first reef tank - RO, DI & salt mix questions

[dcmoore]

I'm totally new to SW tanks. I have a 20 gallon tank with a 10 gallon sump plumbed and ready to go with a bakpak2 skimmer. I'm ready to add water but I'm not sure how to proceed. First there is the RO or DI issue. I can get a tap water DI filter at J&L (I'm on Surrey water) or I can buy RO water at Save-On Foods. Ocean Aquatics also sells RO water. I'm somewhat hesitant to buy a RO unit at this time. Is DI "good enough" or do I need to go with RO? Has anyone had any recent experience using RO water from Save-On? I say recent because I believe that they recently switched suppliers.

Then there is the salt mix. Instant Ocean, Kent Marine, Seachem or Tropic Marin appear to be the choices. Is one going to be more suitable than the others?

[findingnemo1]

Welcome to the hobby

I would say go with the ro water from the store. Just ask them how often they change there filters. The di filter just removes anything that is left over from the ro.

For salt youwill get varied opinions. I used to use Instant ocean and switched to tropic marine as it is higher in calcium,magnesium etc.I think that is just a preference. I have never used the others so i can't comment on that.

Have fun

[Quagmire]

For a small set up like that you could get away with using an Aqua Pharm tapwater purifier.Its a DI filter.It would probably only be good for your first fill up before becoming used up,even though the box says its good for 300 gal.You would have to check prices to see if this is cheaper than buying water.If you go the buying water route I would suggest going with Ocean Aquatics.I would think these guys keep a closer eye on their filters.Water from food stores can be iffy when it comes to purity. As for salt,talk to Wendel when your at Oceans.

[cprowler]

Just the RO will be ok till you get your RO/DI unit.

The first thing you should buy is a RO/DI unit before anything else IMO, it will save you frustration, headaches and money down the road.

[DanG]

I used one of those aquarium pharmacutical DI filters and it knocked my water down from 65ish to between 5 and 10 ppm, so it works fairly well, but RO/DI is defininitely better with between 0 and 1 ppm.

[Captainhemo]

Originally Posted by cprowler

Just the RO will be ok till you get your RO/DI unit.

The first thing you should buy is a RO/DI unit before anything else IMO, it will save you frustration, headaches and money down the road.

I 2nd that !!

[Mik_101]

Foe water I just us a regular aquarium pharmaceuticals DI filter on my 46 and IMO it dose the job. For salt I use instant ocean simply because it is fast dissolving and cheap witch I relay like unlike Kent where I herd that it takes for ever to dissolve and it is quite a bit more. With Instant ocean you have to add your own supplements witch takes no more than 2 minuets.

Like mentioned before salt is your own preference.



HAPPY REEF KEEPING

[bv_reefer]

welcome to the hobby -i highly recommend investing in at least a deionizer to reduce undesireable algal growth as mik_101 said, when investing in a nice reef tank, optimum quality source water can make quite a noticeable difference. -As for salt i prefer kent for it's dissolveability, i've tried kent and instant ocean, and preffered kent, it's very fine and dissolves easily, anyways good luck and welcome

[andresont]

You get what you pay for.
I use RO/DI and tropic marine Pro salt.
After investing so much in the tank and live stock, i'd like to keep criters happy.
few $$ saved is less then a drop in the ocean compare to what we spend anyway.
I have NEVER seen dirtyer salt then IO.

[bv_reefer]

ya i'm gonna have to agree instant ocean is'nt the first choice on my list,
i'm really happy with kent salt, sure it's 50% more $$ but IMO its worth it, well i don't know whether it's ''dirty'' as you say all i know is that i like kents' dissolveability better, finer too, as for aquarium pharmaceuticals DI kit i'm quite impressed with it's efficiency-