth

[Funky_Fish14]

I understand that some stores might not keep up on regular maintenance, and so their 2ppm tds might fly up to 20ppm... but really... 20ppm is pretty damn good water, unless its 20ppm nitrate or something... but its still fantastic compared even to good tapwater. I however do refuse to buy from a place like that, because they dont change the filters as often as I would in my own system, but their water im sure is still much better than tap.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers,

Chris

[Floop70]

I used Superstore water for the first few months after starting my tank with no issues at all. I eventually just bought a RO unit because I got sick of having to make a trip to the store to by water.

[Black Phantom]

I've had to use store bought a few times when my RO system filters expired. As Myka said, have a TDS meter to check the water and you should be fine. Some people with smaller tanks use it all the time.

[TheMikey]

I've got a 15G Nano and I use the water that I buy at the carwash. TDS reads between 2-6 after 5 months, so I assume it's good. I didn't think about checking out local water stores, though, I might have to make a trip.

[edikpok]

Hmmm...Thanks for the info!

The Safeway attendant says that they change filters on a regular basis. I guess I will have to trust him on this one....As for driving to Surrey to buy water - it is a bit of a drive for me to do once every two weeks considering safeway is across the street and i can just go there, and carry the watr back. Mind you, the cashier has quite a laugh everytime she sees me with water - she is like : "Are your fish thirsty AGAIN???" :-)

I will also look into buying a TDS. Thanks.

As for additives, do you think that they add anything to the water (at least they do not mention it one the machine operational description..)? Also, does RO get rid of phosphates and slica?

[Bryan]

Better yet, buy yourself a DI unit witha carbon cartridge and micron filter or the Tap Water Purifier if you wnat to do it on the cheap. You are in Vancouver and you will get hundreds and hundreds of gallons before a replacement cartridge is needed. Water out of the tap is only about 15ppm dissolved solids. RO is really a waste in the Vancouver area IMHO, only upside is maybe in the fall and winter when turbidity is an issue.

[alouie]

Agree with Bryan. My tap water reads 12ppm with my TDS and is 0 after it goes through the Tap water purifier and a cartridge does seem to last forever.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

I just bought some RO water from Save On foods because I wanted to do a big water change and not wait for my RO unit and tested the TDS at 3.

So I didn't use it.

I would just get an RO unit so you know you can get 0 each time.

I think most grocery store units say right on them that they only guarantee around 10 and under TDS.

I used to get bottled water delivered to me for drinking that was suppose to be under 5 but when I tested it was usually a little higher and sometimes around 15 which is higher than our tap water!

[edikpok]

Safeway doesn't speify its TDS rating...

Should we still "Prime" the water after RO/chemical filtration to get rid of chlorine and chloramine?

[mike31154]

The carbon block cartridges/filters preceding the RO membrane take care of the chlorine so you don't need to treat the filtered water any further except for your salt and any other dosing requirements of your system. I see now that suppliers are offering 'special' chloramine filters for RO systems as well. The thing to do is determine what your water utility uses to treat the tap water, chlorine or chloramine, then ensure you have the appropriate pre filter to take care of it. Probably not a bad idea to get a chlorine test kit from your local pool/spa supplier, but I think if you change your carbon chlorine guzzler at the recommended interval, you should be ok.

If I'm not mistaken, chlorine/chloramine will destroy your RO membrane, so you want to ensure the pre filters are in good shape.

[scherzo]

I tested water out of the tap today and got 12ppm

Tested it out of my filter and got 0

I have this setup:

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/store_pages/product-info.php?product_ID=ro-aptwp

It changes colour when it is time to change it. Or just keep testing it with your TDS meter to see if he quality has changed. A friend in North Van has a 75 gallon right now and with weekly water changes he still only has to replace it every 8-10 months.

Our water quality is fairly good in the lower mainland (actually awesome compared to other places). Simply because of our climate, protection, and proximity to the resevoirs.

How big is your tank You may only need this if you don't want to take many trips to the grocery store.