3 stage water filtration

[Ali16590]

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of setting up my first saltwater aquarium—a FOWLR tank. When I asked my local fish shop about water filtration, they recommended a three-stage filter instead of an RO system. The setup includes:

• Two activated carbon filters to remove chlorine and chemicals
• A sediment filter to catch coarse dirt, sand, and rust

The shop owner also mentioned that RO water might strip out beneficial minerals that are good for the fish. However, from what I've read, RO water is generally considered the better option for saltwater tanks.

Can anyone confirm if his advice is correct?

If I only use the three-stage filter, what potential issues might arise?

Thanks for your help!

 

[fishywishy]

RODI water is better.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Can anyone confirm if his advice is correct?

It's impossible to provide a blanket answer for this.

Minerals and traces found in the water supply varies from location to location as well time of year.

Using carbon and sediment filters may work in areas where the filtered water has what would be found in a reef. But unless you know for sure, you're taking a big risk.

Then there are people that can get away with using just RO, but that applies to knowing your water supply and what gets passed through the RO membrane.

What has become the blanket answer to your queation is taking a position that all tap water has the potential to be bad dor reef tanks. That means most have hedged their bets and suggest removing all TDS from source water with an RODI and purchase salts with the correct levels of trace elements found in reefs to add back into the water.

Most people will simply tell you to purchase an RODI so that you can sleep soundly.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I personally would get a RODI. That way, you don't have to worry about harmful chemicals potentially being in your water.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of setting up my first saltwater aquarium—a FOWLR tank. When I asked my local fish shop about water filtration, they recommended a three-stage filter instead of an RO system. The setup includes:

• Two activated carbon filters to remove chlorine and chemicals
• A sediment filter to catch coarse dirt, sand, and rust

The shop owner also mentioned that RO water might strip out beneficial minerals that are good for the fish. However, from what I've read, RO water is generally considered the better option for saltwater tanks.

Can anyone confirm if his advice is correct?

If I only use the three-stage filter, what potential issues might arise?

Thanks for your help!

That advice would apply more to FW but doesn’t work for SW because a quality salt mix has all the minerals needed for our tanks. For a FOWLR, you still want to use RODI as the starting point to ensure there’s nothing in the water that’s used for either mixing the saltwater or for top off.