Ok thanks for the info . I'll see what the local guys charge for a BRS, as they don't ship to Israel.
If the local shops do the usual (namely, charge 3X the original price) then maybe I'll try sussing out a DIY again with your comments in mind.
I was advised from one of the local fish store guys who seems to know his stuff, that Mediterranean water (which is what I was originally planning on using, I'm 10min from the beach) isnt suitable for a reef tank. I could haul some Gulf of Aqaba water up every time I go to Eilat but its a ~5hr drive and I'm not sure how often I need to be changing the water. The corals down by Sharm El Sheikh are pretty amazing so the Eilat water is probably pretty good. When I was a kid growing up in Texas I set up a saltwater tank with Gulf of Mexico water that I set in a garbage bag in a closet for a couple weeks, on my dad's advice that that would kill off anything nasty in the water.
As an aside - is there any possibility of running a system that keeps itself clean enough that external water is only rarely required? I have seen some aquaponics systems that seem to be close in that sense; if I have a sump and do a lot of biologic filtering in a 150 liter system , is the water changing strictly necessary? How does nature deal ?
Some local water quality info I found : (BTW I don't think any physical method is going to be able to deal selectively with radioactive isotopes, that would require a mass-spec or gas centrifuge I blv which I have yet to run across in the local junkshops)
From
here:
| factor | MinimalRequired Residue, mg/l | Maximum Permitted Concentration, mg/l |
| Chlorine | 0.1 | 0.5 / 0.8 |
| Chloramines | 0.3 | 3 |
| Chlorine Dioxide | Not required | 0.8 |
From
here :
Required stabilization values include pH level of 7.5-8.3, dissolved calcium level of 80-120 mg/L as CaCO3, alkalinity of above 80 mg/L as CaCO3, Calcium Carbonate Precipitation Potential (CCPP) of 3-10 mg/L as CaCO3, and a positive Langelier Saturation Index.
A requirement of fluoridation at a concentration of 0.7 mg/L is planned to enter into force in 2017.
Main chemical contaminants were detected in drinking water sources in Israel: atrazine (in 8.4% of the sources, concentrations between 0.08-0.67 μg/L), simazine (in 13.4% of the sources, concentrations between 0.08-0.52 μg/L), trichloroethylene (in 13.7% of the sources, concentrations between 0.1-101.6 μg/L), and tetrachloroethylene (in 10.3% of the sources, concentrations between 0.1-176.8 μg/L).
In 2014-2016, 890 drinking water wells were tested for the presence of lead and only 16 (1.8%) had detectable lead concentrations (all less than 5 μg/L).
There are high concentrations of nitrates along the coastal aquifer.
Twenty-six percent of the drinking water has nitrate levels between 50-70 mg/L
An additional 17% had levels above the maximum permitted concentration in the drinking water standard (70 mg/L).
. Your source water matters - and will be the very foundation of the ecosystem you are creating. If your source water is messed up, everything after that will be a battle. save yourself the head/heartache now, and cough up the extra $80 for a quality, trusted unit. Skimp on anything else but your RODI.
