2 RO or not 2 RO that is the question!

Thanks Zach makes more sence now !

A meter for disolved solids ? this in reference to help moniter Nitrates / Phospates ?

think I should have paid better attention in science class !!

 

more like metals and other gunk...ya know. chlorine and flouride or whatever your water has. 0 TDS means there is absolutely nothing in your water except for an oxygen atom bonded with 2 hydrogen atoms!!

 

Total dissolved solvent is measured with a meter... some come with a RO/DI unit like the Typhoon 3 I got from airwateice.com
It is basically how much muck and particles are in the water. Typical tap water may have 150-350 TDS. RO water with new filters should measure close to 0.

 

Cool....( breaking out the debit card once again !! ) I will be setting up the RO unit so sounds like another GIZMO is in need !! I like GIZMO"S !! Refractometer is still FUN !!

 

actually....need to make up an order for phosphate reactor...media...TDS meter ....

anyone else need anything LOL

 

Thanks guys for the fast info!!

Did I mention that i luv this site !! And OTTY !! I so luv your tank !!

 

sounds like you got your mind made up

but if u got it already, why not use it?

 

Some brands come with a free TDS meter..
This one gets great reviews around here:
ReefKeeper Water | Aquarium Water | RODI Water | Reverse Osmosis Reefkeepers
May not be the cheapest but a solid winner.
Typhoon III 75GPD is the one I got.
While shopping ...one thing to remember with 75 gallons a day vs. 100 ect is that it will make slightly purer water with a lower rating like the 75... it creates more waste water while you're making water ..mine does about 4 to 1 ratio meaning about 4 gallons goes down the drain while you're actually only getting one gallon of water you can use. The ones that make water faster don't wasted as much.
If you do a search there's a million threads on this subject.

 

The one that I have came with it when i bought the tank used ...its a Coral life Pureflo II 24 GPD

and judging by the amount of algae (hair / bubble ) that was in the tank/rocks/sand not sure it was used .....tank also came with LOTS of chemicals to fight algae...guessing it was a constant problem thats why the sold the unit. I can only make assumptions based on the equipment used which for a 125 tank...it was all under parameters for a 125 tank, thus the water problems i think he was having.

This just sets back my set up dates and configurations...but, I am not rushing things and want to do it correctly. I'm sure the RO unit will work, just takes more time to produce, and more research for me to do. the word overwhelmed comes to mind !!

thanks again !

 

Just wanted to chime in and say I think you made the right decision. The most important thing in a reef aquarium is the water. When you start with RO/DI (do you have DI, a deionization stage after the RO?) you have a blank slate as long as you test your TDS (totally worth the couple bucks for the testing unit) and it comes out zero every time you make water. So you are much more in control of your water chemistry, the most important aspect of the tank, than if you were just trusting to something coming out of the ground.

Also, depending on your situation you might consider upgrading to a higher flow version, a 75 or 100 gpd unit to potentially eliminate some of the tedium involved with making it. You can even purchase piggy-back RO membrane units that should double your unit's output since the RO stage is the bottleneck out of all of the filters involved in the process.