No RO around. Tap or Distilled?

[fishkiller]

This pole is to do 2 things. Put my mind at ease until I can get an RO unit, and to prove a certain somebody wrong in the process. Add a reason behind your answer please, and before you ask, the tap water in this area is actually pretty good as far as phosphates and stuff go. Thanx!

 

[bdhough]

Use distilled. Even then just be careful. No matter how good tap water is its usually a major culprit in undesireable algae growths at some point.....
Try looking for a water supplier. They usually sell RO water in addition to drinking water.

 

[timsedwards]

your tap water will probably still have unwanted metals in there, regardless of phosphates. Its your choice but Distilled will prob be best, although RO/DI is ideal.
Tim.

 

[beaslbob]

distilled and ro/di water has had the calcium removed and is much more acidic the tap water. tap water has additives specifically added to reduce reaction with copper and other metals. Plus salt mixes are deisgned to work better with tap water. The money spent on processed water, water processors, and buffers, calcium additives or Kalkwasser systems is better spend on larger tanks, better lighting, refugiums or plant life.

 

[bdhough]

Thats odd kip. The RO water i get here is around 5ish.... How in earth is yours neutral?

 

[fishkiller]

My toadstool leather, GSP, and Capnella are all in hiding since I did a small (20%) water change w/ the distilled. I've been using tap until this water change. Is this behavior normal for these corals, or should I worry. Nothing has changed since yesterday except using the distilled water.

 

[newfishliny]

I have been useing only distilled water for the past 8 months and my tanks been running for a year asof today.
I have a 90 gal tank , 20 gal sump and a exterior sump of about 25 gals. I have no problems in my reef in till now , HAIR HAIR EVERYWHERE!!!! . cant get rid of it for nothing , did it all.
Can't get a answer to solve this !@$%^&*() problem yet
today my readings are all good , no phos no silicates ph 8.4 , no nitrates. lights new 1 month old

[hr]
IS IT THE DISTILLED WATER I DON'T NO
WHO EVER WROTE ABOUT THAT SALTS ARE DESIGN FOR TAP WATER , SOUNDS CORRECT - WHERE THE MANUFACTUERS IN MIND THAT WE ALL GO OUT AND SPEND THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS ON RO UNITS TO HAVE A SALT TANK . WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES US NEED THESE SYSTEMS TO KEEP CORALS ?
I have spent aleast $ 2000 on all the gear and till now I am at a dead end and fustrated to the max!!!!!
new fish and getting gray hair
good luck

 

[sundance]

I'm using a RO/DI system I got on ---- for about $80. I know there are those of you that are going to say, don't buy the L..Cheap..O get the special, wingding all the bells by so and so, it's made for the aquarium user. But the bottom line is TDS. My $80 system works just find and 0 TDS is 0 TDS no matter if it came from a $300 RO/DI system or a $80 RO/DI system.
So why use tap water and if you are buying distilled water from Wal Mart you will be paying for one of these system about every 70 gal you buy.
and BTW, No I'm not selling them on ----, I just think they are a damn good deal and an opportunity for most ANY budget to be able to purchase a RO/DI system.
Sundance

 

[madd catt]

My salt mix states to use demineralized or ro water for best results.
If you can go with distilled instead of tap unless you treat it with some kind of conditioner,declorinator,heavy metal remover,phosphate eliminator or such as that.

 

[broomer5]

Let me start by saying this is in my opinion - okay.
If pure water is what leaves the tank through evaporation - then topping off with pure water is the ONLY way to have some level of control over "part" of your tankwater chemistry.
It just happens to be the "water part" of the puzzle too ~ which is kinda important to me.
If only pure water evaporates - and you add tapwater that we all know is not pure water - how do you know what you are adding back to the tankwater each time ?
Simple answer is you don't.
Pardon my grammer .. but there ain't no way you can economically test for everything in that tapwater.
Not each time you turn the faucet at least.
You're going on blind faith that everything will be okay.
True you may be adding in calcium and magnesium which may be a good thing. How much are you adding each time ?
The list of potential nasty chemicals that could be in tapwater is long.
Phosphates and nitrates are detectable in my tapwater.
Plus it just tastes crappy to me.
There's something in there for sure.
That alone convinced me to go the RO/DI route.
If you like to run your tank on blind faith - and hope everything turns out okay - more power to ya. Keep your fingers crossed.
It's your tank ~ your choice.
I don't have faith that my tapwater is the best choice for me.
I know it's not because I've tested it.
I know it's not because I've tasted it.
I choose to at least "try" to control what goes into my tankwater, by using RO/DI water.
Water quality is way too important for my success, and for the health of the creatures I keep.
Using RO/DI freshwater eliminates many pieces of the marine tank puzzle in my mind.
If I know something beforehand - I can better predict an outcome.
If I don't know beforehand - I'm only guessing and hoping.

 

[cyslyde]

I use bottled water from Meijers (a local chain like walmart, but more expensive) they have a culligan cart you can get water from and it is RO water. trust me i bout drove the culligan man nuts asking him questions about this setup it's RO. the best thing is if you have jugs it's only 27 cents seems to be working great in my tank!

 

[fishkiller]

Great responses yall, but can someone tell me why my corals are acting so funny? I checked the water, everything tested out just fine. But since I did the water change w/ the distilled water, my leather, GSP, and capnella have all started hiding out. Whats up with this madness?

 

[ncjetskier]

An RO/Di is not 100% perfect, as it depends on what quality of water you are purifying. Unfortunitly, my RO and double DI will not take out enough contaminants to starve my hairy algae. There are only two small fish, and a couple of corals, so there is little biological load on the tank. The protein skimmer works fine. I hardly feed the tank, at all and sometimes I will not do anything except replace water for 1-2 months. So I would venture to say that there is enough impuities in my "purified water" to keep my coral alive and healthy as well as my $%#@ hairy algae. I am looking to go with distilled water or municipal tap water to try to change the water chemistry. (I live near the beach and the well water currently going through the RO/Di has a bunch of impurities). Just my opinion.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by NewFishLINY
I have been useing only distilled water for the past 8 months and my tanks been running for a year asof today.
I have a 90 gal tank , 20 gal sump and a exterior sump of about 25 gals. I have no problems in my reef in till now , HAIR HAIR EVERYWHERE!!!! . cant get rid of it for nothing , did it all.
Can't get a answer to solve this !@$%^&*() problem yet
today my readings are all good , no phos no silicates ph 8.4 , no nitrates. lights new 1 month old

[hr]
IS IT THE DISTILLED WATER I DON'T NO
WHO EVER WROTE ABOUT THAT SALTS ARE DESIGN FOR TAP WATER , SOUNDS CORRECT - WHERE THE MANUFACTUERS IN MIND THAT WE ALL GO OUT AND SPEND THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS ON RO UNITS TO HAVE A SALT TANK . WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES US NEED THESE SYSTEMS TO KEEP CORALS ?
I have spent aleast $ 2000 on all the gear and till now I am at a dead end and fustrated to the max!!!!!
new fish and getting gray hair
good luck
sorry to hear. Try reducing or even turning off the lights in your display. In two days to a week all the hair algae in you display should be gone, your corals will susvive and the algae in the refugium will then process the nitrates. then try adjusting the lighting to where things are ok but the hair does not come back

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by fishkiller
Great responses yall, but can someone tell me why my corals are acting so funny? I checked the water, everything tested out just fine. But since I did the water change w/ the distilled water, my leather, GSP, and capnella have all started hiding out. Whats up with this madness?
Not a coral expert but no suprise here. Tap water has calcium and buffers in it. So you changed the environment. Try using tap water again and see if they respond.

 

[ncjetskier]

Well I took out the carbon filter (fear of phosphates) and I added an extra DI. The RO has not been changed in quite a while. I thought that the RO was self cleaning with the unprocessed water that runs thru it. How often does/should the Ro be replaced?
Thanks-as far as the readings, my phosphates read about the same before and after-bearly measurable-water stays about clear after the test-sorry I am at work and do not have the chart handy.

 

[overanalyzer]

Originally posted by fishkiller
Great responses yall, but can someone tell me why my corals are acting so funny? I checked the water, everything tested out just fine. But since I did the water change w/ the distilled water, my leather, GSP, and capnella have all started hiding out. Whats up with this madness?
Did you mix the water for 24 hours before dissolving the salt?? Did the salt dissolve all the way before adding??
Did you test the PH and the temp and the salinity before the water change??
have you tested you PH since the change??
Do you have any filter cartridges that need to be changed that you may have let run too long or forgotten about??
do you dose with some checmical additive that does not list all the chemicals on its label?
My guess is the PH is a bit out of whack on what you added to the tank ... so double check that throughout the day ... before work - when you get home - after lights out ... see what it averages out to.....
Your lights - did you upgrade or just put in new bulbs?? how old were the old bulbs?? If you have upgraded the photoperiod needs to be gradually increased. I would also sugest gradually increaseing you photo period even with new bulbs. Start with no lights for a couple of days and work your way up....

 

[overanalyzer]

Originally posted by beaslbob
Plus salt mixes are deisgned to work better with tap water.

What?!?!??!? Where did you get that?? Red Sea and IO both state to use purified water for best results .....

 

[ncjetskier]

ok, thanks for the response. What is a TDS meter, how much is it, what does it tell you and where do you get one? Sorry I have been out of the loop for awhile. Thanks