Tap Water to RO/DI - can it be done?

[jpc763]

I have a tank that is about 3 months old. It is a 55g with a 15g fuge. I have 75lbs of live rock.
Here are my levels from testing yesterday.
Temp 79
Specific Gravity 1.025
pH 8.20
Ammonia 0.00
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Calcium 460
dKH 8 (between 7 and 8 drops)
Phosphate (PO) 0
All of my livestock seem to be doing well including my corals (LPS and softies)
My tank was brought up and maintained with tap water treated with chlorine removal drops.
I never thought to get RO/DI water bacause both LFS in town and a friend who has a tank convinced me that our water is great. I tested the tap water and found it to be clean (no ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, phospate or calcium).
I do have some algae. Brown hair and green hair algae as well as green algae on the glass.
So now to my question. I would like to switch to RO/DI water. Is it possible? If so, how should I do it? Just do my regular water changes with RO/DI water and in time it will be converted?
Let me know. Thanks.

 

[sign guy]

thats how I did it. every water change and every top off I used rodi. I was in the same situation where the water here is great. im around 50 tds and no levels but once I swiched to rodi I saw my tank transforme in weeks

 

[uberlink]

Absolutely. Make the change ASAP. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll (slowly) eliminate the heavy metals and toxins found in tapwater from your system. You can do up to 20% water changes without any risk at all to your animals, and you might consider doing that once a week for a few months, before rolling back down to the more typical 5 or 10% weekly water changes.

 

[jpc763]

So there is a big difference between Tap Water and RO/DI water. Is there that big of a difference between RO Water and RO/DI Water? Thanks, J

 

[jpc763]

Originally Posted by sign guy
thats how I did it. every water change and every top off I used rodi. I was in the same situation where the water here is great. im around 50 tds and no levels but once I swiched to rodi I saw my tank transforme in weeks
So what was your tank like before and what did it transform into? Thanks, J

 

[uberlink]

Originally Posted by jpc763
So there is a big difference between Tap Water and RO/DI water. Is there that big of a difference between RO Water and RO/DI Water? Thanks, J

I made the switch very early in my tank's life, so I didn't see much difference. However, I used to do freshwater using tapwater, and I can tell you I had a lot more trouble with algae, etc. back in those days. I don't know how good a comparison that is.
There is not a huge difference between RO and RO/DI water. Deionizing just takes out that last few percent of impurities. Typically, it's very little extra money to get RO/DI, though, so it's probably worth it. And the DI filters last like crazy.

 

[guyerson]

I started my tank with tap water and had it up and running for about 2 months before switching to RO/DI. I can definitely say that I noticed a huge difference when I made the switch. Before I made the switch, I had brown and green algae blooms everywhere, but after I did my first water change with RO/DI all of the algae that I cleaned from the glass, powerheads, sand, rocks etc. never grew back. When I made the switch I did 10% weekly water changes and about 2 gallons a week in top-offs. I definitely think it makes a huge difference and is worth the change!!