gotz_potential said:So what your insuating, is that an environment without RO/DI is not optimal? That would just be naive.. I'm sure the ocean has an RO unit attached..
Actually the environment the fish are pulled from is mostly devoid of heavy metals and nutrients and that is why it is crystal clear and why we use skimmers to reduce the nutrient levels to mimic nature as best we can along with ro/di units. That and the volume of water per fish is 100 the volume of a fish tank and thus nature can handle a little pollution much better then we can.
I’m not saying that an ro/di unit is a must but when you consider all the elements that are found in local tap water which is essentially run off from the streets and into lakes like oil, pesticides, environmental wastes, ect then it’s more of a safe guard to filter out as much of the junk that the water treatment plants miss.
I used tap for decades when I kept FW and Brackish fish and did just fine but FW and Brackish fish typically come from the same lakes that have those heavy metals and pollutants and have adapted over centuries.
While having a different view and sharing your experiences is certainly admirable I am still not sure why you get so upset that we recommend a $100 ro/di unit that helps mimic the natural environment which is a pittance compared to the overall costs of maintaining a SW tank.
I have disagreements all the time with bio-wheel threads that state they are nitrate factories and should be avoided completely with SW tank.
I’ve had tremendous success running them for years without any no3 problems and feel people who do have issues with them are usually overstocking/overfeeding their tanks and not performing the needed cleanings that they require.
We all learn a great deal from each of our experiences on what works and what does not work and any opinion is a valued one in my book even if it does buck the “norm”