making my own water

[uniquee1]

hey guys

 

wanted to know what all your thoughts are for making your own water with premixes. right now its just to expensive to drive back and forth for only 5 gallons a week for my 8 gal nano tank. I am interested in saving some money and wear and tear(time too from the driving) on making my own water right there at my home.

 

ive heard a couple different ways like buying a ro/di system...that's just not in the cards unless there is something on the lower costs end for sucha small tank.

 

the other ive heard about is buying bulk distilled water then mixing it with pre salt mix..is this a good way to go?

 

as far as the pre salt mix goes which should I buy? should I go Red Sea products or Instant Ocean Reef Crystals? what else is out there that's worth looking into?

 

any help would be fantastic! newbie reefer!!

[NYR]

The upfront cost of an RO/DI is more, but you will save money in the long run. For example, i just bought an RO/DI for $152. Say you pay $1 per gallon of distilled water, @ 5 gallons per week is $5 per week. After 30 weeks you would have hit the price of the RO/DI.

 

Granted this doesn't account for the price of the water you're paying for out of the sink, but I still bet you cover the cost before a years end.

[tibbsy07]

In my case an RO/DI unit is too expensive up front. I also have a small tank (5g) and I do weekly water changes of 1 gallon, with about 1-2 gallons of top off a week. I go to the grocery store where they have the big drinking water machines (the water is minimum DI, often RO/DI). It costs $0.30/gallon. I go through about 10g a month (give or take), so that's 3 bucks a month for me, $36 a year. It takes me at least 3 years to cover the cost of getting my own RO/DI line (not including any filters that need replacement). Just not worth it for me.

 

As for your other question about salt mixes, most reefers I know use salt mixes and make their salt water. Most LFS water is slightly lower salinity for their fish (the LFS here said theirs is 1.023 and I keep my tank at 1.025). It's also more expensive.

 

Get yourself a 50g salt bucket for like 30 bucks, buy a 5g bucket from the hardware store and start making your own water with the DI stuff from the grocery store. It's not as good as your own RO/DI line, but it'll be fine.

[AZDesertRat]

Distilled water is cheap and you can often find it in the 2 or 2.5 gallon jugs with handles. Vending machines leave a lot to be desired since most are RO only end even then intended for drinking water so TDS is not an issue with the vendor or operator. I recommend whatever water you purchase, invest $25 in a handheld TDS meter so you can make sure you are getting what you think you are.

 

One big selling point I used with my wife for our first RO/DI system purchase 20 years ago was the savings on bottled water. We rarely buy bottles of water now except for parties and such, we make all our RO water with the RO side of the RO/DI and it tastes great plus costs about 3 cents a gallon versus what the store or machine would charge.

[uniquee1]

yeah I mean I would love to get an RO/DI system but the up front costs is just to much for me to handle right now. im going to go with the buying distilled water from the store and make my own in some buckets and go from there. basically as long as my levels are okay and the salinity should be where it needs to be I should run into no issues correct?

[AZDesertRat]

Correct. Try to match temperature, pH and salinity as close as you can for larger water changes to avoid swings.

[uniquee1]

awesome thanks alot guys appreciate the help