Culligan better than tap?

I learned the hard way that tap water just creates problems as I now have a huge diatom bloom all over everything. The problem is that the nearest LFS is about an hour away so I can't go there very often to buy RO water. So does anyone know if the Culligan water machines at walmart are any better for aquariums than tapwater? I'll be getting an RO/DI unit soon though.

 

Yes it is better than tap for sure. While there still will be some TDS it will most likely be a fraction of what is in your tap, also there will not be chlorine nor chloramines in it

 

I believe I read that the water goes through RO, carbon and UV sterilizer.

 

Well, it really depends. You would need a TDS meter to take along with you to be sure. A lot of stores RARELY change the filters in the machines. If the filters get bad, not only do they stop working, but also start leaching the wastes back into the water, so what you end up with is water that is even worse than tap. I just read an article on a study done that showed up to 50% of the in-store units pump out water that is more contaminated than regular tap, I will go back and try to find the link.
I would test it first. If you don't have a TDS meter, either get one, get your own RO/DI, keep going to the fish store, or don't use the machine.

 

just remember that bottled water companies only have to adhere to local tap water levels- and as such, can be just as contaminated as your local water supply.

 

I have a culligan home RO drinking water unit in my house - the TDS are zero, after 6 months of "family use" the filters are replaced, TDS are measurable at this time but acceptable. I would think that a store unit would be tired after a few weeks, test the water and perhaps they will change filters for you if need be.

 

wal-mart also has 0 tds distilled water. that is the best you can get.

 

that's an expensive route, also some company's use copper tubing in the distilling process which can leach copper into the water, so be careful.