Instead of RO/DI?

Now that you put it that way... and the way you broke it down.. I will have to go that route. I'm limited for space, what's a good portable unit? Link?

 

Any RO/DI can be portable. The Premium would be smaller than the Typhoon since it contains only the single carbon block I recommend and not the antiquated two like the Typhoon. The bracket will be like 6" shorter and fit in a smaller space. I don't usually recommend the small units like the MightyMite because they use smaller non standard replacement prefilters and carbons which do not last as long, are harder to find, almost always cost more and are not available in as many micron ranges. They work the same but the long term cost of ownership is higher.

 

So would a 2-Stage Under The Counter Water Purifier be okay?

 

I just bought a nice RODI setup on ebay for $132 shipped to my house. If you compare it to the one that airwaterice.com you can tell its actually the identical unit sold under a different brand name. Although, only $8 cheaper I actually would have got it from a forum sponsor but being new here I didn't know. Anyway, I was convinced not to spend a cent on water when I could just spend the money up front and start making my own. I don't even have my tank set up yet just in the stages of purchasing all the correct equipment before I even think of starting it.

 

No, usually a two stage filter is a sediment filter and a some carbon possibly a block but probably granular activated carbon with a very short useful life. Neither of these does a thing for TDS, and in fact granular products add TDS when they degrade, they are intended to make water taste good and thats it.
For RO you need 3 stages, prefilter, carbon block and RO membrane. For RO/DI you need 4, the previous three plus a vertical DI filter usually refillable.
In any case you will need a handheld TDS meter and an inline pressure gauge is a very good tool to have too. You cannot possibly know how it is working without them.

 

just a heads up, be very careful about which distilled water you use if youre buying it from someplace like walmart. a lot of companies process their distilled water through copper pipes and the traces of it can be deadly.

 

For those of you that are using distilled water, keep in mind that it has very poor buffering capabilities and generally has pretty low pH readings, 5.0-6.0 range. Make sure you add some buffer to it or you may find that your tank pH dropping like a rock once the bicarbonates have been exhausted to make up for the lack of it in the distilled water.

 

Distilled much like deionized does not have enough ions to measure pH accurately, its basically neutral although it measures low or high. In top off situations its not enough to make a difference and in new saltwater situations it will take on the pH of the salt mix. I never notice any noticable difference in either my nano or my 100G.

Distillation has come a long way over the years and copper stills are pretty much a thing of the past. Most are glass or epoxy lined today so copper is rarely a problem but its good to check just in case.