water

[thefishguy]

do I have to go and buy a RO system or can I just stick it in a big trash can and age it. And if I do have to get a RO system do I have to add and aditive to it after. I heard it takes to much out of the water

 

[midiman]

I got mine on eBay from filterdirect. It was the least expensive one I could find. I keep the water in a 30 gal rubbermaid, so I always have plenty available. So far I haven't added anything other than reef buffer, but I know that I may have to dose calcium and iodine later.

 

[Phyl]

Aging tap water is not *nearly* the same as a good RO/DI unit. If you age your tap water it will very likely still have a TDS of 150 or so (some areas much worse). That stuff doesn't belong in your tank. The salt that is added to the RO/DI water is formulated to put into that RO/DI water all of the necessary elements for reefkeeping (as close as synthetic can get to Mother Nature). Saltwater should age for 24-48 hrs after mixing anyway so that the salt can properly dissolve.

That being said, I started my tank on tap water and it probably still has quite a bit of tap still in it, but I also bought an RO/DI unit for 100$ off of ebay from FilterDirect and have been using that ever since.

I always have 30g stored in 5g containers ready for use.