RO water for a new tank?

[Shaz]

I didnt think that you needed purified RO water to add to your reef tank the first time you add water, but someone told me tonight that you need to. I thought that it is pointless to get it the first time you add your water, b/c if you get uncured LR, it will add a lot of crap to the water, and it would be pointless. In my situation I have a 50g and 29g sump, and I would look like a doof going to the store to get 80 gallons of water. I understand and planned to use RO water after my tank cycled to do topoffs and water changes, but is it necessary in the begining?

 

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When I made my closed loop system, I drilled the pvc for holes, and cut it, and when I did some of the shavings and glue I used got stuck inside the system, and when I turned my water on, it all come out of the loop and entered my tank. I added water to my tank on Sunday to see if I had any leaks in my tank, and to see how it ran (everything was good, but I still ahd to order my sand and salt.) Its been 4 days since then and the water has been sitting stagnant in the tank, and the pvc shavings and glue bits are at the bottom of the tank. Is it ok for water to sit stagnant for this long, ( if you look closely there are a couple of pet hairs on the surface of the water) and could the PVC and glue shavings brought bad bacteria to the tank? I AM TOO freaking paranoid lol! I will run the system before I add the sand which I am getting tomarrow, to clean out the shavings. Where the main tank empties into the fuge, I will have a filter pad to collect the bits. If the water should not of been stagnant for 4 days, or the glue and shavings were not good, I can always empty the water (which would be a major pain.)

 

-- last question.... for a new tank, what (if any) addatives should I add? Dechlorinator, any trace elements, ect ,ect ,ect? ( I havnt looked into this corner of the hobby much, even though ive been researching for a few months. X)

[Shaz]

I jsut called my LFS store and they said they can get 4.4 gallon of purified RO water for 16.99. Is it jsut me or is that a rip considering I could go to the grocery store and get each gallon under a dollor? Do fish stores sell "special" RO water (is it different than buying it from a grocery store?

[Blind Tree Frog]

That does seem high since everywhere around me is $0.49 or so for a gallon of R/O water.

 

Course, if I set up my 75 gallon I'll probably do the first tank of Bottled water since it's 29 cents a gallon.

[Shaz]

I looked in the phonebook and found a place called Collingwood water. I will need 70 gallons of water (I figured I would need this much for my 50g and 29g fuge after I add the sand and rock.) They sell 5 gallons for 3 bucks ( .60 a gallon.) Even though I could save like 7 bucks at a grocery store, its worth getting it somewhere else, instead of wheeling 14, 5 gallon tubs around the store haha.

 

I might buy a RO unit later, but at this point id rather just go get the water and get the system going.

[Shaz]

People keep telling me to buy a RO unit, b/c it saves time and money. I just read an article saying that RO and RO/DI are different because the water purification facilities use RO/DI, (it involves a lot more steps and filtration than just RO, and the machines themselves are ALOT bigger.) Obviously RO water is better than tap, and works for a lot of people, but it seems RO/DI is more "pure."

[MrNano]

I went to my local Cub foods and the had ro/uv water for only 49 cents per gallon