This Reverse Osmosis Thing

[fishtankfish]

Ok, so i how do i do this reverse osmosis thing? i have bad tap water and am thinking of going to RO water. Do i have to buy it or can I make it somehow from my tap water? Any help?

 

[loganj]

You can buy it or you can purchase an RO unit. I would go ahead and get one that has DI...that way you get the cleanest water available. Several of the sponsors of this site have them available.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I use a RO/DI unit for my tanks to help lower the hardness. RO water can be bought yes, but IMO it is much easier just to buy a unit and do things that way.

I got mine off of bigals.com, and it was well priced.
HTH

 

[Mr Burns]

check berkeywater.com or ebay. berkey actually makes water purifiers, so i'm not sure if it would do anything with the hardness. ebay has some great units at great prices too. last time i checked, there was a three-stage, 100gpd RO for about $90.

 

[madasafish]

Wow. That's an amazing price. I've never seen them for less than $300 online.

 

[flipz]

Yea, ebay really is the place to go for the RO units. Great prices. I had thought I saw a six-stage 100gpd one for $90! 8O

-brent

 

[goldengirl]

we have a RO system in our house. it is wonderful to have not only for the fish, but for cooking and drinking

 

[hashbaz]

I bought a 6 stage RO+DI on ebay for about $100 (with shipping). I'm happy with it. But if possible it might be a lot easier (and cheeper) to simply find fish that thrive in the conditions you already have.

 

[patryuji]

New ones from Sam's club are $180 for a 5 stage (don't know the gallons per day) and $67 for a 2 stage.

 

[shawmutt]

I also have bad tap water. I just buy it from a water machine in Walmart. Make sure you are prepared to add the necessary additives back into the water.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Water machine? That's cool! I wish I would have seen this post before I bought mine, I payed $30 for DI unit, and it doesn't put out many gallons at all, it is kind of a pain...

 

[shawmutt]

Yeah, the one at walmart is great, the last tds reading was 6 ppm. Not too bad at 33 cents a gallon. I only get 10 gallons a week though. Also, I live in an apartment and landlords tend to frown on DIY plumbing . I really don't know, and maybe someone has the answer, how that machine can pump the water out so fast and have such low tds. I fill one 5 gallon container in 3-4 minutes.

When I own a house, and a bigger tank, I will definitely invest in a RO/DI unit (and a dishwasher, but that's another story ) especially for drinking and cooking.

 

[OscarKeeper]

RO water

I am moving into a house that already has one of these units. What do I need to do special to my water before adding it to my fish's tanks? Do I still need to dechlorinate? I use AmQuel now. Will I still need to use this and do I need any other additives? Sorry for being repetitious.