Reverse Osmosos water from Water Machine on the corner

I want RO water, but I dont want to drop 200.00 to buy a RO water maker. There is a Water Despenser by my house that sells filtered water for 30 cents per gallon, or 1.50 for 5 gallons. The machine says that the water is filtered 6 times, and one of the stages is reverse osmosis. I could fill my 46 bow and 10 gallon sump for 20.00 initally and than it would be 1.50 a week for water changes. Does anyone else do this? Is this a good option?

 

hey if its RO/DI then it should be good to go.... although i wonder how often the filters are changed out once they are dirty.

 

Alot of those machines use copper tubing and aren't mantained well. There's one in our local grocerie store (I live in a small town) and just out of curiosity I bought a gallon and tested for what I could. NO3 was 20ppm.
You can get a very efficient RO/DI for less than $200 and it'll pay for itself before you know it.
But if you want to buy water imo you should either do so from your LFS or buy distilled water.

 

If owning a RO/DI system is not an option, find a fully staffed Water & Ice type store with a live person to talk to. You are probably similar to Phoenix and the rest of the Southwest, we seem to have a water store on every corner.
The reason the stores are good is once you talk to the owner or person on duty and tell them its for a reef tank you have an instant friend. Around here they bend over backwards to TDS test the water for me or with a conductivity meter or resistivity meter which are both better than a TDS meter. And best of all most are only $0.25 per gallon and have special days like half price Tuesdays and such.
With vending machines you are at the mercy of the maintenance or lack of maintenance on the machine. There are no regulations on vending machine water quality so its hit and miss, the only ones who regulate around here is the Dept of Weights and Measures to ensure you get at least a gallon if they advertise a by the gallon price.

I rarely buy water anymore as I have a RO/DI system but I still stop in the local water store to buy ice and a soda or shaved ice and they still ask about my tanks and fish.

 

We have those in grocery stores in St. Louis. The company that maintains them maintains them well (in fact, better than some of the LFS's). Find out who is running the system and call them.

 

You can get a good RO/DI unit for much less then $200. I use the Mighty Mite from airwaterice.com Aquarium Water | Reverse Osmosis | RODI Water | ReefKeeper Water | Mighty Mite 50GPD with DI Added. I love it. It's portable, can be used with a garden hose or in-house and makes up to 50gpd. I love the thing and it's pretty inexpensive. You also need to worry about top off water and water changes. This could pay for itself within a year.

 

you can get a ro/di for $150 shipped, just have to look around for specials. its might only be a stage 4, 75gpd and no bells or whistles..but it will work..

 

You learn something new every day. I've not spent time in the Southwest so I've never heard of a water store in my life.

 

If you buy a RO/DI system you are better off with a system that uses full size 10" replacement filters. They are more readily available, are larger so the filter longer and better, come in a wider variety of choices and micron ranges and cost less to buy. The small units look nice but really are only a few inches shorter, the length and width are the same so they have little advantage there. The cost of ownership is much higher since the replacements cost more and do not last as long. I look at a RO/DI as a fine tool and plan to keep it a long time so long term operating cost is a big issue.
With the full size units, they can still be used portable just the same but they also have the advantage of a full size vertical 20 oz DI so filter better and can take advantage of bulk resin refills for additional cost savings. You can get a full size reef quality RO/DI system with a inline pressure gauge, high quality name brand standard 10" filters in low micron and high chlorine capacity ranges, a TDS meter, clear housings, 75 to 90 GPD capacity so no waiting around on water and much more for less than $150 complete.

I though water and ice stores were everywhere now. I'll bet I have 6 or 8 in a 1 mile radius of my home, I can think of 4 right off and bet I missed several. Most a major chain or franchise operations which do a huge business. Water & Ice is one Water Mill is another and there are lots more. Big business.

 

I don't know if you are referring to the link I posted, or just speaking generally, but I believe the Mighty Mite is a full sized system, just not vertical. I've ordered replacement filters and they were all standard sized. It costs about $70 to replace all of the filters including the membrane.