Do you purchase your water or make it yourself?

[AZDesertRat]

Don't get wrapped up with "stages". It means nothing and is an ebay ply to make a low end drinking water systm with 2 or 3 low quality carbons and 2 or 3 little hollow tubes with some outdated resin sould like the best thing since sliced bread.
A reef quality RO/DI need 4 stages, no more and no less. 1 high quality low micron sediment filter, 1 high quality low mircon carbon block, a name brand RO membrane and 1 full size 20 oz vertical DI. Thats it. If you want to extend the life of your DI you can add a second full size DI but for most t is not necessary but all the other things vendors try to sell you have little or in most cases no proven value and some actually reduce the RO or DI efficiency.

 

[Latinreefer]

Don't get caught up on using a 4 stage ro/di setup with high quality filters, it really depends on your water that enters your house that your municipality delivers.

 

[KillerKlownFish]

I buy it. Sometimes store made...sometimes bottled. Runs $1-$3 gallon depends who's working lol

 

[Planedoc]

This is something that should not even be discussed. "maybe if you had a 5 gallon nano tank".
Water quality is the #1 factor that effects the quality of your tank. For less than $200 you can get a high quality ro/di system that when maintained will provide perfect water at a fraction of the cost of purchasing it. If you purchase water you don't really know what you are getting and you have to drive and get it. I have to say that after the tank and lights its the next thing required for a salt water tank.

 

[AZDesertRat]

A 4 stage RO/DI will treat any quality of water you can throw at it. Vendors love to add things to make their systems sound better but really don't add value. Water treatment has been my profession for 40 years so I should know and living in the desert southwest we have some of the toughest water you can imagine.

 

[uperepik]

Yeah buy a RO/DI filter. You can get a refurbished spectrapure 4 stage filter for $124 on their site. It saved me money just because of all the other junk I was buying at the LFS when I went "just" to buy water.

 

[Vucious]

I started off with RODI and SW from LFS. I've since moved to making my own. IMO it's a pain since my LFS is 1 minute away.

 

[aqua1dude]

I recently purchased a BRS 5 stage RODI but had no idea of how much water I wasted making water. I think the ratio is 4:1. That's a lot of water being wasted. I began to wonder if it really is cost efficient when you factor in how much water is wasted.

 

[Morganlsimpson1]

I've actually never used RO/DI whater. I've been lucky enough to have extremely good tap water

 

[pbrano97]

does anyone else use natural sea water?

 

[datoneazn]

I buy Rodi water from my store I work at but mix my own saltwater

 

[LetItReef]

does anyone else use natural sea water?

I want to do it But I don't know if I will be in trouble if I get a 7 gallons water at the beach?
I guess there is only one way to find out.

 

[leocom2000]

I want to do it But I don't know if I will be in trouble if I get a 7 gallons water at the beach?
I guess there is only one way to find out.

Haha! It would be funny if there was a conservation law protecting the ocean water from depleting. That said, there are some funny laws out there.

 

[pbrano97]

I want to do it But I don't know if I will be in trouble if I get a 7 gallons water at the beach?
I guess there is only one way to find out.

I only have a 24 gallon so it's not a big deal, but i buy boxed ocean water (and top off with my own rodi) and i've been getting great growth. 1 gal water change a day and keeps the guessing out of dosing especially on a smaller system. Would be costly on something large though.

 

[Kworker]

Beach and bay water is probably not a good idea because of pollution. You would need a boat to get a good distance off shore for cleaner water. Beach and bay water can very well have fecal matter as well as traces of chemicals from fertilizers and such.