RO/DI necessary?

[tontra]

I am in the planning stages of putting together a 90 gallon reef tank and was planning to fill the tank using tap water. Is this ok if I plan to top off and change water with RO/DI water purchased at the fish store? I just dont want to transport 90 gallons of water. Makes sense right?

[steri]

I would not use tap water to fill my tank. Distilled water or RODi is much much better for your tank, even with the initial set up. Check your LPS. Mine sells RODI water for .36/gal. It stunk to haul that much water around, but I'd rather that then take a chance using tap water when you don't know everything that's in it (mineral and chemical wise).

[RoTTen2TheCore]

Im no expert, but i have had my system running for 7 months now and i would say sounds like a good idea to me. I have never used RODI water and only use tap and ive never had a problem xept for a few algea blooms here and there but they all went away and were probably mostly cause my tank was new. I suggest test out ur tap water and see coper, phosphate etc cause different places have different water and go from there

[AZDesertRat]

Water is the single largest ingredient in your system and everything in it depends on the water and its quality. Never use tap water. Did I mention never use tap water? The key to RO/DI is it is consistent, its the same each and every time you use it providing you maintain the filters.
Rotten, you are you are sitting on a ticking time bomb. Do you know what is in your tap water today, or tomorrow or next week? What happens if a storm comes up and the treatment plant changes chemicals to treat it? Or if they start adding orthophosphates to control corrosion? You have no control over what they do and they do not have to tell consumers of day to day changes. Tap water is not a good idea! I'm an EPA and State Certified treatment plant operator by profession and I drink it but I won't put it in my multi thousand dollar reef system. Its not worth the risk to save a few bucks.

[LarryW]

you can get a decent RODI unit for under 300bux.

[Larry Waughon]

I would use RODI water and nothing else.

[tontra]

Thanks guys for all the help. Will an RO system suffice or is it best to go for the RO/DI setup?

[AZDesertRat]

RO only does 90 to 98% of the work, your really need the DI to polish off what it misses.

[Paintbug]

Originally posted by AZDesertRat
Water is the single largest ingredient in your system and everything in it depends on the water and its quality. Never use tap water. Did I mention never use tap water? The key to RO/DI is it is consistent, its the same each and every time you use it providing you maintain the filters.
Rotten, you are you are sitting on a ticking time bomb. Do you know what is in your tap water today, or tomorrow or next week? What happens if a storm comes up and the treatment plant changes chemicals to treat it? Or if they start adding orthophosphates to control corrosion? You have no control over what they do and they do not have to tell consumers of day to day changes. Tap water is not a good idea! I'm an EPA and State Certified treatment plant operator by profession and I drink it but I won't put it in my multi thousand dollar reef system. Its not worth the risk to save a few bucks.

well put!!! same goes for well water. you never know what might be in there, or what might leech into the water supply down the road.