Water Delivery Services

[vanw]

It occurs once or twice a year (actually more). I neglect to replace my RO/DI cartridges when needed. Maybe because I left it running for several days while on a trip. Or maybe because the last carbon block I bought was delivered 2 weeks later than expected. Or maybe because I had to do 2 * 70% water changes because my 6 year-old threw a handful of "slime" into the tank 3 days ago and I forgot to enter it in my water change logbook. Or maybe because I asked my mother-in-law to turn off the filter, but she closed the waste valve instead of the effluent valve and it was 2 weeks before I noticed and I wasted 500+ gals and spoiled the DI cartridge. All of these have actually happened in recent memory. Basically I'm horrible at tracking/knowing when I should replace my filter cartridges. The result is that my corals suffer due to my incompetence. Yes, I could install some sort of idiot-proof automatic shut-off valve and etc., but there would still be issues just because I'm an uber-idiot and too lazy and bad things just happen.

So I just recently started buying water from my LFS. But OMG, that is a total pain. Driving over there, waiting in line, filling 5*5gal buckets, waiting inline again to pay. Lugging them into the car and then into the house. They only charge $0.30/gal and fill each bucket to the top (so ~6 gals) but charge for 5gal. But it's so not worth my time and effort. Furthermore, I don't really trust the water from my LFS.

What I want is a water delivery service that provides good clean water that I can use in my reef tanks. Does anybody do that and have recommendations?

 

[andrewey]

There was a service where I used to live that would sell water, but it really isn't economical unless you're talking about buying a hundred gallons or more at a time. I think they charged something like $1/gallon, with a minimum order of 75 gallons. The same time and effort that isn't worth it for you will cost you an arm and a leg from someone else as it's a niche market and they have to cover their gas and hourly wage of their employee.

Have you considered an easier alternative, which is to invest in a larger storage container? That way you can make massive quantities of water so you aren't constantly forgetting to switch our your RODI filters? It would seem that one of the 300 gallon containers might be right up your alley.