RO water? Or RO/DI?

[Liam.C.H]

Hi, I'm new to reef aquariums and am planning on starting a nano reef in the near future But I hear that RO/DI water is essential for a reef tank's success and I was wondering if just RO water is adequate?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R!

It's best to use RO/DI. RO water still has dissolved solids in it, as most ro membranes have a 98% rejection rate. DI is that extra little polish to remove what the ro membrane couldn't.
#WelcometoR2R

 

[PDR]

Welcome to R2R!!! It really depends on your source water but generally speaking a 4 stage ro/di is what you should start with.

 

[saltyhog]

Welcome to R2R!

Agree with Crabs. It also depends on what you're going to do with your tank. If it's a fish only RO is fine. If you want coral/inverts/clams/etc. I think it's worth the additional expense to have RO/DI.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

 

[Billldg]

Welcome to R2R!!! I would recommend using RO/DI water for reasons explained above.

 

[mike werner]

Welcome to r2r

 

[Muttley000]

Welcome to R2R! RODI will serve you better!

 

[monster10888]

Is it absolutely necessary to have Rodi water? Probably not, but if you want to eliminate any question on your water quality, RODI is definitely highly recommended in my opinion.

 

[lapin]

Howdy
RO water will work but it can be an issue if whats not filtered out is bad stuff. So you dont really know. I know people that use straight well water.
I will say, depending on your budget it might be easier to use distilled water from the store. In our store it is less than 1.00 per gallon.

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R and your new reefing family. Not to pile on, but I agree it's better to use RO/DI water if you can, for the reasons stated by others. It's an easy way to eliminate one potential "issue" from the get-go.

 

[Captain Quint]

Welcome aboard new family member.

I guess you've heard RODI is the way to go.

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r!!

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[OA3B]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[JasonK84]

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Alleykat0498]

The DI stage removes the remaining TDS (total dissolved solids) that sneak through the RO membrane. So essentially all that is produced is Hydrogen and oxygen. That way the only things going into the tank are pure water, and your salt mix of choice.

 

[Retro Reefer]

 

[Ruben's Reef]

!!! Welcome to R2R !!! RODI water is the way to go!!! . You will save a lot of headache later looking for the reason of some change in your tank. Then you will find that the reason was using RO water. My tap water is around 160-180 tds and after RO is only at 3 but once you start making water that number goes up so a DI give me a 0 tds until the DI deplete.