Water water water.

[Banjo-king]

So I know RO/DI is the best water you can use for your tank. My question is what is the second best? I live in an area where it's hard to always obtain RO/DI water. My local market carries water that's been just deionized, water that filtered using RO, or ozone etc. just curious what I should go for if I had to go second best. Please don't tell me to buy a home RO/DI kit. Obviously that's not an option.

 

[trido]

Please don't tell me to buy a home RO/DI kit. Obviously that's not an option.

Its always an option. Plenty of people that live in apartments and rental houses buy RO/DI units and hook them up with kits to the kitchen faucet temporarily each time they need RO/DI water.
If you really really cant get an RO/DI, then your LFS is probably the next best option. There are also reefers that get their water from the machine in front of the grocery store. Make sure to keep an eye on the sticker for the date the last time the filters were changed, or better yet. Get a TDS meter to insure that the water is clean enough each time you get some.

 

[JMSKI333]

Use RODI units go for sale all the time in the used goods section. Keep your eye out.

 

[mike007]

Di water will work fine.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Distilled
or just buy the RO water in a jug, doesn't have to be RO/DI

 

[AZDesertRat]

RO/DI, Distilled or RO only from a trusted source which will not be as good as the first two since a RO membrane only does 90-98% of the work without DI or distillation but its usually better than tap water.

No matter which you choose, I always recommend investing in a $20-$25 handheld TDS meter if you are going to be purchasing water so you can measure and judge the quality yourself.

 

[Banjo-king]

Thank you guys so much. Exactly the answers I was looking for.

 

[philr]

When I first started I had a 150g, and i used the API tap water filter. it is basically a charcoal filter. I had only fish with live rock. This filter is still sold, and is an acceptable substitute for water purification. Again I used this for a fish only tank.

 

[Banjo-king]

I've been buying Publix brand "purified" water because it's filtered using DI and ozone. I think now I'll buy the distilled water until I can buy a kit to purify my own water. I also added the TDS meter to my Christmas list.

 

[AZDesertRat]

The API tap water filter is often good for about 15-30 gallons maximum per refill and gets extremely expensive. Most of those who report good results do not have a TDS meter and are surprised to see how little it does once they do buy a meter and actually test the water. Its more a warm fuzzy feeling than anything. They just don't hold enough media or have enough contact time to do much.