water machine water

[sansouci01]

ok...I'm sure this question has been asked a million times but I thought I would ask one more time. I'm starting a 20 gallon FOWLR tank. I know ro/di water is the best but I have a Glacier water machine at my local grocery store. I bought a gallon today just to see what the quality was. It measured 16 on my TDS meter. I talked to the store manager and he told me that the machine is serviced every two weeks. This is a 5 stage filter system that is ro but not di. Would I have any problems using this water? My lfs is a 20 minute drive to get water. My grocery store is 2 minutes away from me. If I decide to stay in the salt water hobby, a ro/di system would be on my list. But for know, purchasing water will be my only option.

[saltcreep1025]

I use the same type of machine to get my water. It reads at 7 tds and hasn't caused me any issues yet.

[Ztkirkpatric]

Ideally you want your TDS to be zero. Just remember everytime you add water, your adding nutrients.


RODI unit can be purchased for roughly 150 bucks... How many gallons of water is that?

I have a 150 gallon tank and top off for me is roughly 3-4 gallons a day so purchasing water isn't really feasible...