90 Gallons of Water

[brandons]

Ok this is going to sound very very stupid.... but when I go to buy water for my tank how many shopping carts will I need to fit 90 gallons of water? I'm sure I'll look like some crazy mad man going to walmart and buying 90 gallons of water.

What about rain water.... I don't live near any cities? What would I test the water for to know if it's ok?

 

[thomas712]

You could make several trips. I fit 4 - 5 gallon water jugs into a shopping cart, thats 20 gallons. So that would be about 5 trips and 5 shopping carts if you try to do it all at once. Thats also alot of weight in the car all at once. I suggest several trips for managability or getting your own RO system.
Go to a local water store, look in the phone book, and see if they will sell their used 5 gallon water jugs, you know the kind that go on top of the water systems that they turn the bottle upside down on.
No on the rain water. Ever hear of acid rain?
Thomas

 

[matro]

I would imagine you could fit them into 3 carts(two if you like Jenga)
I would imagine you will be paying~.5$ a gallon. That's halfway to an RO/DI unit in your first trip. I bought one off of ---- for $85. 110 GPD "Water General" I knew my water changes would suffer because I didn't feel like going to Walmart at 10pm on Sun for water.
I know you weren't asking for that, and are prob. tired of hearing it, but it really does make sense. You go thru a lot of water in no time. My guess is a month would be the time frame for an RO to pay for itself, and it tastes good too

 

[brandons]

Only prob with that is I don't know how keen my mom's b/f would be on how much water they waste.

 

[brandons]

If only I had a pool to dump it all into .... hmmmm maybe the hot tub? but that'd overflow in no time lol:thinking:

 

[matro]

You could always water the plants with the waste. tell them they could be drinking PURE water instead of that chemical bath that comes from the faucet.

 

[bryonrw]

I have my RO hooked up to my frige, so that we can get water and ice (good if the tank gets too hot also) from it. Then I have the waste water going outside the house collecting into a trashcan. We use this for a number of things, water plants, watering the lawn, and emerengcy water.

 

[brandons]

Ok... I'm having a hard time understanding what the difference between Reverse Osmosis and Distilled water is. Now I see this commercial on TV where this thing like a Purita filter, not purilta but can't remember, takes out iron, copper, and all that stuff to like 99.9%. What's the difference, I'm not trying to be cocky I seriously would like to know. What do the hang on the facet normal ones not take out? Thanks guys!
EDIT:
wow... did a search a found a website www.waterfiltercomparisons.com
I think I can post this because it isn't a competitor... makes you think about drinking filtered water and also had a paragraph outlining RO/DI units and the measurement

 

[mujtba]

brandon, i got 26gallons of distilled water in one cart from walmart for $15. thats pretty cheap... you can do the math for 90.. BUT remember, you wont need exactly 90 if you have a 90G tank.. cuz when you add stuff into the tank, water rises..
i just got an RODI unit, but it wastes an ocean worth of water.. im trying to figure how to resuse that water elsewhere...
cuz otherwise, it would make more sense to got to the LFS and just get about 10G of water for $5.
anyways u makin a reef or fish only? ur first time?

 

[brandons]

Yea it's my first time with sw.... I had goldfish when i was a little lad, but that doesn't count. That got my mom started and she went into fresh water fish and she hated my goldfish (both of em) they didn't die for like 5 years or so. I went out and got everything almost. I have a 75gal tank, Berlin Turbo w/ Pump, Quiet One 3000 submersible pump (748gph), Southdown Sand (2 bags of 50lb), a 250w heater, saltwater master test kit by aquarium pharmaceuticals, oceanic instant sea salt, and a 20 gallon sump tank. I'm in the process of building my tank stand (just needs sanded and stained yet) then a canopy. I have NO lights for now and I need to build a canopy yet. Also need an overflow box. So i'm getting there. It's just I hate how much waste the RO units put out and I can't believe that if you filter it with one of those units for house water like the Aquasana 4000 unit I was looking at it would hurt. The unit does leave "trace elements". Aren't these in the ocean.... i'm just confused. What about running it through distilled water.
I would imagine distilled water has all of the "minerals" taken out of it and then the filter would take everything else out, only prob is i wouldn't know how to run the distilled water through the unit....
I just need to understand what is wrong with different types of water. All I see is don't use this this is better but you want to use this because this is the only option.
Spring Water and Tap Water - Not an Option and I understand because this is just crap water for fish with chemicals and high metals still in it.
What's the story on distilled and RO water. :help:

 

[mujtba]

RO water is purified and has all the bad stuff from it removed and filtered out.. just while filtering, it wastes so much regular water..
distilled water i guess is just plain water.. im assuming no additional phosphates, etc in it..
you should ask walmart whats in their distilled water.. then let me know also.
well ur ahead of me with some things.. the sump.. where will you put it, under tank?
how will the water get to the sump and back to the tank?
did u get LR?

 

[brandons]

The overflow box will "siphon" water out of the tank and then i'll have a tube/pipe running down into the sump which will be inside of my stand. Then a line will run from the return pump (Quiet One) back up into my tank. I'm going to make a "box" that will cover all these pipes up and also have another pvc line running that will have my electrical lines from the canopy run down and have a power strip in the stand. No liverock yet... it wouldn't survive w/out water
I was thinking for water filtration if I could use one of those heavy metal removal filters and then a Aquasana 4000 for everything else. I would think that would remove almost everything from the water ??????

 

[mujtba]

i wonder if u even need an overflow box, sump, etc...
all i got is two 300GPH PHs, one 300GPH HOB, and a PRIZM skimmer...
tank has a wall behind it. so wired are pretty much behind the tank..
ur tank is becoming complex..
im sure u can use those for water filtration.. but i would ask those dealers if it removes phosphates, and stuff..

 

[birdy]

The RO/DI unit filters EVERYTHING out of the water, when you test RO/DI water with a TDS meter (total dissolved solids meter) it should test 0, most other types of filters filter out some chlorines, and heavy metals, but not things like phosphates and silicates, things that are going to cause algae problems in your tanks.
Distilled water technically should be okay, but I seen distilled test positive for ammonia. If you buy water anywhere you should test it, for TDS, ammonia, Nitrate, phosphates.

 

[mujtba]

birdie, does a TDS meter check for ammonia, nitrite, etcs??
if my RODI unit tests at 0 and my distilled water tests at 0, then i can use distilled??

 

[birdy]

TDS just test for total dissolved solids, it doesn't really tell you if there is ammonia and such, but basically if your TDS meter says 0 then your water should be good to go.
Distilled should be fine, I just suggest testing it before you use it, I have heard of bad batches here and there. You will need to test RO/DI and Distilled with fresh water test kits though.
I highly suggest getting a TDS meter if you have a RO/DI unit it will help you know when to change your filters and they are cheap (around $20).

 

[zaracatani]

Researching best water filters should be intensive. By reviewing each an everyone with their advantages among competitors. Just like these water filter system that is referred to me by a friend. I was wondering what are your thoughts on this. There are many brands or companies offering the same kinds of effects. I just want to make sure I'm getting what I want.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Quote:
Originally Posted by zaracatani http:///t/129748/90-gallons-of-water#post_3484274
Researching best water filters should be intensive. By reviewing each an everyone with their advantages among competitors. Just like these water filter system that is referred to me by a friend. I was wondering what are your thoughts on this. There are many brands or companies offering the same kinds of effects. I just want to make sure I'm getting what I want.
Most of these people on here are no longer active on the forums.
To answer your question, you can buy what is called an RO/DI Unit that does remove all the chemicals, pollutants and solids from the water so that you can drink it, mix your salt with it or top off your tank with it. There are some RO/DI Units out there for under $200 that are definitely worth looking into.