What should i buy to purify my water?

[Zoaelite]

SP it was a weird comparison but think of the concept behind it. For a reef tank that has $1000's of dollars invested in livestock you wouldn't want to cheap out and put something that could potentially kill that live stock. Same with a BMW or any luxury car, use of a higher end fuel reduces the chance of damage/ wear and tare on the unit. You do have a good point, people should be measuring there TDS before deciding what RO to purchase. In the end though a RO also removes chlorine and other impurities in the water that could be entering your system.
I would never put tap water in my tank, as it just spells hair algae for me :\.

[fkshiu]

It's a common misconception that "premium" gas is somehow "better" than regular unleaded. All the octane numbers refer to resistance to premature detonation. Higher end cars require greater resistance to detontation because they generally run at higher compression ratios. The bottom line is always use what is recommended by the manufacturer - if the owner's manual says use regular then putting in "premium" will not give any measurable advantage in terms of either performance or fuel efficiency for a properly maintained engine.

Anyhooooo, that aside I do agree that you should run RO/DI even in the GVRD not because you have to (you don't) for water QUALITY but for CONSISTENCY. Several times crews have been mucking around outside or there's been a large rainstorm runoff and the TDS has shot up dramatically for short periods of time. With RO/DI you have those extra layers of protection as it were to maintain a consistent end product.

As Aquattro mentioned, there are a myriad of uses for rejected RO water - my wife uses ours to water her garden.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by zoaElite

SP it was a weird comparison but think of the concept behind it. For a reef tank that has $1000's of dollars invested in livestock you wouldn't want to cheap out and put something that could potentially kill that live stock. Same with a BMW or any luxury car, use of a higher end fuel reduces the chance of damage/ wear and tare on the unit. You do have a good point, people should be measuring there TDS before deciding what RO to purchase. In the end though a RO also removes chlorine and other impurities in the water that could be entering your system.
I would never put tap water in my tank, as it just spells hair algae for me :\.

Still don't see the comparison, it's not the same. If one gas station sells premium fuel for a standard price and another sells the same fuel for double because it's traveled further to get there, where would you buy from? If you've got a low TDS like 20ppm and can filter it down to 0ppm without an RO, why use and RO? You pay more for the filter and introduce a waste ratio of at least 3:1 compared to 0:1. It's still filtered water not direct tap water and it's not going to damage your tank, it's the exact same thing without the extra waste.

You also don't need an RO to remove contaminants like chlorine, and using the proper filter for the proper application will produce consistent results. Any stirred up sediment or heavy containment from city maintenance will be easily filtered out by a sediment and micron filter, you don't need an RO for this. We could also all use 12 stage filters with triple RO membranes but that of course would be silly, or would it? Or maybe we should ll adjust our RO membranes to waste 10:1 so we get a little more pure water and we're more on the safe side. Where do you draw the line? I simply say you draw it based on your tap water TDS and therefore your specific requirements.

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by sphelps

Still don't see the comparison, it's not the same. If one gas station sells premium fuel for a standard price and another sells the same fuel for double because it's traveled further to get there, where would you buy from? If you've got a low TDS like 20ppm and can filter it down to 0ppm without an RO, why use and RO? You pay more for the filter and introduce a waste ratio of at least 3:1 compared to 0:1. It's still filtered water not direct tap water and it's not going to damage your tank, it's the exact same thing without the extra waste.

You also don't need an RO to remove contaminants like chlorine, and using the proper filter for the proper application will produce consistent results. We could also all use 12 stage filters with triple RO membranes but that of course would be silly, or would it? Where do you draw the line? I simply say you draw it where it should be, based on your tap water TDS.

I agree with you 100%, where applicable the best suited RO system should be used but I believe some sort of RO system as a safe guard to your tank is a great investment.

We have gotten way to complicated with my comparison, the point I was trying to get across is you get what you pay for. Perhaps my lack of knowledge behind cars and fuel has made this hard for you to see, if so my bad .

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by zoaElite

I agree with you 100%, where applicable the best suited RO system should be used but I believe some sort of RO system as a safe guard to your tank is a great investment.

We have gotten way to complicated with my comparison, the point I was trying to get across is you get what you pay for. Perhaps my lack of knowledge behind cars and fuel has made this hard for you to see, if so my bad .

Well that's fine, I'm not saying anyone's opinion isn't perfectly valid but validating your own by obscurely trying to cut someone else down with a completely irrelevant comparison isn't really necessary so please excuse me if I was a little defensive and blunt.

Also keep in mind RO membranes can fail, they require more maintenance and they are more complicated and as a result are often hocked up wrong. I once examined a tank after a complete crash. The problem sourced back to new RO unit that wasn't connected properly.

You do get what you pay for but why pay for something you don't need or even use? The main point I was making is that if you can get the same results without an RO why use one? Safety? Maybe I guess but what about people like me who use an RO to it's maximum potential, should I get another RO unit and waste twice as much water for the extra safety even though I've never had a problem? It's just like anything else, things can fail and go wrong with any piece of equipment.

[Zoaelite]

Well that's fine, I'm not saying anyone's opinion isn't perfectly valid but validating your own by obscurely trying to cut someone else down with a completely irrelevant comparison isn't really necessary so please excuse me if I was a little defensive and blunt.

My post wasn't intended to destroy your argument or cut you down it was merely my opinion on the matter. My comparison was simply trying to represent this. SP do you let your water sit out before you add it to the tank or do you use a dechlorinator?
Levi

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by zoaElite

My post wasn't intended to destroy your argument or cut you down it was merely my opinion on the matter. My comparison was simply trying to represent this. SP do you let your water sit out before you add it to the tank or do you use a dechlorinator?
Levi

Maybe but I find it strange that you used that particular example for a comparison, especially since you admit to having very little knowledge about the subject. I think I know what you were going for and maybe you think I'm contradicting myself as you feel I'm wasteful and do the unnecessary but either way I don't think it was necessary.

I use an RO-DI unit to bring my tap water TDS down from around 200ppm to about 2-3ppm. The filtered water is feed directly to the tank.

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by sphelps

Maybe but I find it strange that you used that particular example for a comparison, especially since you admit to having very little knowledge about the subject. I think I know what you were going for and maybe you think I'm contradicting myself as you feel I'm wasteful and do the unnecessary but either way I don't think it was necessary.

Sorry you have me a little confused, why would I think that your wasteful? If anything out of the conversation I appear wasteful with advocating the use of a RO system.

Originally Posted by sphelps

I use an RO-DI unit to bring my tap water TDS down from around 200ppm to about 2-3ppm. The filtered water is feed directly to the tank.

Seems you have the same problem as me, In Calgary we have pretty bad TDS and a whack load of chlorine in our tap water so an RO system is very useful. Maybe its just me (and perhaps because I have lived in Calgary for 19 years) but it scares me to put tap water strait into my tank as I don't know for a 100% fact what's in that water. Even with people that naturally have tap water with low TDS, adding only R/O water to tank is just one more step for protection of our mini oceans. What happens if that person with 20 ppm TDS has a crazy amount of run off in there area and for some reason it jumps to 200 PPM?
Levi