is ro/di water necessary?

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ashnoel

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 28, 2012
Messages
14
I have a 24 gallon bio cube set up and i have been reading about ro/di water and i have some questions.

1) is it necessary? i checked the filtered water that comes out of my fridge and the readings were: nitrate: 5, nitrite: 0, hardness: 150, chlorine: 0, alkalinity: 150, ph: 7.2

i talked to two fish shops and they both told me different answers. one told me it wasn't necessary to use ro/di water- in fact that they use tap water. the second one told me it was completely necessary.

2) if i need to get a unit would this be a good one? :
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/view...50eba0ffeee552?itemId=380341933047&cmd=VIDESC

also-- do units stay hooked up and make water all the time? or can i just hook it up and use it when needed?
 
The nitrates of 5 is why you should use ro/di. That would be the base nitrate level of your tank without any livestock/feeding/pooping adding to it.

RO/DI units do not always have to stay hooked up. You can get them with an attachment that will hook right up to your faucet. That is how I use mine.

If you are looking into one, I would suggest looking at bulk reef supply. They are the best you can get for your money IMO. I am running a 5 stage ro/di from them and love it. Check it out, and if you end up going that way add a TDS meter onto your setup so you will know ahead of time when you need to change your filters.
 
Sniperhank said:
The nitrates of 5 is why you should use ro/di. That would be the base nitrate level of your tank without any livestock/feeding/pooping adding to it.

RO/DI units do not always have to stay hooked up. You can get them with an attachment that will hook right up to your faucet. That is how I use mine.

If you are looking into one, I would suggest looking at bulk reef supply. They are the best you can get for your money IMO. I am running a 5 stage ro/di from them and love it. Check it out, and if you end up going that way add a TDS meter onto your setup so you will know ahead of time when you need to change your filters.

This is the same guy who runs his Radions at 10%
 
Crabs said:
This is the same guy who runs his Radions at 10%

Crabs thats not really called for man. I back up the advice sniper has just given 100%.

ro/di is the way to go and frankly i would not be going to any fish store using tap water or suggesting tap. That shows incompetence and their service, stock, and advice probably follows that same guideline.
 
Oh yeah, I agree with RO/DI water 100%. It's just that some advice given by AA members isn't always solid. My advice for anyone in this hobby is to get opinions from more than just one individual before making any decisions. If I upset anyone with this sound advice, I'm sorry. Terminate my membership
 
Crabs said:
Oh yeah, I agree with RO/DI water 100%. It's just that some advice given by AA members isn't always solid. My advice for anyone in this hobby is to get opinions from more than just one individual before making any decisions. If I upset anyone with this sound advice, I'm sorry. Terminate my membership

This hobby is full of bad information, often thats why you hear so many people advising reading, reading, and more reading. When you get any advice, its ultimately your responsibility to research it. No matter where you go you will run into bad info. Usually the advice given here is 10x better than you will get at any fish store and based off actual facts and experience 99% of the time.
 
Another place to look at for ro/di units would be purewaterclub, though i dont have experience with them personally. I just know that brs can add on a tds meter for the price you can buy one. And if an ro/di unit is considered one od the best investments you can make for sw tanks, a tds meter would be the real best investment as it eill tell you when its time to change your filters. My tds meter just showed me a reading of. 02 and i didnt notice how brown my stage 5 got as it is behind things. Lifesaver imo.
 
ashnoel said:
has anyone else had experience with purewater club? i found this one: PureWaterClub.com

any other suggestions for ones under/around $100?

Bulk reef supply 75gpd 4 stage economy ro/di $120 bucks. Great quality and they supply numerous hook up fittings and extra that many companies dont.
 
are you currently using tap water right now? if so that what i was doing at first till i read more and more and wanted to get into corals and saved up while the tap was working until i saved up and got a ro/di unit from BRS best thing that i did. Got the five stage plus that comes with all the works and got in on a group buy in and got a great discount.
 
okay i will look into that unit..

and yes i am using tap water night now. the only corals i have now are basic soft corals and i dont plan on getting any super expensive or special corals for awhile..
 
Yeah I had two mushrooms while I was using tap water and things were ok but I had some algae problems and I knew I wanted to get more corals and new that unit was the way to go. If your not planning on upgrading anything I would def save up and get the 5 stage plus unit from BRS it's right around 200 and comes with everything you need and is an easy setup right out of the box
 
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