Store water

Walmart sells RO water for human consumption so the fact that they don't sell fish is neither here nor there

 

Oh heck yeah!!! At a store I used to work at, this was important to me. It was important to give our customers good product but we also used the same water. While I was there, good water was sold. After I left, the owner didn't keep on top of this (On purpose because I told him numerous times he needed new membranes and pre-filters). Basically, people were paying a lot of money for water that, while still better than their tapwater would be, is very poor. Think about it this way....a teenage part-time employee fully believes that their water is superior too and will gladly sell it to you. They'll even recommend it to you. However, only the owner knows that the membranes and pre-filters haven't been changed in ages.

 

my lfs sells it for 7 dollers a container no litres specified man i take 30 litre jerry cans and get away under 25 bucks its awesome i guess the water doesnt come far here in melbourne

 

I don't know what size tank you're going to have, but besides the assurance of getting good water by owning your own unit, it makes better financial sense to own an RODI. After 300 gallons of water (unmixed) bought from the LFS, you'd have been able to buy a nearly top of the line unit yourself.

I know 300 gallons sounds like a lot, but if you have a decently sized tank, it's definitely worth it. That also doesn't consider that you probably won't get a $180 RODI.

 

I can't speak about Australia obviously because I don't know. Water prices in the states vary widely based on amount of water available and what the initial pollutants are. For instance in St. Louis, we have very hard water (which is not really bad for a reef tank) but our water also has a whole lot of Nitrates and Phosphates which is horrible for a reef tank. One only has to drive about an hour South of St. Louis and they also have a whole lot more Lead and Iron too. This is a long way of saying, someone in a different region cannot judge the price that their LFS sells their water for. Different regions have different things to deal with.

 

Those of you that are saying you get your water at wal-mart... is it coming from those water dispensers (I think they're Culligan's or something?) If so, does it come out ready for salt as is?

 

If the filters have been changed recently, and it says that it is filtered via Reverse Osmosis, then you can use it for evaporation top-off. If it's for a water-change, obviously you need to mix it with an artificial saltwater mix.

 

your own ro/di unit is the way to go.. but if you do buy from LFS, I always look at their TDS meter.. it should read 0 output. anything higher = filters need to be changed soon. FYI: I would advise to have them test salinity if getting premix saltwater.. I keep my tanks salinity 1.025, well the water i brought home was 1.019.. I need to have a talk with the owner the next visit.. I wasn't too happy about that..

 

Agree with above, buy your own RO/DI with a TDS. Well worth the investment.