RO/DI water? what is it, do i need it?

haha my parent's flipped when i told them about how much i'll be spending on just lighting alone. Lol surprisingly they have given in. At first i told my parent's my puffer will outgrow his 20 gallon in one year. Two month's later i told them he is now two big for it and will need a 30 gallon. They said they will not get me a big tank at the beginning. Now they've ok'd the 46 gallon that i will be getting. So far they've been pretty much against everything that i have wanted and have slowly become cool with everything. LOL heck my dad even helps me with my skimmer when it goes out of whack, and my mom helps me with my filter (which just died) when it goes out of whack as well. So i think i've slowly started them into liking the idea. I think my dad might like "playing with the new toys" when i get everything going. So maybe you're right and i'll be able to talk him into a ro/di unit.

 

ro/di in my opinion is one of the most vital ingredients to a tank.

 

ok i think i'll invest in one then. How long does the ro/di unit have to be running before i can use the water? Also how do we get the "good" water after the ro/di process is complete? is it just from the faucet? Also how does it affect the water that we drink? Is it like a whole other system or something?

 

so today i went to an lfs, where i will now be getting all of my stuff, and they are providing saltwater that has already been ro/di so i won't have to purchase one. And also that all the paraemeters would be perfect so i shouldn't have to cycle my tank for the 6 weeks

 

whoa!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLD UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No matter how perfect their water is, you still are going to cycle. Don't let them fill you full of a bunch of bs. Furthermore. You are still going to need ro/di for top off and stuff like that. I don't care how great they say their water is, UR STILL GOING TO CYCLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would be finding another store if they are telling you that.

 

ohh ok

 

i've seen this done way too many times. People set their tank up, a couple days later buy a crap load of fish, dump them in, spike ammonia, and then kill all fish. Repeat!!!

 

which that is not what i want to do. Just today when i was in there i saw a guy with their jugs getting a refill on the water. It's only like .36 a gallon or something like that

 

yeah I'm sure their water is nice and pure. That still doesn't mean that you will avoid a cycle. The nitroge cycle happens in any fish tank, regardless of where the water comes from.

 

Ok, i think i might just buy the water so i won't have to buy 5 gallon jugs myself and constantly be filling water and all, but i'm glad you mentioned that i would still have to do the cycling process, as i got the impression from the woman that we wouldn't have to. Maybe i just got a bad employee??