Learning "RO"

[justjes45]

OK – every week I try to tackle one item that will help upgrade my tank or make me smarter with my tank maintenance.
I have only been a saltwater addict for eight months. I definitely have "the bug".[emoji39]
I have a 30 gallon nano tank. I have been using tap water for my water changes, we live in Vermont and it has tested just fine – but I am learning about "reverse osmosis". I have found a small reverse osmosis machine on Amazon, but I am not really sure how it works or why it is even better?
Help?

 

[JOKER]

I would recommend an RODI for a reef tank. spectrapure , bulk reef supply or one of the other nicer units. You don't have to break the bank on a unit but definitely don't skimp on one. The less tds you have in your water the better. The RO alone will not get the water to 0 TDS.

 

[Jimbo662]

When you say your water tested fine, what are you testing?

 

[justjes45]

I only have the basic kit. Ammonia, pH, nitrite, nitrate and calcium.

 

[FF337]

Reef keeping. phosphate, magnesium, alkalinity test kits would be helpful.

Some things that come in our water could be detrimental to our aquariums even in low levels.

I'm not saying it can't be done. But others will agree saying it sure makes it a lot easier. Especially if nuisance algaes show up.

I prefer a handheld tds meter for my rodi setup. It's dual purpose. It can test tap or rodi water. Also If you have had rodi water sitting in a container for a while you can test the water to ensure tds didn't increase due to leaching.

 

[Harold Green]

The actual test you need to do on your water is tds. A cheap meter is under $20 and it will tell you how pure your water is and although there are a few people who get away with using tap water your tank will almost certainly be better and easier to maintain if you use a good ro or distilled water in it.

 

[justjes45]

Thank you all – I have bought an Aro system and will not look into a TDS tester!

 

[justjes45]

RO....[emoji13]

 

[FF337]

Also know if you have only an ro system you can add Di later buying an add on kit.

 

[FF337]

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video/series/view/rodi-series

 

[AZDesertRat]

No RO/DI compares to Spectrapure for as little as $140 for a real reef quality high rejection rate 90 GPD RO/DI system with a specially treated RO membrane proven to increase its performance, 1 micron near absolute filters, 20 oz of custom blended reef specific fresh DI resin, a capillary tube flow restrictor and an inline pressure gauge from a vendor with over 25 years in the industry doing just that. There really is a difference. You will also want and need a good handheld ATC TDS meter for $25-$30 to monitor how well the system is working.

If you are wanting to learn about RO and RO/DI their FAQ section has a ton of good information, much of which is generic in nature so applies to any RO or RO/DI system.