Alternatives to RO water

[futurama]

I’ve had my 29-gallon tank running for about a year. I have major (and to be expected) hair algae problems. Here are my two main problems: I use tap water & my tank gets some sunlight. I can address the sunlight issue but I need help with the water. I know why I shouldn’t use tap water but I live in a 4th floor walk-up apartment & I don’t have a car. I would have to travel by su

ay or bus to an lfs & back, lugging gallons of water. Buying an RO filter is not a possibility right now so I’m wondering if there is anything I can do to my tap water to improve the quality. Would boiling it help? Running it through a Brita filter? Can I treat my water with a nitrate sponge before adding it to my tank? (My nitrates have always been high, around 20.) I’m going to boost my cleanup crew this week & have been doing frequent water changes with rock scrubbing but I was hoping there would be something I could do to improve the water quality as well. Thank you.

 

[latino277]

well... there is a DI unit you would buy (I'll see if I can dig up the info on it) for about $40 but it is only good for about 30g then you have to change the media.
there is an RO/DI unit you can get for about $100 with a focet hock-up...MIGHTY MITE w/ DI

 

[ophiura]

I think the only thing to do is the above, invest in a RO/DI that you can hook up to a faucet and take with you later. Some do "bite" into plumbing but you can get them just with the faucet adaptor and use as needed. :yes:
A brita filter is better than nothing but really won't do much to improve the quality. It is very marginal (maybe preventing actual sediments and chlorine), but to remove the real nasties I think you need the RO (and even better is RO/DI).
Other considerations:
What are your nitrate levels?
How old are your bulbs?
What and how often do you feed?
What are your tank inhabitants?

 

[dogstar]

You could buy distilled water from a grocery store but still have to carry it up or pay some kids a few bucks to carry it up. Do any Local grocery stores deliver ? Im guessing your in NY so I dont know if they do that there.

 

[futurama]

I have an unmodified Eclipse 3 system. My nitrates have always been between 10-20 ppm. I feed frozen brine, kril, mystis or squid once a day, sometimes flake in the morning. My bulbs are about 6 months old & I'm holding off on changing them while I price replacing the ballast for more wattage & compact fluorescents. I currently have the following:
20 lbs live rock
10 lb? sand
1 pair of bonded percula clowns
1 maroon clown with an anenome
1 three stripe damsel
1 CB shrimp I will be trading for a cleaner shrimp
5 or so hermits
1 sally light foot (new)
5 or so turbo snails
feather dusters with some new babies
1 brittle star
1 other green star, not sure what it's called
I am getting the following this weekend:
10 pounds live rock
10 Turbo Snails
2 Mexican Turbo snails
10 hermits
1 cleaner shrimp (trade)
In the next 3 months I plan on adding a 10 gallon sump with skimmer, live sand & macro algae; modifying my hood lighting and adding moonlights; getting the mighty mite filter or similar. (I found it for $80 on the web, thanks.) Does this sound okay?

 

[newbiereef]

i to have the same tank as you and wanted to tell you (jmo) you dont need anymore turbo snails, get another type if you want more, mines been running 6 months now and i only have 1 turbo, and 20 mixed snails, and 25 hermits, 2 cleaner shrimp, serpent star. i also use tap due to being on the 3rd floor of the condo complex. i use genisis to remove clorine and cloramine. i have never had problems with any algea or anything else for that matter. knock on wood

 

[msd2]

Personally I would hold off on the sump and divert that money to the di/ro filter, and maybe see if I could swing a remora C skimmer which can hang off the back. If you check the auction sites you can get a pretty good DI/ro filter for around 100 bucks. Sounds like a lot but when you start adding up the buying water, and the lugging it around its well worth it. FYI your high nitrates could also be coming from the tap water, along with the phosate.