Is RO a must?

[sobeck013]

I am buying a up and running 125 gal reef. Ive been told by my local fish shop that I need to have a Reverse Osmosis system for my tank. I am on city water. Any thoughts before I spend 200 bucks on a system

[paradicio]

You could use distilled, but it's cheaper in the long run to use RO/DI.

[AZDesertRat]

Most of us would consider not only RO but RO/DI a must.

[kfowler]

A must? No.

Highly advisable? Absolutely.

Start with a good foundation and you'll save yourself a lot of porblems in the future. Especially with an aquarium that size.

[xenon]

Been there done that.

I would have saved lots of time and $$ if I got an RODI system to begin with.

If your serious about this hobby. Get one!

[sobeck013]

Any suggestions on what type?

[bigjackstud]

The more stages the merrier!

[Zestay]

and several sites sell RO uints for well less than 200 dollars... check ut the vender section here on RC

[AZDesertRat]

Several good vendors here

www.buckeyefieldsupply.com
www.thefilterguys.biz
www.spectrapure.com
www.purelyh2o.com

More stages don't mean a thing and are cheap sales gimmics used by e-bay vendors. All you need is single prefilter, a carbon block, an RO membrane and a DI cartridge thats 4 true stages.

[sobeck013]

Thanks for the input. The purley H2O is pretty close and may give me some options. The wife only agreed to spending more money on the tank if she can have drinking water out of it. If Im going to be under the sink... then why not...

[AZDesertRat]

I use mine for drinking water and ice maker too besides the tanks and other pets. RO tastes great.

[old salty]

A wise man once said, "No support equipment in the world can make up for lousy water." RO/DI water is the first step towards reef bliss (unless you happen to have access to the ocean.)

[aquarius77]

I got to give my vote to the filter guys. biz.

Alot of places will try and sell you a drinking water RO unit and claim it will be fine for your reef water as well. Filter Guys will sell you a unit designed to make reef water AND it has a seperate hose/valve fo RO only drinking water. Check out the Ocean Reef 4 , its an amazing unit and it is 199$. Unsurpassed Customer Service, Reef Hobbiest who are Honest and Care about their customers. They have a life long customer in me and i just cant keep it a secret when i see people asking about wich ro/di unit in the 200$ range.

[aquarius77]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9263132#post9263132 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AZDesertRat
RO tastes great.

That is a fact! There is no bottled water commercially available that even comes close.

[palawan]

Get the TFC membrane rated at 75GPD, and get the DI cartridge with replaceable resin media. Buckeyefieldsupply has those DI cartridges.

[rkelman]

I wouldnt say RO is a must in all cases. I use well water and have no issues whatsoever. If I was on city water I would have RO/DI.

[SaltyNovice]

Hey AZrat - I've been reading your posts for some time and I really appreciate your input and advice. I'm one that has been trying to do this as cheaply as possible and I started with Tap. I've regreted that and I'm looking at RO/DI units. You said you used yours on your ice maker (I believe). I was wandering about that - Do you just tee off of your drinking water hose that comes out of the RO section and run that to your ice maker? I guess the system has to stay on all the time then? Any help is really appreciated - thanks!! :D

[drummereef]

There is no substitue for pure water in this hobby, period. ;) Whatever you decide, make sure you get a DI stage on the unit, thus RO/DI. Very important.

Here's some reading material.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2004/chem.htm

[WaterKeeper]

And more-[rodifaq]

BTW

Hi Sobeck
[welcome]

[AZDesertRat]

Just add a drinking water kit to your reef quality RO/DI and you get a pressure tank, faucet and autoshutoff valve if it didn't already come with one. I then tee off that to the feed the icemaker too as well as the laundry sink RO faucet and kitchen faucet. Its unbelievable to finally get clear ice cubes from a refrigerator ice maker! Not all cloudy white like before.