Water usage

[sladeclan]

If I am using regular tap water instead of RO water is that a major problem? Should I add anything extra to the water if I can get RO water at the moment? Is it ok to us a tap water conditioner like you use for fresh water tanks? Thanks for all the help. New owner of a 5 months old 55 gal reef tank.

 

[Reefing Madness]

You can use tap water for the current time frame. If your using GFO or a phosphate remover, and treating the water for chlorine before hand, you can control the nuisance elements in the water itself, but its not easy. Along with, does the water have any ammonia in it, nitrates or other harmful elements you don't want in your tank?
But in a nut shell, if your just running a fish only tank, with no corals, its safe to use tap water, but keep in mind that you will grow some weird looking algae and sponge in there.

 

[sladeclan]

I live in a rental and am not able to in stall a RO system. Is there another option besides having it delivered?

 

[tyler1503]

Don't most RO/DI filters have tap adapters so they don't need to be plumbed into the actual house? You just unscrew the aerator on the tap and screw in the RO/DI unit there.
I don't own an RO/DI so I don't actually know lol.

 

[sladeclan]

Is a RO filtration system good enough or does it need to be the RO/DI system? This can get crazy. The more I read everywhere the more questions I have. This is getting more and more fun every day.

 

[joeyhatch11]

It really needs to be DI as well. My LFS was selling RO water and it's TDS was around 14. That doesn't sound bad but you don't know what those elements areand what they can do to your tank. I was fighting algae often and got so ******. So I went and bought a Spectrapure 90g per day unit and was amazed how fast my algae disappeared. In this hobby you really should own a RODI system or simply buy distilled water when doing water changes.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It is usually hard to know if tap water is OK without testing it.

If you use it, be sure to let it run for a good while before collecting it. You do not want to use water that has been sitting in copper pipes, allowing dissolution of copper and possibly lead.

An RO alone is much better than tap (unless your water supply uses chloramine, in which case the RO will have some ammonia in it). The DI makes it perfect.

 

[sladeclan]

Does anyone know of a good RO/DI systems that will hook to a water line that would go on a fridge. I am in a rental so cant do any additions. Even one that would attach to a hose or sink would for for me. Thanks for all your help.

 

[tigerdragon]

Does your fridge have a water line? If so just install a 't' between end of it and fridge run line to ro/di unit put a valve in line so you can shut water off to ro unit and voila your set to go. May have to buy extra line to hook up.

 

[LetItReef]

I live in a rental and am not able to in stall a RO system. Is there another option besides having it delivered?

try Distilled water in a local grocery first and test it using TDS meter. In our area Arrowhead carries 5 gallon distilled water.

 

[joeyhatch11]

Even of you hooked up a RODI to your water line in the fridge, the pressure off of that would be enough to produce a good amount of water. You'd be running a 5:1 ratio I bet. You'll need a booster pump. I was getting around 45psi off the water line in my laundry room. I added a booster pump which got it up to 90psi and then I threw in a check valve to restrict the waste water which boosted the pressure upto 120psi and I'm running a 2:1 ratio. A lot less waste and faster production. The tech at Spectrapure said that as long as the TDS coming into the house was less than 200 you'll be fine running a 2:1 ratio. It'll just take away from the RO membranes life span. Maybe lasting 2 years. But it beats seeing all that waste water go down the drain.

 

[sladeclan]

I found a pet store that I can buy the bottles the first time then I get free water for life. Until I get my own RO/DI I think that is the rout I will go.