Glass or Acrylic Tanks?

[Gti_Leo]

The point of my comment was to show that not all water is the same. Here in FL we have houses with all pvc plumbing so copper piping is not an issue. But again, the comment was directed at the differences in water from different places and why there are so many different items on the market that many of the reef keepers might or might not need NOT that I was advocating the use of tap over RO/DI water or vice versa.

your house may not be but what about the water main. i think its a resent thing where here where water services just started using plastic pipe from the street main to a houses water meter. its been copper for the longest time and beign copper makes it a dual purpous for water and for grounding the eletrical panel. either way plastic pipe for water is a resent years thing so i donno if older homes even in your area would still be pvc or copper maybe even lead

 

[Ronald Marcelo]

Great thing about this hobby is that there are various different approaches to the same situation with great result. There are safety and rules that can be carved in stone almost. However, I read time and time again how "this worked and that didn't", followed by "that didn't work but this did." Same story for fish. One person can't keep a certain fish alive no matter what they try and the other person doesn't even try and that same species of fish is striving. Obviously there are logical reasons of which i'm still learning and that is why i chose RODI water. Whatever works for you but RODI is literally a breath of fresh air lol.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I guess my point is you don't control it from the source. Maybe it varies. But using a RO/DI unit anywhere in the world starts you off with water you can have total confidence in.

 

[Ronald Marcelo]

I guess my point is you don't control it from the source. Maybe it varies. But using a RO/DI unit anywhere in the world starts you off with water you can have total confidence in.

Agreed.

 

[Andy Sager]

your house may not be but what about the water main. i think its a resent thing where here where water services just started using plastic pipe from the street main to a houses water meter. its been copper for the longest time and beign copper makes it a dual purpous for water and for grounding the eletrical panel. either way plastic pipe for water is a resent years thing so i donno if older homes even in your area would still be pvc or copper maybe even lead

Okay, so obviously I used the wrong example cause you guys aren't getting the point so here's another to show what I meant.

Just 4 weeks ago I was on a trip from Florida to New Jersey with the goal being bringing back some freshwater Angelfish with me to FL ( I KNOW, I said Freshwater and we are talking about saltwater but bare with me please. ) In every store I went to I asked what PH they were keeping their water as well as the hardness. In NJ, tap water came out at 6.5 ph and very soft and similar to what the shops were keeping their tanks. I was on the road with these fish for over a week and ran out of the extra pet store water I had gotten and needed to do a water change in some of the bags. I went to the local grocery store and bought a gallon of distilled water and 1 gal of spring water and took some tap water from the hotel I was staying at and brought them over to a pet store to be tested. The spring water tested at 6.4 ph and moderately soft ( I don;t remember the exact numbers), the distilled water tested 6.0 and very soft and the tap read 6.4 and moderately soft. I get back to FL and do the same thing only this time, I used my well water instead of city tap water. The spring water tested 8.0 ph and very hard, the distilled water tested 7.8 and moderately soft and my well water was 8.2 and hard enough to hurt somebody of you threw it at them. Now, the wells where the 2 bottled waters came from are in my general location in the state only they're on the west coast ( zypherhills area) and I'm in the middle so the perculating through the aquafer should be close to the same amount of time between my well and Zypherhills' springs.
So if you noticed, even the bottled distilled water had different values because of where the water originated and THAT was my point. Not all source water is the same so people in one area may need to use items that others in other areas may not need but the shops may need to buy "extra items" or a full line of product in order to carry that line of products in their stores. I'm sure any of the former or current shop owners can attest to this.
So we got that? I can't make it any clearer.

Now, wasn't this thread about glass vs acrylic? I have both and I want a new tank

 

[Gregcoyote]

No body is questioning that water varies and some LFS have supplements that aren't always needed. I owned several LFS and did the buying, I know how it works. Nobody here is dense or having a problem with understanding your point. Your argument makes our point, some water is good and some isn't. Here where i live, i don't even choose to drink it. The question was is RO/DI water recommended in making artificial saltwater for a reef? Answer is almost always yes. Fish only is another story.

I have helped with too many reefs that were messed up from using tap water. A RO/DI unit is a basic part of a reef setup that is of any size IMO. Carrying water from the LFS gets old. If you know your tap water has no dissolved materials you don't want in your tank, sure, use it.

Now back to regular programming.

Acrylic or glass, both work great. I would watch Craigslist and snag the one that suits you for 1/3 of what it cost new.

If you are handy with tools, there is practically nothing, except pumps maybe, that you can't build yourself pretty cheap.

If you build your own tank, I think glass is as easy as acrylic for medium and small tanks if you have a professional shop make the panels for you and grind the edges. Lots of designs on the web.

 

[Gti_Leo]

i'd quiestion it, because distilled and RO/DI all depends on equipment upkeep and the process it takes to be purified, not where the water comes from.
distilled water is a process that heats up the water and collects the vapor which doesn't carry very many impurities its simply just water vapor, but if the environment isn't kept clean the vapor and condensation on the collectors can collect impurities in the water that was just distilled and can change the PH and also content in the water. the water can also be distilled a few times to make it that much purer. in mecidal applications, water is distilled atleast 3 times in order to purify it.

as for RO?DI water it all depends on number of filtration types and maintenance of the filters and the equipment.

water is simply just water and purified water is pure H2O no matter where it comes from,each location just have a different way of maintaining their equipment and duration of bottle times, which could have an effect on how much actual O2 gas may be present which could have an effect on the PH of the water


bought you're right greg with the proper know how you can build any tank you want out of any material, its just a matter of knowledge and will power lol

 

[Gregcoyote]

Pure water is pure water, no matter how it's made. Dissolved gases in the water can change the ph for sure. That why I aerate my sea water before I use it.