Don't have access to RO anymore.

[applepiee]

I always used RO water from the supermarket (which had 6 PPS) but I moved to country side here in Japan a few days ago and to my surprise there was only one supermarket that sold RO.

 

I bought some of that and tested with my RO meter but it gave a result of 40 PPS.

 

So I went to the only fish shop in the nearby "city" (it's not that big) and noticed there they only had 2 clownfish in a brown tank, asked them about the water and they pointed me to a chemical that is supposed to make your tap water clean. Seems like a big red flag to me so that's why I'm here for guidance.

 

I checked around for my own RO filter but that doesn't seem to be possible to assemble.

 

What should I do?

 

[Cintax]

I would mail order a kit from someplace reasonably close to Japan.

 

Something like this BRS kit would be fine. I believe there are much cheaper kits on Ebay and such. You could try AliExpress.

 

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-6-stage-universal-ro-di-system-75gpd.html

[applepiee]

I would mail order a kit from someplace reasonably close to Japan.

 

Something like this BRS kit would be fine. I believe there are much cheaper kits on Ebay and such. You could try AliExpress.

 

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-6-stage-universal-ro-di-system-75gpd.html

 

Own RO filters are not a possibility as I can't connect it to the water in my house.

[BulkRate]

Perhaps the supermarket also sells distilled water (possibly in the cleaning supplies)? If yes it'll do in a pinch but you might want to run a copper test/polyfilter to test it for metals.

[Mariaface]

 

Own RO filters are not a possibility as I can't connect it to the water in my house.

 

 

Are you sure? A faucet adapter helps - I used that when I was in off-campus housing during college, so I could hook up the RO/DI to the sink for an hour and then store it again.

[Cintax]

 

Own RO filters are not a possibility as I can't connect it to the water in my house.

 

Oh. Right. I know that bathrooms and kitchens are small in Japan.

 

What about something like the items on this BRS page? As Mariaface said, you might be able to just hook it up to a faucet temporarily.

 

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bulk-reverse-osmosis-filters-systems/reverse-osmosis-fittings-valves-plumbing/source-water-connections.html

[BulkRate]

How much volume does the tank hold, and what does your tap water read when you test it?

 

If on the small side (say 10-20 gallons/38-75 liters) & your tap water's fairly clean (25-75 tds) you MIGHT be able to get away with using a ZeroWater or similar multistage DI resin-based pitcher filter product. A range like what I had here in ATL wasn't too bad for one of those to clean down to 0/1 tds without crazily shortening the lifetime of the 5-stage cartridges.

 

You'll still need to find out if chloramine is being used to treat your tap water - ZR and other such filters state they can reduce, but probably not completely remove it. And even if your public works is just using chlorine you'll still be better off replacing the filter cartridge every couple months regardless of whether the little TDS sensor says less than "006".

 

Every time I say this, AZDesertRat's soul hurts. To be fair, even the crappiest portable RODI unit runs rings around a ZeroRez... but if you don't have any other options it's better than the pet store's RO.

[applepiee]

My tap water is 100 RO.

 

Tank is small. 25 Liter

 

And I'm afraid that I need a temporary solution as I ran out of water.

 

I currently only have the two options from my first post.. :s

[Oracus]

Not an immediate fix but are you able to collect rain water?

[Cintax]

Bulkrate's other suggestion of using distilled water might be a good choice. I can buy distilled water for around $1,50 a gallon in my local supermarket.

[BulkRate]

That's still in the ballpark...I'd throw in the towel if it was higher than in the 150's-200's.

 

Your mileage may vary, but at that TDS the pitcher option is still on the table. You might develop a replacement cartridge addiction but I'd expect you'd get the better part of 1-2 months out of each, depending on your water change schedule. But remember there's more to reef-grade pure water than just "0 tds". There's a Randy Holmes-Farley article kicking around somewhere that explains it better than I'm about to as to how water filtration media's efficacy degrades in some cases faster than expected.

 

But do math first. Peeking on amazon.co.jp shows that the ZR filter is MUCH more expensive there than here in the US - about 2x the price. And the filters are even higher for the boxed 2-pack (looks like about 4x). Seriously? If this it the pricing you're looking at I'd hunt around for a nation-localized ZeroWater clone, or see if maybe the supermarket stocks distilled in the pharmacy section. Wow.

[Clown79]

If distilled is available it should be fine to use. A lot of ppl use distilled.

[AZDesertRat]

I have seen zero waters deplete in as little as 10-15 gallons, that would get extremely expensive.

Distilled water from a grocery is probably your best option, still much more expensive than owning a RO/DI but much cheaper than a water pitcher filter will be.