Water question

[ed84g]

Hi, Im new here so ill give you a bit of background

ive been keeping cold water and tropical fish for about 10 years and have wanted to get into saltwater for ages. After reading up on everything i finally went for it and came home today with nearly $2000 worth of equipment (much to my girlfriends dismay!!) and am in the process of setting it all up with the aim of keeping fish and coral.

Anyway, im pretty confident going into this but the one thing that im not to sure about is water. In australia we have a water purification system in our homes called "Puratap" which removes chemicals etc from tap water Puratap water filters Adelaide - quality drinking water filters Adelaide :: What will a Puratap remove from my tap water? however im not sure whether this (with the correct conditioners added of course) will be suitable for a coral tank?

Any help you could provide would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks

 

[feh]

I personally would want to use a RO/DI system for making saltwater.

 

[Razor]

It is highly recommended that you go for a RODI filter.. TDS range between 0-5 is best(0-10 acceptable)...

 

[BarbH]

Hello and wlecome to r2r. From the information provided on the site it is hard to tell exactly. I would lean towards saying get an rodi unit. Before doing so if this is already something that you have installed in your home than I would use a handheld tds meter to find out what type of reading is coming out of the unit. If you are getting a reading of tds than I would definitly invest in a rodi unit. AzDesertRat here is probably one of the most knowledgable people I have seen on the site when it comes to rodi units, he might be able to give you a better answer about that system.

 

[dmatt88]

Hey Aussie! U close enough to grab sea water?

....... I'm Matt n i have a reef obsession.

 

[KJAG]

Welcome. Best bet is RODI, or NSW as long as its been run through some extensive filtration.

 

[bearjohnson]

As already stated above RODI all the way. When you get right down to it you've already spent a fair amount of money on what sounds to be all the bells and whistles needed. A RODI unit will really help to make your life a lot easier in the long run. The cleaner the water the better when it comes to a reef tank. We have a number of factors that are not in our control why add another one that you have the ability to control? Just my .02 worth. Hope it helps.

 

[wysiwyg]

from reading your results your tds(total dissolved solids) what we want to avoid in reef keeping was 360 mg/l not sure of the conversion. so your best bet is an ro/di unit

 

[Aquaph8]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[AZDesertRat]

That is a deinking water taste and odor filter and does nothing for TDS removal which is what you need.
An RO/DI is your best bet with a large DI only system as your second best option.

 

[ed84g]

Sorry for the late response, ive been flat out with work and not had a chance to get back on here. thanks for the info, ill definitely look into getting an RO/DI system since it really does seem like the only option. As a secondary/temp option is there any conditioner that you know if which could be added to the water to remove TDS?

thanks

 

[AZDesertRat]

No, there are no additives or supplements that remove TDS.

 

[11purewater]

You could make yourself a still:canada:

 

[AZDesertRat]

The energy required for distillation is tremendous and not cost effective for aquarium use. Also distillation is not as pure as good RO/DI as many volatiles travel with the steam and get condensed back into the treated water.

 

[11purewater]

I know .Iwas just kidding:wink:.synthetic salt mixes are specific on their composition and require purified water.You'll end up spending more on treating the the continuous issues of diatoms,biofilms,algaes ,etc.Remember your fish tank is just an exercise in pollution control.