Tap water calgary

[marineman41]

I am still a few months away from setting up my 90 gallon FOWLR but I'm trying to purchase the last of my equipment now.
Do I need an RODI for my FOWLR with calgary city water?
At the most, down the road, I might add a few sorfties and euphyllia corals.
Thanks for time.

[Jex]

I didn't buy one initially.

Instead I bought tap water conditioner and left the water sit out before using.
And we bought a brita water filter for drinking water.

So I spent $40-60....and now I went bought an ro/di unit for $110 off ebay.

Its better water with higher initial cost, but compared to how much everything else costs, its not very much money.

And the drinking water tastes better than brita's.

Do it right from the get go in my opinion. And you can justify to the misses about how much better the ro/di water is for drinking.

I got a friend at health food store, he changed his whole house to ro water. Some people in the health industry believe that chlorine even in small amounts has negative effects on our bodies. If it kills the fish, its safe to reason thats its not the best for us either.

Anyways my two cents.
Now I don't have as much water sitting around in buckets.

[DiverDude]

Originally Posted by Jex

Do it right from the get go in my opinion.

+1

I bought jugs of water to get up and running; spent nearly as much as a lesser RO/DI system doing it.

[abcha0s]

The problem is with evaporation. If it was just a question of water changes, you might get away with conditioning your tap water, but top up is a different story.

Only pure water evaporates. All of the TDS from the top up water stays in your system.

Anyways, if you want a stable system, you have to control what goes in.

http://www.conceptaquatics.ca/index....er-100gpd.html

- Brad

[lorenz0]

you'll be fine. I'm 1.5 months running tap water on my reef tank and my colors are awesome and growth is great.

the funny thing is my ro unit is in the trunk of my car

[marineman41]

Thanks for all your input.
When I had my tank up and running 6 months ago in Texas it was a PIA driving all across the city to get water to fill the tank.
When buying an RODI unit is their a particular brand to go with? Or do they all do pretty much the same job?
I've read a lot about them. Bulk reef supply sounds like they have some good ones but the local shops in town have some too.
Any thoughts?

[molotov]

I also have a question regarding RODI units. Are all RO also de-ionizing units? Do I need to buy a marine grade one or can I buy an undercounter unit and have them do the same job?

I just picked up a Hanna phosphate digital tester from Dave (concept aquatics) and tested my water. It is at 0.049 ppm. Should I be concerned? I only have LPS in the tank and would ideally like to move to SPS in the future. Tank has been up for almost a year and been running on Calgary tap water all this time. No algae issues at all except for the typical build up on the glass.

[kien]

Originally Posted by Cugio

I just picked up a Hanna phosphate digital tester from Dave (concept aquatics) and tested my water. It is at 0.049 ppm. Should I be concerned? I only have LPS in the tank and would ideally like to move to SPS in the future. Tank has been up for almost a year and been running on Calgary tap water all this time. No algae issues at all except for the typical build up on the glass.

The phosphates likely did not come from the tap water. Try checking tap water for phosphates. It'll probably read zero. At least I read zero when I tested tap water for phosphates a few months ago.

Your phosphates are probably being introduced through fish food. If phosphates are a concern to you try running some gfo (granulated ferric oxide) in a reactor.

[kien]

Originally Posted by molotov

I also have a question regarding RODI units. Are all RO also de-ionizing units? Do I need to buy a marine grade one or can I buy an undercounter unit and have them do the same job?

Not all RO units de-ionize. The De-Ionizing is performed by a special cartridge that is connect to the RO unit. You'll know if the RO unit does De-Ionizing if it is an RODI unit where the "DI" stands for De-Ionize :-). Although, some people do use the term RO in a general sense even if the unit does de ionizing as well. Confusing, I know. It is best to ask the vendor if the specific unit you are looking for does DI.

You don't need a marine grade one. Actually I didn't know there was even such a thing. You can use an under the counter unit.