Is RO water necessary?

[neanderthalman]

I called Walmart and they sell deminiralized water for 2$ per gallon, so it's a no go because it would cost me 40$ plus taxes so that would be around 46$.

 

I guess I have no choice but to start it with tap water since I cannot find for sale the portable unit as well and a fixed RO system is out of the question.

 

I will try to find one as I go with this but for now I have a great deal on Totoka live rock and that deal ends friday. I guess I will have to start it with tap water (my tap does not have nitrates or phosphates and it's soft) for the live rocks and as I get an RO unit I will be able to do regular water change and that will remove any trace amount of what ever was in my tap water.

 

How does that sound?

 

it's just so freaking expensive to buy water here. Sometime I wish I would still be living in California, it was so cheap to live there!

 

It's not a good idea, but it's not going to ruin the liverock. Too bad your over in french country - if you were in the Toronto area, I'd give you the RO/DI to start. The stuff is literally pennies a gallon when you have your own unit.

 

 

For the future, any RO unit can be made portable. None are truly "fixed". All you need to do is take any filter and supply it with water and a drain. How you do that is up to you.

 

For connecting, you can use this:

 

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/faucet...rter-valve.html

 

And just stick the wastewater line down your drain. When you're done making water, you can remove the hose from the diverter valve and store the unit elsewhere.

 

You can also use a laundry tub/garden hose adapter if you have either of those available. The same adapter can be used with a garden hose Y-adapter to tap off of your washing machine supply, and you can divert the wastewater into the washing machine to reuse it for laundry. THose Y-diverters usually have valves on them, so you can close the valve and remove the RO/DI unit when you're not using it.

[TechFish]

I called Walmart and they sell deminiralized water for 2$ per gallon, so it's a no go because it would cost me 40$ plus taxes so that would be around 46$.

 

I guess I have no choice but to start it with tap water since I cannot find for sale the portable unit as well and a fixed RO system is out of the question.

 

I will try to find one as I go with this but for now I have a great deal on Totoka live rock and that deal ends friday. I guess I will have to start it with tap water (my tap does not have nitrates or phosphates and it's soft) for the live rocks and as I get an RO unit I will be able to do regular water change and that will remove any trace amount of what ever was in my tap water.

 

How does that sound?

 

it's just so freaking expensive to buy water here. Sometime I wish I would still be living in California, it was so cheap to live there!

 

 

Well you could distill your water at home, it should work ok for a nano reef since you won't need that much water to fill a small tank, there is an article on eHow on how to make a water distiller at home, you don't need much, a couple of containers, some tubes, ice and a heat source. http://www.ehow.com/how_4762593_make-home-...distillers.html