ro water

[cjb]

Sorry for the Newbie questions. Is RO water the same as distilled water?

 

[bentrue]

nope. RO water is water that has been run through a reverse osmosis purification. you can buy an RO filter that attatches to your faucet. in the long run i think it would be worth it, but i haven't made the plunge to buy one yet.

 

[zachary]

Jordan,
I buy my ro water at walmart for 58cents per gallon. I use that for my topoffs and just use a tap water filter(deionizer) for water changes and have had excellent results since I started doing this. It depends how good your tap water is -probably good in pa-
But anyway, just wanted to let you know that there are relatively inexpensive methods without buying an ro filter and having that immense amount of waste water. It costs a lot, if you have to pay the water bill, and it just doesn't feel right wasting that much water. Just my 2 cents.

 

[bentrue]

i am also using the wal-mart RO water!

 

[royce]

All the Wal-mart cashiers call me "the water lady" because I've been in there so much setting up my 55 while mantaining my 45!

 

[kris walker]

Regardless of the water source you use, you really should check it for nitrates and phosphates. I used to use tap water filtered with Britta, but found phosphates of 0.5 ppm. Algae...get ready, get set, GO! Sine this discovery, I have been using Glacier RO water from little refill stands outside Albertson's in California. Unfortunately, I have found that the RO water there has a 0.2 ppm phosphate level. If you don't want to put the $20 into a phosphate test kit, then at the very least, get whatever water you use checked for nitrates/phophates at your lfs (if the lfs is reliable).
sam

 

[schroder_reef]

I din't know that walmart sold RO water... wow, thanks for the info!
Ambie

 

[megabyte]

Hey buddy, R/O is the way to go. I suggest you invest in a cheap unit. I think I paid $80 for mine. If you plan on staying in this hobby the investment will pay off instead of running to the store when you need it.
Good luck!

 

[cyn]

I bought a RO unit for around $100. I origionally bought it for drinking water, and it only makes about 3-4 gal. per day, but I store what I need for the tank in one of those 5 gal. water bottles from Sparkletts. My tank is doing great(it was set up with this water)

 

[jtoliver]

Ro is the way to go, I have one that I have hooked up to a float valve in my sump, so I never have to top off.

 

[josh]

RO /DI water is the only way to go. I wouldn't use tap, most pipes contain copper - this will kill fish and most everything else. Besides RO is cheap and easy to get!