tap water??

this is really hit or miss. it's entirely possible (I did it for a year before switching to RO/DI) as have others. I have seen no noticeable "improvement" since I switched to RO/DI and I have no reason IME to say it is better....

Having said that, I would test my tap water (w/FW kits) every 3-4 months and it came out fine... this really really depends on your local water and how long you let it sit with the PRIME before using it.

I always let my tap water sit for at least a day after using PRIME... did that help anything? beats me, just a habit I was in for some reason.


The one (two) thing that I like about RO/DI is that A. I have an emergency RO water source in case our tap gets contaminated via hurricane and B. it's a heck of a lot easier to setup an ATO with an RO/DI unit than it is without one.

Because only you can know the quality of your tap and we have no idea, as a general rule it's better to say RO/DI is better by default because it's a nice, clean baseline. We know it's not contaminated...

 

You hit the nail squarely on the head with this statement. The problem is you DO NOT know the quality of your tap water from minute to minute. NY does not use treatment plants, they were grandfathered in years and years ago and are just now building plants to take care of the water which does not meet EPA guidelines and are paying massive fines daily until they are on line.
Besides that, whats to say a main doesn't break down the street and cause a backflow incident like this:


Or this:


Or a storm such as what hit Atlanta rolls through and things go to heck. This is a recent picture of an Atlanta area treatment plant!


Or something like this on the street corner:

Again with a resulting leak and potential cross connection or backflow incident. Notice the color of the inside of the hydrant?

RO/DI is cheap insurance and you alone control its quality.

 

AZ -

Tough to argue with you and your point about cheap insurance. I am of the opinion that you can probably get away with out it but that is base on OPE (other peoples experience) not my own.

I happen to have an RO filter sitting unused because i've been too busy to hook it up.

I'm gonna go buy the $5 fitting to hook it up right now because i think your right it is cheap insurance based on all the money i've already put into my tank.

So to summarize...i dont think you HAVE to have it. but if i have a $120 fish die because i didn't put in a water filter i think that looks kind of silly. If i do, atleast i will be able to rule out the water filter and see how else i screwed it up.

Let the debate continue...

 

Right on. I remember several years ago Hurricane Allison flooded Houston. Our water was contaminated and had to be boiled; further, because of flooding and power outages getting to a public RO machine (like at Wal-Mart) wasn't possible.

I didn't have a reef back then, only FW (and FW doesn't really need top offs). But if I did and if I didn't have an RO/DI I would have been up shk*t creek without a paddle as we say. No way to do top-offs without putting some serious nasty into my tank...

 

Can't speak for anyone else, but I am pretty sure I will be safe from hurricanes

 

packleader is right, for some of us that live landlocked we dont have to worrie about hurricanes. i live in colorado, and im pretty sure we have some of the best water because we are so close to the continental divide. i am going to ask the dudes at the local fish store if they think our water is ok to use to start up a reef???

 

+1 right there with ya pack lol nothing this way either

 

You are all missing the point. it may leave the reservoir or plant as drinking water but it may not be the same miles later when it reaches your home. I guess you didn't look at the first, second and fourth pictures I posted. Not one of them was due to a storm or plant failure and yet every one of them was a health risk.
You have absolutely zero control over tap water quality before it enters your home.

Its funny, my firm is doing several million $$ of water and wastewater rehabilitation work in Reno as I type this. I just got on the elevator with one of the Reno inspectors and boy can he tell you some stories! He is flying back there this afternoon to continue the work and he got a chuckle out of it when I told him about this thread....

I also know companies like Spectrapure do a whopping business in NY due to the wate rquality, call or email them and ask why the do so well in that part of the country, its a safe bet its not because the water is so good!

 

I live in CO too and wouldn't use the tap if I were you. I've used RO from day one in my 72, then my 125, and now again in my 72 (I'm downgrading). In my 46 I did use tap and RO and boy oh boy the algae issues I had!

Also, which LFS are you planning on asking? I know all of them pretty well and have one in particular I would advise you to stay away from.

 

Of course I could be missing something here, but WTF does proximity to the continental divide have to do with it, anyway?? Honestly I don't know, this is a genuine question.