Is tap water safe?
- Thread starter Nathan2585
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Yes. Regular monitoring of TDS, pressure drop and chlorine breakthru are all easy things to do.
Trying to monitor individual specific contaminants in ultrapure water is almost impossible at the hobbyist level so a good handheld TDS meter is your best friend. Yes there are things that are weakly ionized and may not register well on a TDS meter but stick with the normal replacement schedule and disinfect the system at least annually and they should never be an issue.
Trying to monitor individual specific contaminants in ultrapure water is almost impossible at the hobbyist level so a good handheld TDS meter is your best friend. Yes there are things that are weakly ionized and may not register well on a TDS meter but stick with the normal replacement schedule and disinfect the system at least annually and they should never be an issue.
mcarroll
10K Club member
What AZ said.
One anecdote is a supplier sending a wrong DI cart (not sure how it came to be installed without notice...but I guess products do change look without notice)...the output water was showing normal TDS on spot measurements, but was acidic. Took a long time to track down the pH issues cuz it was only noticed in monitoring of a tank "downstream" from that supply that was already having chemistry issues.
Filed under: Stuff happens.
-Matt
Last edited:
mcarroll
10K Club member
It seems this is one of the least addressed topics in "the RODI literature".
I finally have a dual-inline TDS meter and two pressure gauges, so chlorine is about the only monitoring component left I need (handheld TDS would be nice...maybe I'll meter flow someday too)...can you suggest a specific test kit and/or meter that are in the right range for low level chlorine? Does chlorine in the form of chloramine mess with these kits?
Also, do you think it's worth worrying about ammonia from chloramine (or other sources, I guess) passing through RO and a typical DI cart flowing 75-100gpd? Some manufacturers seem to suggest multiple carbon stages or multiple DI stages or different carbon...or some of each. I do run dual carbon stages, but usually just carbon block. AFAIK (we'll see when I start monitoring for chlorine) I've been doing fine this way, DI lasts a "normal" lenghth of time, and we do have chloramines.
-Matt
vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
What I do is pour water from my dehumidifier into my ATO reservoir. My reef system is only 76g total so the dehumidifier generates more than enough as I don't have a lot of evaporation. I just add my two part directly into the sump.
Another thing I do to help safeguard my tank is I do a 5% WC twice a week rather than 1 bigger WC. That way if there is a lapse in quality of the municipal water its only a small percentage of the total tank volume.
prsnlty
Jackie
^^^^^^ I agree!
Years ago (1994) I had my first SW tank. It was a 300g AGA. I lived in San Antonio Texas at the time. I used tap (city ) water. Didn't know any better. Never had an algae problem but corals didn't do well fish did great. However, back then we were also told not to feed an elegance for instance so how knows... Got divorced, life moved on, and years later moved to Florida and started the hobby back up (2010). Did use tap water and it was a disaster! I didn't have a problem in Texas so why now? I even have a whole house softener system. Water here is TERRIBLE to say the least. My tank didn't get better until months and months later, tons of scrubbing and water changes and the much needed RODI on top of my whole house water softener system. But it did get better and the water was the ONLY cause of the HA and cyano. You see, I never thought about it when I set up my tank in Florida because I didn't have the issue in the past. This is also the reason I joined R2R. I feel, maybe you should use the better safe than sorry approach but it IS your choice. As AZ says go with Spectrapure 90gpd refurb unit at $140 with all the bells and whistles and silicate filter if you get one, you won't be sorry
Years ago (1994) I had my first SW tank. It was a 300g AGA. I lived in San Antonio Texas at the time. I used tap (city ) water. Didn't know any better. Never had an algae problem but corals didn't do well fish did great. However, back then we were also told not to feed an elegance for instance so how knows... Got divorced, life moved on, and years later moved to Florida and started the hobby back up (2010). Did use tap water and it was a disaster! I didn't have a problem in Texas so why now? I even have a whole house softener system. Water here is TERRIBLE to say the least. My tank didn't get better until months and months later, tons of scrubbing and water changes and the much needed RODI on top of my whole house water softener system. But it did get better and the water was the ONLY cause of the HA and cyano. You see, I never thought about it when I set up my tank in Florida because I didn't have the issue in the past. This is also the reason I joined R2R. I feel, maybe you should use the better safe than sorry approach but it IS your choice. As AZ says go with Spectrapure 90gpd refurb unit at $140 with all the bells and whistles and silicate filter if you get one, you won't be sorry
prsnlty
Jackie
LOL FLipp, "Noooooooo!" to what?
A good RO membrane should get about 90% or all forms of ammonia including nitrates and nitrites, the DI will get the rest. Many insist on using "catalytic carbon" or chloramine carbon blocks but they really are not necessary at normal drinking water levels of 4 mg/L and less. Carbon DOES NOT remove the chloramines or ammonia, it removes the chlorine portion of the chloramines and breaks the bond with the ammonia so the membrane and DI can remove it. More important than a single 1.0 micron or smaller carbon is good DI resin and good resin contact or residence time. This is where Spectrapure shines since their better reef systems use a 0.5 micron carbon block which is protected by a 0.5 or even smaller 0.2 micron absolute rated sediment filter so the pores do not become clogged or plugged in the carbon surface. They follow this up with a specially treated high rejection rate RO membrane usually 98% or higher with their Select series membranes rated at a guaranteed 99% and their custom blended DI resins like the MaxCap and SilicaBuster. Nothing is ordinary.
tyler1503
2500 Club Member
Simple, I use tap water or top offs and don't dose
I have a 5 gal reef and a 24 fowlr. No need for dosing on those tanks!
LetItReef
2500 Club Member
I suggest to get a TDS meter and test your tap water
reefingonmymind
Community Member
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I would not even use the Walmart water from the machines or any bottled waters for that matter. You are depending on perfect strangers to replace the filters regularly on the units which I can guarantee they do not. Buy a good ro/di unit you wont regret it. Do not use tap water unless you are stocking the tank with cyano and hair algae.
