RO water

I want to know more about RO water

I was thinking about using tap water but let it sit in my trash can for a week or so before i mix the salt.
I know you can buy the water at the store or buy a RO unit witch I am planning on buying one but money right now is a issue.

So can i use tap water that as been sitting for a week in my can. by sitting around for a week don't you think the water would be good and stable enough to use.

What are your thought?

 

It would still not be ideal to use as just sitting won't take any of the bad things out of it.

 

all that will happen is the chlorine in the water will burn off. all the phosphates , minerals and other trace elements wil lstill be present. hopefully you can get an RO unit soon.

guy

 

Tap water issues are based on the fact that you will be introducing up to 40ppm nitrate and 4 ppm or more of phosphate to your tank as allowed by law. Store bought RO is better but still needs to be tested because the filters are not closely monitored. I used tap water for 12-13 months and my tank and corals survived but I only had softies and some LPS. When I switched to RO/DI water my corals started to thrive as the old tap water was replaced. Waiting one week won't change anything. Just use granular activated carbon (GAC) and granulated ferric oxide (GFO) to help control nitrate and phosphate respectively. The GAC will help with other volatile compounds also.

 

Marie0912

leaving water to stand around for 1 week, will ensure that any chlorine in it has had time to dissipate , evaporate , drift off into the atmosphere

but tap water can have various other things in it , and these things will always be in it irrespective of how long it sits in a bucket

its not definite that using tap water will create problems in your reef tank
water quality and thus suitability varies from region to region
but sometimes water quality can vary in same region over a period of time and good water most weeks, may create a problem during periods of drought or high demand

there are no garauntees with tap water
you could have a perfect reef tank or you could end up with a green/ brown/ red soup

many people have started with tap water, for that initial tank set up
and then converted to RODI water for water changes and top offs

for some of those people the damage was done , and they fight a progression of different algae issues, all of which are fueled by the nutrients that where in the tap water

150 - 200 bucks is not a small amount of money, but when you consider you might have a few corals ( or 1?) that cost more than the RODI did, and seeing that coral with GHA or worse growing on its base will make you regret not making that investment

IMHO

Steve

 

If you have to use tap water you might consider rigging a filter with a few pads of "Poly Filter" pads. They're made to remove phosphates, heavy metals, copper, etc - not sure if they affect nitrates, but live rock would eventually balance nitrogen compounds out. I think I paid about $10 for 2 pads....which would be plenty to treat 100 gallons or more.

 

Poly filters do nothing for TDS are are in no way a replacement for RO or RO/DI. They remove metals but any carbon filter will do that.

 

so what could I do cheap so i can use tap water until i get get a RO unit.
And what 's the difference between RO and RO/DI?

 

so if i get a ro unit can i use the water right away mix it with salt and put it in my tank?

 

What are the difference between stage 2 stage 3 and so on.
Which unit would you recommend?