Water Filters

[tyleratl]

Hi everyone... I moved to Mexico a few years ago and have just purchased a used Red Sea Max 250. Other than a nano tank, I've mostly stayed out of the hobby here due to the higher prices. Livestock is first imported to the U.S. and then exported again to Mexico.

I wanted to ask your advice on getting started with high-quality water that won't cause a lot of bad algae problems later. The options that I have found here in Mexico include:

1. A five-stage RO filter that costs about 175 bucks. The stages are: sediment filter, granular activated carbon, activated carbon "block", 100 gpd type TFC membrane, activated coconut carbon.

2. A six-stage RO/DI filter for 205 dollars. It includes everything above plus a final DI stage.

3. Purchase bi-distilled water and have it delivered. The cost is about 15 cents per liter.

4. Purchase water in the large 5 gallon jugs for about 8 cents per liter. Some people down here use this option and have opinions that certain brands are okay.

Any advice? I'm guessing that most of you will recommend a filter. But, is the DI stage necessary or not? The water coming out of my faucet registers 270 on the TDS meter.

[garygonzales]

yep get the one with a di canister ...your tds is way too high,....di will bring it down to 0...its the way to go with less problems.....

[bertoni]

I would use a DI stage out of caution, but depending on what's in the water, the RO-only solution might be fine. I think 15 cents a liter will get very costly over time. Even 8 cents a liter might be a bit much, and I don't know whether I'd it.

As one point of caution, I might try measuring the pH of a cup of tap water, and then aerate it for a few hours with a water pump or airstone, and see how much the pH changes. If the water has a lot of carbon dioxide in it, you might need a degassing tower to make DI worthwhile.

[tyleratl]

Thanks, guys. I went ahead and ordered an RO/DI.