Using RO water only ok to mix salt and use for ATO?

[chabooky386]

From what I am told the unit I have now is strictly a RO unit. I do not have the DI part installed with my system. I use it now for drinking water. My question here is what would I have to test for with my kits to see if this water is efficient? Or would my standard reef/salt water kit not be sufficient enough to test this water.

[patback]

My guess is Tds. If zero (unlikely but possible) go ahead. If not zero, test for all that stuff notorious for messing up tanks. Copper, chlorine, ammonia, etc and so forth.

 

By the time you purchase all those test kits, it's not worth it. Just add on a DI.

[Amphiprion1]

From what I am told the unit I have now is strictly a RO unit. I do not have the DI part installed with my system. I use it now for drinking water. My question here is what would I have to test for with my kits to see if this water is efficient? Or would my standard reef/salt water kit not be sufficient enough to test this water.

 

You'll need a TDS meter, which is typically fairly inexpensive. TDS is an acronym for total dissolved solids, referring to the relative presence or lack thereof of said dissolved solids. Ideally, water for aquarium purposes should be 0 ppm of TDS. You can get a simple vertical DI add-on canister and make a bypass with a valve to create both RO/DI for your tank and RO-only for drinking, if you wish.