RODI Water...Necessary or A Huge Scam

[SDK]

@SDK, I believe I got my first RO unit around 1996 and it was a Kent Marine 25gpd unit 2 stage. I believe I paid around $199. Still using the housing pieces. I think the 25gpd RO membranes were around $100 back then.

That sounds just about right. I purchased mine 2 or 3 years ahead of you and remember starting to see the Kent units and refills shortly thereafter.

My original unit was unbranded but the Kent refills thankfully fit. They were most likely buying units from the same manufacturer and slapping a Kent label on.

 

[Dom]

TDS is one thing, what makes up that TDS is another.

Excellent point. If you took a TDS reading on a coral reef, the meter would read "infinity". But it doesn't hurt the reef.

 

[Aardvark1134]

While RO/DI might not be needed you do need to do a few things with tap water. The advice I would give is I don't want to drink all the chemicals the water companies put into the water these days so I bet the fish sure don't want to live in it. What I do both for my drinking water and for my tank water is I run a culligan EZ-4. It's one of the only couple carbon blocks on the market certified to remove chloramine. If you don't want to run full RO/DI it's something you could look into. You get 500 gallons of filtered water out of it for about $30. I attached the spec sheet for what it takes out. I consider it a good middle ground between tap and RO/DI

 

[Dunkleosteus]

Simply untrue. Your average aquarium keeper didn't even consider keeping live corals until the mid 80's... RO water was certainly available at that point. (RO membranes were invented in the 1700's!) Sure, we kept marine fish tanks... but reefs? Not until those visionary Germans started writing about the 'Berlin Method'. Even then, you couldn't source most of the cool new technologies they were talking about outside of Europe.

I had marine tanks back then... I remember my first skimmer. Ran on a wooden air stone. Lighting? My old marine fish tanks used 40w incondescent bulbs. Decent skimmers and halide lighting wasn't even on the horizon in 1982.

Bought my first RO/DI system in the early 90's. Made a HUGE difference in my ability to keep corals alive then. I'll never again fill a tank intended for corals with anything but absolutely pure, clean water. IMHO, after several decades in the hobby, labratory clean water is the single most important component of any reef. An RO/DI system is the cheapest way to get that quality water at home.

Do you think fish only would be alright with just tap water

 

[tharbin]

Do you think fish only would be alright with just tap water

As long as you don't have chloramines in your water you can probably get by with just a dechlorinator but it will be much easier and more successful with some type of purified water.

My first saltwater tank was in 1976 and I started it with Instant Ocean and tap water. It worked but was constant work to keep it healthy. Switching to distilled water made a HUGE difference in the maintenance. When I finally bought an RODI I never looked back.

They are actually fairly inexpensive long term, easy to set up and easy to use. There is still too much fuss about them. Just buy one and never look back. In the long run your tank, your wallet, your car/bus/train/feet and your back will thank you.

Unless you have chloramines a simple 4-stage should be more than sufficient, certainly WAY better than tap water. That is all I use and I have pretty-hard water (usually a TDS of 500+). The only reason to need extra stages is for special situations. Chloramines require either two carbon stages or a special type of carbon block.

The salesmen gimmicks today are really the 5, 6, 7 and up stage RODIs. Most people don't really need them but this hobby has become pretty geeky and 7 stages is definitely geekier than a mere 4-stage.

 

[Duncan62]

At least in my small town there are so many chemicals that the town puts into the water to bring it up to "code" it would probably kill my fish within 24hrs.

When my kids were younger we had to use distilled water just to keep their goldfish alive and with my 125 gallon display tank it was cheaper just to get a Rodi system.

It definitely helps in reefing. I was around for the tap water days. It can be a problem. RODI gives you more control. U use the waste water for planted freshwater tank and plant love it.

 

[ReefCheef]

Many years ago at a sales conference, an instructor told everyone that the best sales person could sell water to someone right in front of their sink. This was way before there was bottled water, (well besides Perrier) and people just drank tap water. Flash forward many years and now companies are making billions on selling us, "Clean" water and a large majority of us fork over $$$ for this water and don't ever use the water that is readily available to us in every tap in our house.

People have been keeping reefs for a lot longer than bottled water and RODI units have been around and while I know that there are some harmful things in tap water, there are also useful things as well and people just used water conditioners to make it safe with no issue. The same goes for freshwater tanks that I have kept my whole life and always used tap water and within the last few years the LFS's and forums have been pushing people to start using RO water for freshwater tanks as well. I call BS and continue to use tap water for my freshwater tanks and have had absolutely no problems, but when it came to saltwater I followed the masses and broke down and spent over $300 on an RODI System.

After thinking about it, it seems pretty convenient for the companies selling RODI Systems that everyone is being told that we need RODI water in order to be successful in reefing. Targeting the reefing community is a genius idea because a lot of us are willing to spend a lot of money on anything giving us a better chance of success, but have we all been brainwashed here??? Do we really need RODI???

Necessary! A good RODI system is BY FAR the most important thing you can buy in this hobby. Everything starts and ends with water quality.

 

[Lyss]

Many years ago at a sales conference, an instructor told everyone that the best sales person could sell water to someone right in front of their sink. This was way before there was bottled water, (well besides Perrier) and people just drank tap water. Flash forward many years and now companies are making billions on selling us, "Clean" water and a large majority of us fork over $$$ for this water and don't ever use the water that is readily available to us in every tap in our house.

People have been keeping reefs for a lot longer than bottled water and RODI units have been around and while I know that there are some harmful things in tap water, there are also useful things as well and people just used water conditioners to make it safe with no issue. The same goes for freshwater tanks that I have kept my whole life and always used tap water and within the last few years the LFS's and forums have been pushing people to start using RO water for freshwater tanks as well. I call BS and continue to use tap water for my freshwater tanks and have had absolutely no problems, but when it came to saltwater I followed the masses and broke down and spent over $300 on an RODI System.

After thinking about it, it seems pretty convenient for the companies selling RODI Systems that everyone is being told that we need RODI water in order to be successful in reefing. Targeting the reefing community is a genius idea because a lot of us are willing to spend a lot of money on anything giving us a better chance of success, but have we all been brainwashed here??? Do we really need RODI???

I began using RODI for my FW tank b/c I was having buffering issues and the ph was very unstable w/my tap water + conditioner. I could never figure out why that was happening, and I lost fish to fluctuating ph. That was the point where I was like you know what I already have the RODI unit for my reef so why not just try mixing my own FW, too. I now use RODI + salty shrimp gh/kh and zero stability problems since. That said I never would’ve gone out and purchased, then go through the trouble of installing, an RODI unit for my FW tank — prob would’ve just given up.

I don’t think RODI is a scam, but I do think some folks with very clean water coming out of their tap may not need it as much as others do. I personally appreciate the control I have over what is in my tank water.

 

[Freenow54]

At least in my small town there are so many chemicals that the town puts into the water to bring it up to "code" it would probably kill my fish within 24hrs.

When my kids were younger we had to use distilled water just to keep their goldfish alive and with my 125 gallon display tank it was cheaper just to get a Rodi system.

I myself saw a huge difference when switching to RODI. The DI being important I had 5 TDS without it, and zero with it. My corals bloomed. and fish healthier. Like you I only used tap water for my fresh water tanks. Hardness was actually good for my Cichlids. I started using some in that case as well. Here is what the RO filter alone took out of my town water. You be the judge. I did not hook it up to my drinking water at the time regretting

that.