Calgarys' water...
 

I was just lookin' at Wayners' posting on the Reef board regarding carbon filter replacements for RO units and began to wonder what the locals are doin' to "pre-clean" our tap water. I don't use RO water. My heads still spinnin' from buyin' our first house. I found a bunch of standard size, house filter "canisters" for $10.00 @ Home Depot last year so I picked up three of them. The first contains a carbon filter cartridge, the second a GAC cartridge, and the third one I still lay in bed at night thinkin' of a use for... I was still getting an occasional "cyano" outbreak in my 60g and I began to think maybe there was excessive phosphates and/or silicates in the tap water so I made a "cylinder out of 1 1/2" PVC, filled it with "KENT Phosguard". Took care of the cyanobacteria but I still get hair algae problems in my 90. Bla,bla,bla, eh? Is RO/DI necessary or is it nice option.
p.s. Faiview Fittings is a great place to pick up nylon fittings, 1/4"MPx1/4" comp. etc. for those "home-made projects that never leak in the middle of the night"...

Hey Tangoman,
Let me give you the skinney, lowdown, whatever you want to call it.

Tony(Delphinius) has an ro unit but dosent use it on his SW tanks
Myself i have a kent Ro/Di unit and use it faithfully
Deb(EmilyB) uses Ro/Di on her systems
Bob(The lumper :wink: ) Couldnt imagine using anything but tap water on his tanks
Kim(tau2301) uses tap water
Alan(Alan Joseph :lol: )He kinda uses a little bit of everything, but to my knowledge, mostly tap water.

Our water is fairly clean but when i replace my Micron cartridge in the 1st chamber of my Ro/di unit it gives me a chance to see what just the micron filter itself has filtered out.
I find in winter/fall it remains fairly clean for 6 months but durring spring/summer runnoff time my micron cartridge get's dirty very fast!

I use Ro cause it just makes me feel better about my system rather then having the constant addition of top up water and adding and concentrating all those nasties that are in our water in one spot.

I did start my tank with tap water and have used it a few times without any problems.

hehe tread lightly when starting a "calgary water thread" :shock:

Steve

Thanks for the skinny low down Jonathan, can I call you that ? The micron filter....hmmm."Solid particulate matter removal system". Hmmm. I don't know what the hell that means but it sure sounds important. Might I rest easy tonite? The third canister... where shall I go shopping tomorrow?
And what's that Steve guy out there on the Island laughin' about ? Me tread lightly,na. I usually jump in with some dumb-ass comment, look at the chaos I've created and watch the fur fly...is there some "geographical rivalry" around here ?

I do now use RO on my "SPS attempt" tank. I switched to RO exclusively on it ... oh, about maybe two months now? (I'll have to check my log to be sure, but it's about that.)

I don't have DI though. Would like to, but ... then I have to get a what, a TDS meter and replacement resins and ... oh man I can't keep up with all the stuff I need. :shock: :(

One day...

Steve, go clean your tank or something. Calgary people are happy with Calgary water and you are best to find a non-computer related activity until this thread goes away!!! :P

Jonathan??? You can absolutley call me that.

If you have the filter equipment, Use it!
There will obviously be many that don't agree but, why not use it?

Tony, you could do like I do and get the color change di cartridges and they will show you when they are expired :)

Mine has lasted me 11 month's so far and is only 1/3 or so spent.
I have the HI-S Kent unit so that may help some? I dont know

To be perfectly honest, I far wish I had VICTORIA's or NANAIMO's tap water coming out of my taps rather than CALGARY's tap water. But alas .... still haven't won the lottery so still to work I go .... one of these weeks that ol' 6/49 retirement plan will kick in!! ;) :D 8) :lol:

Tony, that the same Plan "B" that I have. Any week now...

TM, you and Steve should get along just fine, a pair of s**t-disturbers by the looks of it. :lol: :wink:

There is a history of water debates here, where we claim our water is fit for the queen, and the coastal and island types slam us for that. If you search here for "Calgary water" you'll see some smoke. Not too many flames but smoke. (That's Steve.) :wink:

I like using the tap water 'cause I'm lazy, and it seems to work. Just watch your phosphates - YIKES. Many plagues seem to come of that.

Hope this helps,

Alan

(TAU - why does your avatar require a password now??)