RO/DI Water

[mzreenie]

What is RO/DI Water? I thought I could use tap water treated with water conditioner and dechlorinator, and then use this treated water to make up my saltwater solution. Please explain.

Thanks

 

[melosu58]

Here is a link on tap water

Chemistry and the Aquarium

Here is the RO/DI that I have and it explains what it does. There are some out there much cheaper.

Reverse Osmosis Aquarium Water Quality: Maxxima RO/DI Units

 

[mzreenie]

Well, this might just put the "kabosh" on my thoughts of setting up a saltwater tank - my husband is not really "into" plumbing. Is this a must? Can I try to work around this?

 

[mzreenie]

Another thought, we do have two water filters in our basement, but they are not RO/DI, and we also have a PUR filter at our kitchen faucet. We change our filters regularly. If I treat my water for chlorine and chloramine and run the water for 5-10 minutes before collecting it, can I get by without the RO/DI filter?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Obviously you can do whatever you want. You don't *need* an RO/DI filter. Plenty of folks run their systems without them and have success. But everyone's water is different. And even folks with "perfect" tap water are not assured that it will be "perfect" the next day.

But don't fool yourself that household purifiers or filters are the same, or even close to, truly pure RO/DI water. Are they better than nothing? Sure. But they're not pure water by any means. The TDS (total dissolved solids - a parameter used to gauge water purity) of my tap water is 80-90 ppm. If I run it through a PUR filter, it comes out around 40 ppm. So yeah... it cuts the TDS in half, but it's still not pure by any means.

Plumbing an RO/DI unit is far from rocket science. Between the instructions with the unit, and help here, I bet you guys could do it.

 

[mzreenie]

Thanks, but "you guys" is really ME. And I am 57 years old, no spring chicken. I have had freshwater tanks in the past with great success, so if saltwater seems too daunting, I will go back to freshwater. I have spent most of the day reading items on this forum, and I will be back tomorrow to read some more. Thanks a lot, and I won't give up yet!!!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Thanks, but "you guys" is really ME. And I am 57 years old, no spring chicken. ...

Ummm... OK. Me... we... you guys... however many people you have available, and whatever their ages... it's still not rocket science and doesn't require being able lift 200 lbs or anything.

My point is, and was, don't shy away from it just because you think an RO/DI unit is something only a plumber can hook up. Saltwater is only as daunting as you want to make it. I got into this hobby with no freshwater experience at all. I don't see it as difficult at all.

 

[Justin_Toronto]

Well, this might just put the "kabosh" on my thoughts of setting up a saltwater tank - my husband is not really "into" plumbing. Is this a must? Can I try to work around this?

There are work arounds. I rent my apartment and thought it wouldn't be wise to perminantly plumb a filter into the drain and cold water pipe. What we *do* have is a Laundry sink, as with most laundry sinks, the faucets have threads on them that you can attach a garden hose to. My RO/DI unit sits in the sink when I need it, (or I can mount it on the wall behind the sink via 2 screws), and I simply screw the "water in" tube onto the faucet, and the "drain" tube just sits in the sink. The "good water" tube goes into my big ol' garbage bin for making my SW solution. If I need the laundry sink, I just unscrew the attachment and away I go. (actually I ended up getting a T-splitter from Home Depot made for garden hoses... so I can keep it perminantly attached, and just open the first knob for making RO/DI water, or the second knob if I need to use the laundry sink.)

So you don't need to do any plumbing if you don't want to, if you can screw on a garden hose, you can use a RO/DI unit in your laundry area.
Also on a side note, the attachments I recieved with my eBay RO/DI unit doesn't require any plumbing. The attachment for the cold-water pipe and drain have connectors that you screw anywhere on the pipe, and the screw will self-tap a hole into the pipe and connect it to your unit.

 

[roka64]

You can also buy an attachment that will fit on the sink, so you can hook it up when needed.....

 

[Justin_Toronto]

You can also buy an attachment that will fit on the sink, so you can hook it up when needed.....

It cost around $4 from Home Depot for the parts. I also asked the eBay guy I bought my RO/DI filter from and he mailed me the parts to do it for too. (free of charge) So now I have two sets of parts.

 

[mzreenie]

Thank you all for your replies. After spending most of today and yesterday reading on these forums, I think I might try to used distilled water. I have read that many people have had success with distilled water. I posted a new thread today stating that I am considering using the 34 gallon Red Sea Max 130D aquarium. Therefore, my PWC's will not be unmanageable for me, as I will be dealing with a lot less water at one time than someone with a much larger tank. If I find that distilled water doesn't work for me, then I will consider getting a RO/DI filter. I could set up the RO/DI filter in my basement, but then it would mean carrying gallons of water up from there, and the only access to my basement is by going outside first.

 

[melosu58]

That one I showed you has a water hose attachment and I make my water in my tool shed. I used distilled water for several yrs. It just got too expensive.

 

[Alexrd09]

You can also purchase RO/DI water at publix (5g for 1.50). This ofcourse is if you dont want to purchase your own RO/DI filter.