Need RODI - LFS sold me pure ammonia water

Brett S

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I live in Houston. I just ordered the RO Buddie from amazon @ 1 day shipping. I’m in college so I don’t have a lot of room for a proper setup (thus my plan to just buy from the LFS).

You might want to get the Aquatic Life DI canister to go with that. It looks like the “RO Buddie” is just RO which will remove a lot of the impurities from water, but not everything. If you add the DI canister to it then you will have a full RODI system which will get the water about as pure as possible.

The other potential option for you, depending on the size of your tank and the quality of your source water is to just go with a DI canister. DI alone will get the water to 0 TDS, but the issue is that DI resin can be kind of expensive. The RO membrane is used to remove a lot of impurities so that the DI resin doesn’t have to do as much work and it will last longer. But if you have low TDS source water and/or a very small tank then using DI alone might still be cost effective.
 
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Aardvark1134

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Should be mentioned most run a carbon block before the RO membrane and if you have hard water you really should run a softener in front of all of it. If you are looking for a single stage budget solution go with a high quality carbon block.
 

Dom

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I used the Red Sea Ammonia test. I’ve always been skeptical of my LFS but it’s been my only options because the other two are 11 & 25 miles away

In my view, 25 miles away is local. Maybe one of the other stores can help you out until you get your RODI system?

Also, I'd take those results back to the LFS where you purchased the water and get a refund!
 

Kudos

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I have tested distilled water a few times and always got 0 TDS and have a very successful tank now I also run carbon once a month and normally use RODI but on the occasion my fiance turn it off I run to the store and get a jug of distilled water.
 
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Robert Binz

Robert Binz

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You might want to get the Aquatic Life DI canister to go with that. It looks like the “RO Buddie” is just RO which will remove a lot of the impurities from water, but not everything. If you add the DI canister to it then you will have a full RODI system which will get the water about as pure as possible.

The other potential option for you, depending on the size of your tank and the quality of your source water is to just go with a DI canister. DI alone will get the water to 0 TDS, but the issue is that DI resin can be kind of expensive. The RO membrane is used to remove a lot of impurities so that the DI resin doesn’t have to do as much work and it will last longer. But if you have low TDS source water and/or a very small tank then using DI alone might still be cost effective.

That’s fascinating I hadn’t heard that. Thank you. I’ll look at the aquatic life cannister
 

Brett S

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Measuring the pH of purified water doesn’t really work well. I know this applies to RODI and I suspect it applies to distilled water as well.

This is a quote from Randy Holmes-Farley

The pH of highly purified water is not accurately measured by test kits, or by pH meters. There are several different reasons for this, including the fact that highly purified water has very little buffering capacity, so its pH is easily changed. Even the acidity or basicity of a pH test kit’s indicator dye is enough to alter pure water’s measured pH. As for pH meters, the probes themselves do not function well in the very low ionic strength of pure freshwater, and trace impurities on them can swing the pH around quite a bit.

I suspect that the reading of 12pH on distilled water was simply not accurate.
 

Tamberav

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Check the ph first. My very first fish tank was killed off by distilled. Ph was over 12.
Not to say they didn’t fix that. Was 20 years ago.

Yes I used it for years without issue...was less than a buck at Walmart.

I would say it is safer than water from LFS because it is for human consumption.
 

Jmass015

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Yeah,I had the same experience with my LFS.They were supposed to be selling me RO water but my TDS pen showed a higher reading than our tap water at our house.
Buyer beware!
 

ScottR

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Yeah,I had the same experience with my LFS.They were supposed to be selling me RO water but my TDS pen showed a higher reading than our tap water at our house.
Buyer beware!
Lol. I’d be like, let me see you actually fill it up with RODI. I’ll wait 4 hours.
 

Jmass015

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I’m not waiting for them I bought my own RO/DI.
That’s the only way to go is to make your own.
 
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