RO water verses tap

[garmar]

I would like to know why so many people use RO water instead of tap, what is the benifits of using water stripped of all  things, and then  adding minerals back? What does it benifit the fish and corals or  how does it, when the ocean is  not stripping  any of its minerals .

 

[TORX]

Re: RO water verses tape

RO vs tap water battle. Always interesting to see both sides. I am by no means an expert, but I am sure that you will recieve a lot of feedback here and it will be ultimately up to you to decide what you choose to use. I use RO.

 

[Cal_stir]

Re: RO water verses tape

there are alot of things in tap water that you don't want in your tank.

 

[Blob-79]

Re: RO water verses tape

there are alot of things in tap water that you don't want in your tank.

that pretty much sums it up.

its not about stripping all the minerals out.only to add minerals back. I dont know about you, but i add nothing back. On water changes, the salt I use contains everything I want in the the water. As far as topping up for evaporation, if the water you are using contains any kind of contaniments like heavy metals like copper, nitrate,phosphates and or silicates you will have issues algae blooms, and difficulties maintaining water quality.

the only dosing I do is calcium, alk, and sometimes mag. Reason for me dosing these things is not because Im stripping it from my water. my corals are depleating it from my system

 

[TORX]

Re: RO water verses tape

OK, here is my story. I used tap for a year. Suffered from hair algae and high nitrates, I also battled with ammonia.

Tap water can be used if your local tap is OK. Generally it is not. Your tap has all kinds of random metals and phosphates in it. It could even have traces of copper in it. As top up water, when the water evaporates from the tank, these metals and phosphates stay in your tank. So as you continue to add tap water, all these bad things start to accumulate and can lead algae and diatom outbreaks.

RO\DI water does not have these metals and typically contain no TDS. So when you mix it with your salt, you know exactly what you are putting in your tank.

 

[crazybizzle]

Re: RO water verses tape

oh christ please dont start this battle again like the last time lol

 

[pulpfiction1]

Re: RO water verses tape

oh christ please dont start this battle again like the last time lol

wheres your sense of adventure this morning?

lol

i must concure,this has been beat to death and there is lots on the forum with a simple search

 

[Neopimp]

I pulled up a report ont he sarnia water system and it seems pretty good.... and it would work...for w hile... but even with good tap water you will still see the build up of nasties it may just take a longer before you see problems.  Maybe larger water changes would help with that but in the end I figure RO is the way to go ....  I used tap water for 8 months... never a problem no algae not nothing... but my new tank I am getting RO water....


;D

 

[xxmurrxx]

My first tank I started with Tap, took forever to lower my nitrates, and had crazy algae problems.
My second tank, pure RO.. I was easily able to lower my nitrates, and did not have half the algae problems I did with my first.

 

[shayneh]

LOL I feel compelled to chime in and back up the other posts. You want to control what you put in the tank and ro/di allows you to do just that. You will know that the only thing your adding to the water is the minerals contained in your salt mixes and additives. With tap water you are subject to all the trace heavy metals in the wrong ratios, pesticides and medications that don't break down, all the dead organisms/bacteria in the water (killed off with chlorine treatment) and a new one to consider is the trace elements of Chlorine, Chloramine, and or Iodine (used for water main breaks) that will still remain even if you treated the tap water with prime and let it aerate for a day. RO/di is the safest and most predictable method for adding water to your tank. You have to remember that the ocean is much larger than your tank and the recent study of the Ocean presented to the UN goes to show that even the ocean could use some water changes with RO/di to dilute all the nasty shit we've dumped in there over the years.

  http://www.stateoftheocean.org/pdfs/1906_IPSO-LONG.pdf

or for the coles notes version....

http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/environmental-issues/ocean-life-threatened-by-mass-extinction-312123/ 

 

[phi delt reefer]

Hate to see what you would spend on DI resin to clean the ocean.


If You have extra DI resin, throw it into the ocean!

LOL I feel compelled to chime in and back up the other posts. You want to control what you put in the tank and ro/di allows you to do just that. You will know that the only thing your adding to the water is the minerals contained in your salt mixes and additives. With tap water you are subject to all the trace heavy metals in the wrong ratios, pesticides and medications that don't break down, all the dead organisms/bacteria in the water (killed off with chlorine treatment) and a new one to consider is the trace elements of Chlorine, Chloramine, and or Iodine (used for water main breaks) that will still remain even if you treated the tap water with prime and let it aerate for a day. RO/di is the safest and most predictable method for adding water to your tank. You have to remember that the ocean is much larger than your tank and the recent study of the Ocean presented to the UN goes to show that even the ocean could use some water changes with RO/di to dilute all the nasty shit we've dumped in there over the years.

  http://www.stateoftheocean.org/pdfs/1906_IPSO-LONG.pdf

or for the coles notes version....

http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/environmental-issues/ocean-life-threatened-by-mass-extinction-312123/

 

[Kleko]

using tap water for top ups messed my tank up

 

[reeffreak]

also would just like to clarify theres a big difference between ro water and ro/di , like most are saying they use ro water but ro/di is what you really want to aim for  ;D

 

[teebone110]

also would just like to clarify theres a big difference between ro water and ro/di , like most are saying they use ro water but ro/di is what you really want to aim for  ;D

0 TDS

 

[reeffreak]

[quote author=reeffreak link=topic=1170.msg8905#msg8905 date=1313240566]
also would just like to clarify theres a big difference between ro water and ro/di , like most are saying they use ro water but ro/di is what you really want to aim for  ;D

0 TDS
[/quote]

EXACTLY

 

[pulpfiction1]

this topic was dead for over a month,what brought it back to life?

lol