RO water

[ConanTheLibraia]

Should I fill up my tank with only RO water, or what can be the risks of using regular de-chlorinated water? How am I supposed to go about bringing home 55 gallons of RO water from the petstore?

 

[fishfreek]

Well, alot of people who dont have access to a RO unit at home will do the inital fill with tap water and use RO water for water changes and top offs.

Mostly I belive people use 5 gal jugs to transport water. I know your young but IMO a RO unit is one of the best investments you can make in this hobby. You not only have water in house and dont have to buy and transport it but you can also use the water for other things like drinking.

 

[fishlips12]

Conan. I am in the same predicament and will start my initial tank in a week. Realizing the logisitics of getting water from the local water store just did not make sense. Anyway I purchased the kent 25gpd RO unit for a mere 138 bucks I added a flush kit to it to bring my total to $153 and there fore waived the shipping charges. Check out marinedepot .com. I believe they had the best price.

 

[fishfreek]

For RO shopping i suggest Ebay or one of our sponsors www.aquariumwaterfilters.com

 

[kidafius]

do they remove chlorine? the RO unit, I mean. or do still need to dechlorinate?

 

[fishfreek]

Yes.

RO units usually have 3 stages or more.

The first stage is usually a sediment prefilter to rid your water of large particles. (these particles are still rather small to the human eye).

The second stage is usually a carbon filter that will remove the clorine and other chemical components of the water. (most of those britta style filters are basicly just carbon filters)

The third stage is usually the RO membrane. This is where the water is pushed thru at rather decent pressure the membrane. only the smallest of particles can get thru and ideally what you get comming out of the RO membrane is nearly pure H2O.

The fourth stage if you have one is usually composed of a DI membrane. This membrane will in effect remove any rouge particles that might have managed to get thru the other previous three stages. (only RO/DI filters have this DI membrane)