Water purification

[Tuscani609]

I'm currently doing my research on setting up my first reef tank and have a quick question on water purification. How neccisary is it to have something like an RO unit or even an AP "tap water purifier"? With Instant Ocean, a dechlorinator, and/or pH buffer, will I need one of these units or can i manage without one?

Thanks in advance

[Tasher80]

IMO an RO/DI unit is a must. Or you will have to make many trips to the grocery store. If you use tap water or even a tap purifier you will still get large algae blooms that will be hard to get rid of. You can get an RO/DI system easily for a $100. Trust me that will be money WELL spent. In the long run you might spend more on PH buffers and Dechlorinators than your original RO/DI system. I guess you can tell I use an RO/DI unit. I can't imagine putting my tap water in my tank. My tank gets better water than I do.

[yardboy]

That question can really only be answered by a tap water analysis. Look for phosphate, nitrate, heavy metals (copper, iron, zinc, lead, etc), organics(not cheap to test for), ammonia. (too early in the morning, can't think of all else it'd be wise to test for)and if there are any of these things in the tap water, you'd be better off running an RO/DI system. In short, if you are on municipal water, get an RO/DI. They put much more than chlorine in your water, in addition, the pipes coming to your house, and in your house, pick up metals and other things along the way which an RO/DI will remove. All around, it's just much safer to start with pure water, and a heck of a lot easier to produce it at home than to have to truck it from somewhere else (remember water weighs over 8#/gallon!) Now if you have a 2 gallon pico-reef, buying water shouldn't be a big deal, but as your tanks get bigger (they grow you know!) the water load gets bigger too. (I use ~4 gallons a day topoff.)

[Krux]

the very first time your tank crashes due to some sort of water quality issue the livestock loss and replacement will far outweigh the cost of an ro unit to start.

as stated above, chlorine, or more specifically chloramines, are only a portion of what you are removing from the water. to have an algae free (relatively) and healthy tank over the long term, plan to buy water by the gallon, or get an ro. unless you live in a mountain village in colorado and your water is from a freshly melted glacier, there is stuff in it that will eventually build up and cause negative side effects... plus, it tastes good to drink

[Tuscani609]

Do i need to have one of the RO's with deionization, or is a cheaper 2/3 stage RO sufficient?

[yardboy]

The RO only removes a percentage of the impurities. The DI acts as a polisher to remove the rest. I can understand your desire to cut costs, but this is definitely not the place to do it. Penny wise-pound foolish.

[Tuscani609]

Originally Posted by Tasher80

IMO an RO/DI unit is a must. Or you will have to make many trips to the grocery store. If you use tap water or even a tap purifier you will still get large algae blooms that will be hard to get rid of. You can get an RO/DI system easily for a $100. Trust me that will be money WELL spent. In the long run you might spend more on PH buffers and Dechlorinators than your original RO/DI system. I guess you can tell I use an RO/DI unit. I can't imagine putting my tap water in my tank. My tank gets better water than I do.

Where can i get one for $100??

[Tasher80]

I purchased mine online. Ebay. I think the vendor was AquaSafe Canada. It works great. I have been using it for about 7 months now. One thing, mine came with a built in switch to backflush the unit. If you are buying one this is a great feature. You want to be able to backflush so that it saves the membrane and it will last longer. Some units you have to switch the water lines around to backflush and are a pain to do. Mine takes 2 seconds to flip the lever and let it backflush, then im switch it back and im done. Anyquestion let me know.

[Tasher80]

By the way, mine is the six stage version.

[Tuscani609]

thanks a lot tasher, 159.99 for a 2 stage RO unit withtout DI 10gpd at home depot to a 6 stage 100gpd RO/DI for $100, cant beat that