Freshwater

Fosters and smith have a few RO units for a decent price, around 100-200$, We dont have the greatest water pressure here, about how much pressure does it take to move water through one of these units with out dropping the extra 100$ for one with a pump in it? I also found out my friend that manages at Starbucks just down the road has a HUGE RO unit at the store that they filter all of their water with. Sound plausible to you guys? Would starbucks really have a good water purifier in the store? Or should I drive to Rheinlander tomorrow and find a RO unit?
 
When I lived in an apartment,I had mine hook right to the kitchen faucet and it was plenty of pressure for an RO unit.

You will never know how good the RO water is from Starbucks unless you buy a TDS meter(total dissolved solids) which you will need with an RO unit anyways.
 
Maybe it was this thread...or another thread... But yesterday I linked to the 6 stage RO unit that I got off of Ebay for $60.
 
How about something like this from fosters and smith?
Aquarium Water Quality: Pure-Flo II RO Units
Thats the only RO unit they have that is under 200$ I think. The ones on ebay I'm looking at are around half the price, can they even be half the quality? I have a lot of ebay experience, and I know a lot of manufactured goods that arent name brand are cheap plastic stuff from china (probably with lead paint inside the RO filters)... Why would they be under 100 for a 100 GPD Ro/DI also with UV and a pressurized tank (all for 150$+ shipping). Will I get the benefits of RO water from this coralife filter with out the de ionizer? What actually is the difference?
 
I think that one unit if you get the one with 4 stages of that one, that one has a DI thing, the 3 stages do not... Should I go with an ebay one or what? Cause for the cheapest RO/DI from fosters and smith its looking to be around 180$ min... The ebay ones come with pumps, pressurized tanks, 6 stages (twice as many for half the cost?!). But the thing is I want it today! Some one give me some advice, tell me that the 24 gpd RO unit will work just fine for me, or tell me the ebay ones will blow up and kill everyone within a 20 mile radious (except biffs).
 
I'm very happy with my Ebay one. If you want one NOW, then by all means, go ahead and spent twice as much. But I have no complaints (so far) about my cheapo Ebay one.
 
Will the just RO unit function as well as a cheap RO/DI? I see fosters and smith have a DI unit to add on to any RO unit for like 30$, would that be worth it? I wanna be able to drink this water when I'm done and make drinking water for my grandparents to drink too, cause they get water in jugs, offer to make them some great drinking water for allowing me to house 550 lbs worth of fish tank in my room... I saw someone said something about de ionized water can strip mucus off your throat? Is that true? If that is ill just go get the cheapest RO unit from fosters and smith for 100$ on sale, they dont update their website compared to the newest catalog where that one coralife pure-flo II one is only like 105$. Should I spend the extra time and effort to get and hook up that de ionizing canister thing?
 
Is it safe to drink RO water through something like that coralife pure-flo II 3 stage RO unit? Cause I want this to be versitile, My tank is only 50 gallons, so I'm going to need about 10 gallons a week tops, so id like to make some drinkable water. RO is safe isnt it?
 
Im really bored, I dont know what to do with my self on mondays after class, except... drive 180 miles round trip and buy stuff from fosters and smith! Ill check into a new piece of coral, my frogspawn seems to be doing fine, im gunna go with the basic RO unit, no DI I wanna be able to drink this crap for 110$. Ill check on my phone on the way and see if anyone has any suggestions! ill be back later.
 
Actually i just looked in the catalog, they have all of them on sale, I can get the RO/DI coralife system for 140$ or the basic one for 101.99, is there a way to bypass the DI part if you want to make some drinking water? And BTW, is it safe to drink just RO water? no one has said yet, but I'm assuming if starbucks has it, it has to be safe...
 
yes, straight RO water is just fine to drink. My whole family has been drinking it for the last two years (since I make so many trips to the LFS to get free water, I may as well get an extra 5 gallon jug for the fam...). No one has died yet. Hell, RO water is all that Aquafina bottled water is anyway.

-Dr Marco :sfish::sfish:
 
Sweet, thanks. I got a nice just plain RO unit 50 gpd Coralife unit. I could have gotten a nice RO/DI unit for 20$ more, but the lady didnt know If i could bypass the DI part if i wanted to make some jugs of drinking water, so i said screw it, my fish will love the extra .99% TDS. and if they dont, I can always add on the coralife DI unit for 30 some bucks... But I think I'll be fine with my RO water.
 
I have a coralife also. Mine came with a piece of paper that said you could drink it. Which one did you get?
 
Bifferwine said:
Tap water is one of the worst things you can put in your tank. Even treated.
Click to expand...

blah blah blah blah

I am very tired of hearing this. First - it should be stated that you should TEST your water before coming to the conclusion that tap water is the worst thing ever.

If you test it and it's actually bad - then get another water source. If you test your water and it's within good parameters - you are OKAY TO USE IT.

You will notice people on this sitehaving water problems with tap water and water problems with the most disgustingly expensive RO/DI filtration system known to man.

There are two types of tap water. If you have well water - unless you have a pretty good filtration system already running (my parents have well water and have a massive multi-stage filtration unit for their house) you will probably not have a good quality. When it comes to city water - it will mainly depend on age of home (pipes) and where the water comes from.

Test your water before potentially wasting money on RO/DI water.
 
I got the pure-flow II 50 gpd unit, it was on sale even! With out water, I noticed last night we have a pressurized water tank in our basement (like a big version of the one I wanted to get for my RO unit on ebay) But yeah our water does suck here. The old man at the LFS said that it would be fine though, he has all kinds of people using well water that smells nasty and is hard. We live at almost the highest point in town, and our well is really deep and still doesnt hit good water because of that. I think this RO unit should really help out my tank.
 
Most tap water is very bad. There is more stuff in it than you can possibly test for. Including all sorts of heavy metals. So saying "Test your tap water, and if it's okay, then use it" is not good advice, in my opinion. Pull up the water quality report for any city, and see how many things they have listed. Just try testing for all of those! It's impossible. RODI water is good, because it starts you off with a clean slate -- as pure water as is feasible. Then you add only the good elements that you need with salt and additives. Nothing bad in it to start off with, like tapwater has. And how do you know that your tapwater isn't coming from somewhere that has copper pipes? That will be the death of your reef tank right there.
 
Bifferwine said:
Most tap water is very bad. There is more stuff in it than you can possibly test for. Including all sorts of heavy metals. So saying "Test your tap water, and if it's okay, then use it" is not good advice, in my opinion. Pull up the water quality report for any city, and see how many things they have listed. Just try testing for all of those! It's impossible. RODI water is good, because it starts you off with a clean slate -- as pure water as is feasible. Then you add only the good elements that you need with salt and additives. Nothing bad in it to start off with, like tapwater has. And how do you know that your tapwater isn't coming from somewhere that has copper pipes? That will be the death of your reef tank right there.
Click to expand...


It is real advice. There is still very little known about this "hobby". The point is - nobody knows for sure why anything really happens in our tanks. Don't get me wrong -there are people that know alot. I know alot of people that know much more than I do - any they all agree that tap water is not the end all to your tank. Yes - there are "better" options out there - but tap water will not ensure a dead tank. There are *many many many many* more people using tap water than RO/DI water out there with no problems. I ran mine for 5 years before this crash with no issues. There are many factors that will crash a tank - not just water. Look at your tank for example - it still had a massive algae bloom. I am probably right in saying that it wasn't the water that crashed my tank - a big dead fish and old lights - not my tap water.
 
hotimportknight said:
I got the pure-flow II 50 gpd unit, it was on sale even! With out water, I noticed last night we have a pressurized water tank in our basement (like a big version of the one I wanted to get for my RO unit on ebay) But yeah our water does suck here. The old man at the LFS said that it would be fine though, he has all kinds of people using well water that smells nasty and is hard. We live at almost the highest point in town, and our well is really deep and still doesnt hit good water because of that. I think this RO unit should really help out my tank.
Click to expand...

Yep the same one I have I do believe. Item NO. 76002 is on the instructions. I just love it. Right now I'm having issues getting the membrane out. Been trying all day with no luck so far.
 
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