warhol1 Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 In case of an emergency, is there any brand of bottled water that can safely be used for top offs on a reef tank? I've heard Aquafina uses RO filtratrion but I want to make sure it doesn't have any other additives that can disrupt the water chemisty in my tank. Thanks. Link to comment
myjohnson Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Unsure of the brands and what company does what.... But in my last tank, I did use a number of different bottled water for RO top offs with no problem. p.s. Just pony up on the RO/DI unit....you'll never look back. Link to comment
rdahlke1105 Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Distilled water can be used in cases of emergency. Distilled and RO/DI water are more or less the same, they just use different methods of purifying the water. Link to comment
littletnklvr Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I just checked out Aquafina's website they purify tap water and take out everything including trace elements which is something you still want, they don't add anything to the water, but without the trace elements it would just be good for top up's but not for water changes unless your dosing trace elements. IMO of course. Link to comment
warhol1 Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 Thanks littletnklvr! Link to comment
Aqua fire/medic Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I heard some where that the green top bottled water at walmart was really good. It's RO processed. Sound familiar to anyone? Link to comment
ebroesicke Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 i used the green label walmart water for about a year as my top off and for water change water. worked for me. some of the RO water i found at other stores had salt added, so i stayed with the walmart. For emergencies i always keep a bottle of "prime" on hand to condition tap water. If it is really an emergency, the amount of nutrients in tap water might be the least of you worries. Link to comment
AZDesertRat Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 You will want to use distilled water, its the closest thing to RO/DI you will find in the store. RO by itself is only 90 to 98% pure, it tsakes the DI to get it the rest of the way. You will also find many RO drinking waters have minerals added back in for taste which is not what you need for your reef. Link to comment
BillyP258 Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Just use distilled water from the local supermarket. I buy like 8 gallons of it at a time. One time I had a cashier ask the manager, can he do that?? Link to comment
StevieT Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Most bottled water can be used in case of emergency. They add back minerals for taste including, calcium and magnesium. Things you want in the reef anyway. I ran my tank off of delivered bottled water for years, it never looked better than when I was using it. Link to comment
asstastic Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 yea if i have a bottle of water thats like half empty i just dump it in my tank.... seems fine. Link to comment
ChrisCT Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 i tested 3 different gallons of poland springs distilled water with my tds meter and got 14 on two of them and 11 on the third one. i stopped using it for topping off long ago. 5g container of ro/di in my stand with an ato now. best investment i ever made for my tank. Link to comment
Deano Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 I just checked out Aquafina's website they purify tap water and take out everything including trace elements which is something you still want, they don't add anything to the water, but without the trace elements it would just be good for top up's but not for water changes unless your dosing trace elements. IMO of course. I think your a bit confused, everyone uses RO/DI that is concerned about water quality. RO/DI will leave water void of any trace elements. Usually 100% pure water. Which is ok for top off and for water changes. I would be more concerned for top off, since you are only adding 100% pure water, then water changes since most people that do a water change mix salt with it and that salt is replenishing the trace elements, right? OP you can use RO or Disstilled water from a store but as already stated investing in a RO/DI unit will assure you are adding the best qualty of water to your system. Link to comment
FishStrings Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 If i had to top off a tank with bottled water it would be zephyr hills or fiji water. Link to comment
jeremai Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 fiji water has added silica. probably not the best idea for a reef tank. Link to comment
swimmingswammi Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Anyone ever try those water vending machines outside of the supermarkets? I forget the company name, but there are multiple stages and the filtration is checked weekly. I have used this for top off, but am also considering for salt mixed water if I ever go that direction. Any thoughts? Link to comment
danthenewreefman Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 aquafina was the only bottled water we tested that had no chlorine it shows they're confident about what's in there water. we tested over 20 other types of bottled water. Yes aquafina is RO water I believe. Dasani was the worse -- straight ATL tapwater Anyone ever try those water vending machines outside of the supermarkets? I forget the company name, but there are multiple stages and the filtration is checked weekly. I have used this for top off, but am also considering for salt mixed water if I ever go that direction. Any thoughts? don't do it. unless you're prepared to thoroughly test each time you get it. Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Anyone ever try those water vending machines outside of the supermarkets? I forget the company name, but there are multiple stages and the filtration is checked weekly. I have used this for top off, but am also considering for salt mixed water if I ever go that direction. Any thoughts? If you search this site, you will find many people who have used the machines with varying degrees of success. It is all about the maintenance on them and if the worker skips a week or two and it is a heavily used machine.....then things can go downhill fast. Some people swear they are always 0 or 2 TDS....while some say that theirs is always 200 TDS. So it all depends. I will be testing the machine that is in the Safeway close to my condo when my TDS meter comes in the mail. Would be nice to be able to get water from there if I need to. If it tests low for TDS then I will use it when needed. But I am not going to trust the low TDS reading week after week. I am going to take a small sample and measure every time I go to fill up....if it is high TDS then I will not buy it. Link to comment
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