Need some ro info ,

[MyNameIsJoe]

fastest and easiest way to get the temp up is to just boil some of the salt water you just made up.

[mk1151]

Sorry for the interruption, but this thread has fascinated me - why is an RO/DI filter necessary?

Just to make tap-water tank changes faster, or is it required if you want to use tap water to do a tank change?

I was told you can condition any tap water to make it tank-ready with the right additive(s) and time.

I've been buying salt water pre-made from the local shop so I haven't hit this yet but it seems like a good thing to know.

[Original Fin]

MK1151, water conditioners are pretty much only good for neutralizing chlorine, and do nothing to adress TDS, copper, silicates, phosphates, nitrates, etc. A reef tank is very sensitive to these things, which lead to damaging algae blooms amongst other things.

Most, (but not everyone) agree that an RODI is a must have. I dare say that anyone who has owned one would never go back to using non-RODI.

[MyNameIsJoe]

MK1151, water conditioners are pretty much only good for neutralizing chlorine, and do nothing to adress TDS, copper, silicates, phosphates, nitrates, etc. A reef tank is very sensitive to these things, which lead to damaging algae blooms amongst other things.

Most, (but not everyone) agree that an RODI is a must have. I dare say that anyone who has owned one would never go back to using non-RODI.

++++1

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

+2

[mk1151]

MK1151, water conditioners are pretty much only good for neutralizing chlorine, and do nothing to adress TDS, copper, silicates, phosphates, nitrates, etc. A reef tank is very sensitive to these things, which lead to damaging algae blooms amongst other things.

Most, (but not everyone) agree that an RODI is a must have. I dare say that anyone who has owned one would never go back to using non-RODI.

This is quite helpful - if I have a RO system hooked up to my house line (all tap water passes through it), do I need this one for the tank re-fills?

[Original Fin]

whole house RO systems are quite costly, and kind of a waste to be honest. For every gallon of filtered RO water you get, 2-3 times that amount of water is wasted.

There are of course clever ways to recapture the waste water for uses where purity is not needed like irrigation, washing machines, etc, but that usually means extra work, or extra cost to automate. For a whole home system, you'd need vary large pressurized containers, pumps, and dedicated plumbing to seperate the RO and the non-RO water. This is really only feasible with new construction.

What you can do, if you just want the benfit of purified drinking water, would be to install a smaller RO system under the kitchen sink. There are kits specially made for this use that come with a special drinking water only faucet, and a small 2-5 gallon pressurized container.

For a reef tank, you really want to go one step further and add a DI (Deionizing) final stage to the RO system. This drops the TDS to zero, which is what you want in a reef. RO is for drinking...you need some minerals in water for electrolytic ballance. It's also what gives it a good taste. You wouldn't want to drink RODI...it's basically like distilled water...nothing in it al all.

There are combo systems available where you can send RO water (before it hits the DI stage) to your pressurized drinking container, and with the simple twist of a valve, redirect it to the DI for your aquarium water. Check out The Filter Guys.com, Buckhead Field Supply.com, Spectrapure.com, and Bulk Reef Supply.com.