purified water

Instead of ro unit. Can I just buy purified water? They use an ro unit aswell and carbon filtering and some other stuff I don't know. But it is very safe to drink.

 

Several people have tried its a 50/50 safe to add, problem is you have no idea how often to filters are changed.probably rarely. If you have a fowlr tank its not that big of a deal to use. But either way I wouldn't risk it if you have coral and or a heavy light schedule. Hth.

 

I use distilled water for Walmart. May cost a little more but I don't worry about any mystery stuff in it. About $0.80 /gal. Comes to $10/week for my tank.

 

Welcome to 3reef D man,

You'll still need to test the water source for phosphates and nitrates. Water sold out of water machines at stores can be loaded with phosphates. It has been my experience that they rarely change out their diaphragms and filters.
You can buy bottled RO or DI water but you'll still need to at least check phosphates (for the RO) from that source.

 

Okay thanks guys . I'm planning to set up my first salt water tank. But I find my budget might not be enough of I buy a to system

 

I know budgets can be tight but if you sit down and do the math on buying water, an RO unit can pay for itself pretty quickly. You can pick up a spectrapure factory refurb for $129, and I know here it is $6 per 4 gallons of distilled or RO water. Thats only 21.5 bottles. So it doesn't take long to add up to the cost of the RO unit when doing an initial tank fill and regular water changes. IMO it's best to save up for an RO unit.

 

Water is the single largest ingredient in a reef system and everything depends on its quality and its stability. My thoughts are wait until you have a trusted source of RO/DI, not just RO water to fill your system initially and have on hand for both top offs due to evaporation and for regular water changes.

If its worth doing, its worth doing right from the beginning. Those who start out with treated tap water or vending mcahine water often have problems early on, get discouraged and quit. I would rather see someone start out right and be successful so they do not get discouraged and put their tanks and equipment on the market for pennies on the dollar.

We fret over our tanks, lighting, rock and inhabitants but in truth without good water and salt none of those is worth a hill of beans.

 

+1 some start off bad and quit, others get a motivation boost and research

 

As pointed out above, you can by RO/DI water from a LFS or get distilled water.

There are drawbacks.


1) The cost. If you figure RO/DI water cost about $1 per gallon, it does not take long before an RO/DI system pays for itself.
2) Convenience. This is important. You have to go out and buy the stuff bring it home, mix it and so on. All of this will make you less likely to keep on a decent water change schedule. The time spent takes away from your schedule.
3) Quality Control. With your home system, you can test your water. You will know the TDS. You will know when you changed your filters last. You have a level of control over the quality. I am sure that there are reliable sources out there but if you do it yourself, you are better off.

In the long run, you are far better off with your own system.