hob filter help

i have a hob filter and was wondering about what would be a good filter media to put in it to filter out stuff in tap water thank you

 

carbon to take out the chlorine in tap water. test your tap water for copper, phosphates and nitrates. You gotta know what is in your tap before you try to remove it.

 

ok i will do thank i am a newbie just wanted to get some help

 

I hate to be the jerk, but R/O for a 100 bucks will pay for the carbon pretty quick. I have a simple house r/o system for now.

 

Being new, nwfd1975 you'll probably ask next what R/O is. RO= reverse osmosis, DI = De-Ionization. An RO/DI unit is a multi-stage water filter that 1. has a sediment filter to remove micron particles, 2. a caron block to take out chlorine, etc, 3. a reverse osmosis membrane , and 4. a DI canister that takes the positive and negative charged ions out of the water, leaving your water filtered down to 0 total dissolved solids (TDS) or pure H20.

 

can you send me a link to where to get one cheaply thank you for your help

 

Here is a link to one of our sponsors. AirWaterIce is a great business with excellent customer service. You will find in this hobby that cheap is not always the way to go. In fact, I cannot think of one thing that is OK by buy cheap (knock off wise). So here is their link. Check them out. In a pinch you can go to the store with buckets and fill up using the RO machine there. The one I use is 35 cents per gallon. I generally keep between 30 and 50 gallons around the house (and 20 to 30 gallons additional mixed with salt) in airtight containers. I'm a just in case kind of guy.

There has been an arguement as to how well maintained the machines are. Usually, it will tell you when it was last serviced on the coin slot. To give you an idea of the quality I get, the tap water around here has a TDS (total dissolved solids) of 81. Five hundred is considered unsafe. My main garbage can that has a mixture of many trips to the RO unit has a TDS reading of 3. The last batch of RO water I picked up had a TDS of zero. I checked it three times.

So there are options for you. Unless you are forced to use tap water, I would not. There are members who will tell you that they have no problems, and in fact, I am one member who used to use tap water......and had no problems as well. But I figure we walk the tightrope in this hobby, so any advantage I can give myself and my livestock is well worth the money and time spent.

Peace.......John.

EDIT: Oh the link. Duh.: Aquarium Water | Reverse Osmosis | RODI Water | ReefKeeper Water | TYPHOON III AQUARIUM RO DI 75 or 100 GPD

 

i really appreciate your help everyone on here has helped me learn so much i am in the process of selling my 75g to get a reef ready one because of this site i wouldve wasted so much money if i wouldnt have spent hours reading all this so thank you agian an i hopefully will be starting a 75g reef ready tank thread within the next month so any advise would be great

 

an sorry i didnt mean to come across as cheap just looking for the best deal on one that is why i have been on here for 2 months an dont have a tank you im gonna try to do it right the first time so thanks everyone for there help once again

 

Buckeye Field Supply (Russ) was on here posting this morning. He's a great resource for RO/DI, and has very good pricing and great quality. I don't recommend the cheap ebay units with the cheapo ro membranes and filters.