Holy crap! I have been using 170ppm TDS water!

[neoh]

I get 7-9 TDS out of my kitchen sink and don't use any kind of conditioner and let the water sit overnight with a powerhead and heater. I've yet to have algae - except in my planted tanks, it was a battle I suffered for a long time despite every effort and made me shut it down, afterwords I realized that I should of probably be using RO water.

So far in the marine tank, I haven't had any algae issues - but I do have an rodi system, that I don't use, but have some ro water stored in case of an emergency. I don't know, it's a fail safe thing for me.

[H2o2]

That is why i am adding the ro at least i will have a bench mark like you said because i hope as we all know this hobby is great and the last thing anyone wants to do is hurt livestock if maybe we could have done something just a bit different :-)

[Aquattro]

What people need to understand is that TDS doesn't equal bad. It's just a measure of total dissolved solids. Of course those DS's could be bad, we have no (easy) way to tell. Calgary for example, has very high TDS. But much of that is mineral content from the water source. Not a bad thing at all. Areas near agricultural areas might be a bit more concerned, as run off also measures as TDS, which can be N or P compounds, and/or toxic compounds. Again, risk is low, but cost of RO to offset that risk seems negligible, at least for medium to larger tanks.

[kien]

I've used tap water with saltwater tanks that were just fine. However, in my current reef I like to have a little bit more control over what actually goes into the tank because I'm a control freak like that. Using RO/DI helps to give me that control. Again, tap water is fine if you don't really care what goes into your tank. TDS of anything above 0 means there's stuff in there. What that "stuff" happens to be is anybody's guess. Will that stuff hurt your tank? Probably not, but it's a variable that is unknown. A lot of people use tap water with their reefs, this isn't anything revolutionary or revealing :-)

[Proteus]

If you really want to know call public works and get a copy of the analytical.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Titus99

If you really want to know call public works and get a copy of the analytical.

I did check their online report. No trace of copper or silicate (I always look for those two components in particular). But since luck isn't favoring me much recently, I was thinking of starting RODI water but don't want to purchase the unit and don't really know where I can get reliable RODI.

[Proteus]

Consider all the money you spent on livestock. And equip. Another 200 bucks is money well spent. Once you purchase the unit filters are cheap and myself at most replace 2x a year and that's water with 120 ppm. Usually at spring when runoff and maybe fall with heavy rains

[BuschWacker]

I was thinking of starting RODI water but don't want to purchase the unit and don't really know where I can get reliable RODI.

Bring over a bucket. I'll make you some.