Bottled Water

adamc1303

adamc1303

Active Member
I currently don't have a ro or ro/di unit and will soon be doing a reef. My LFS sells RODI water for $1.50 a gallon, however they said that I can also used bottled water even though it isn't as clean. My questions are what brand of water is best to use. Can I just use the shop rite 69 cent bottle brand? Do I get spring water or distilled water? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks Adam
 
pclown

pclown

Member
I would not use bottle water.
Is that 1.50 include being premixed and ready to use. I pay a dollar for RO/DI already premixed with Instant Ocean at 1.024.
You can use the water from walmart that is RO/DI filtered. I use it for top offs and it is .37 cents if you already have the gallon jug. You get it out of there machine
 
lovethesea

lovethesea

Active Member
yikes that is high. Even if salt is mixed in. I agree with PC.....go the route of Wal Mart or if your grocery has a machine in the store. I have even seen the machines at the Quick Marts and 7-11 type stores. Usually about .30 and up a gallon. Make sure their filters are cleaned/changed regulary.
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but don't distilled water and RO/DI have the same kind of water left after the process is done?
 
mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
Yea my LFS sells one gallon of RO water for $0.50 with no salt. You have to provide the jugs too. I went ahead and bought my own RO unit. Saves me the extra trips to the store.
 
pclown

pclown

Member
Originally Posted by lovethesea
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but don't distilled water and RO/DI have the same kind of water left after the process is done?
From what understand distilled water is not close to RO/DI water. I may be wrong though.
 
perchpsk

perchpsk

Member
"From what understand distilled water is not close to RO/DI water. I may be wrong though"
Can someone elaborate on this??? Isnt distilled water totally purified and better than just reverse osmosis water??? I buy distilled water and I test it for phosphates, nitrates etc.. and have always got zero readings on everything I tested it for... Just curious.
 
greggti

greggti

Member
I believe that distilled water is close to ro/di but the only problem is the equipment and plumbing they use during the distilling process could be copper lined. So there may be traces of copper in distilled water. I have been using distilled in my reef since last may, and have had no problems. 62 cents a gallon at walmart
 
O

oreo12

Guest
Wal mart here has it in a jug 50cent a gal or from the machine for 30cent a gal with your gal jug the great auction site has a portable unit for around $70.00 dose not take long to pay for itself I have one and it dose a great job. Defitly tell the difrance from using it and just the tap water
 
moneyman

moneyman

Member
Distilled water has the same quality is RODI. They both provide pure h2o that is used to clean surgical tools and electronic equipments.
pure h2o is low pH because of disolved co2 and no buffering ability.
 
pclown

pclown

Member
Originally Posted by MoneyMan
Distilled water has the same quality is RODI.
I have to disagree because of everything I have read says otherwise unless there is another test that someone can show me.
 
kaholic

kaholic

Member
I have an RO/DI unit so I don't buy water anymore, but when I did I would buy gallon jugs from Publix of distilled water... .$.69ea After a while I tested a lot of different bottled waters just out of curiosity. Aquafina & the cheap Publix water was about .005 with my TDS meter. I don't know where he was getting those figures from on that particular test but my grocery store here has better water than a lot of Zepherhills, Crystal Springs, etc... type units.
 
adamc1303

adamc1303

Active Member
I think I will try to go with Walmart, one problem though there arent anywhere near me at all. Are there any other major stores that anyone knows of, I am in Brooklyn, NY?
 
dogstar

dogstar

Active Member
Distilled water is pure water. Done by collecting styrile evaperated condensation. Basicly the same that evaperates from our tank, pH does not matter because the buffering ions never leave the tanks. For top offs just add it in. Its OK to use, but often cost more than RO/DI filtered water witch is the next best thing. As long as the filters are working and replace when needed.
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
True distilled water should be as pure or more pure than reverse osmosis. True distillation is boiling water and collecting the water vapor or steam in separate container so all that you have in it is pure water (some distilleries in the past used copper storage, so some copper would leak out, this is no longer the case for modern distilleries.) Reverse osmosis is filtering through an incredibly small membrane, so small ions like nitrate, phosphate, etc. can sneak through with the water.
:joy:
 
moneyman

moneyman

Member
I just boiled some water using a clean cooking pot and and collected the steam using a clean drinking glass. Here is my result TDS reading:
Tap: 210
RO: 8
Distilled: 12
RODI: 0
RODI is king. RO & Distilled is hand and hand.
 
ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member
Best water filtration system on the market, bar none.
Ozone, uV light, 1 micron solid carbon block, cyclonic action, secondary uv.
Expensive at $350, but worth it, especially since we use it for our drinking water as well as for the aquarium
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top