RO/DI Water Purification

dcsteve72 · 02-05-2002, 02:46 PM

Not sure about the rest of you people, but I'm not extremely comfortable with the use of Washington, DC water for filling up my tank.

I've heard rumors of the use of bottled water instead of tap water.

Any thoughts on the use of a water purification system?

Emprr_Angl · 02-05-2002, 04:22 PM

i use distilled only.

its hugely inconvient for me to run an RO/DI system in my apt and the cost of distilled water is justifiable knowing that it is the purest water available. i used to have alot of problems with my tank and since switching to distilled i havent lost a single thing or had any algea blooms.

i did just loose my rock anenome a few days ago. i'm still trying to solve that mystery. water testing has revealed nothing out of the ordinary except a slightly elevated pH. my guess is, he was not appreciative of the new lights...

Doug1 · 02-05-2002, 10:45 PM

An alternative to RO or lugging distilled water home would be a pair of Tap Water Purifiers run in tandem. Its a DI filtration system that doesnt wast water like an RO unit, THey are fairly cheap online

dcsteve72 · 02-06-2002, 07:03 AM

Lugging around gallon jugs of water for a 'simple' water change isn't a big deal. It's the thought of buying 90 gallons of the stuff to fill the tank the first time!!

Kent Marine has a line of Maxxima RO/DI systems that with some searching I found some reasonable prices -- but if something like this overkill? I mean, I don't mind spending the money on something well-made and that I am going to NEED.

But if it comes down to spending $200-250 bucks for a one shot deal just to fill the tank and then on out buy distilled water... well, it's something to think about.

Comments? Suggestions?

FishDaddy · 02-06-2002, 07:40 AM

Steve,
You're right about the cost of 90 gal. of storebought water. Not just that, but the cost of water by the jug over time will pay for a RO unit.
Check out our sponsors for their specials. There are some lower cost units that should fit your needs at good prices.
Dick

Doug1 · 02-06-2002, 09:13 AM

Its not just the original setup, but a 90g tank will go thru a lot of top off water. My 75setup evaps over a gallon a day in winter and twice that in summer, not to mention water changes

dcsteve72 · 02-06-2002, 09:16 AM

Speaking of water evaporation, I recently got a humidifier for my house. It holds about 3 gallons of water and I go through that about every 24-36 hours. I would think that it would help control the amount of evaporation from the tank if I'm already pumping a few gallons of water into the air every day as it is!