# RO Water



## Steve1505 (Feb 24, 2015)

So I'm looking for some advice. 

with regards to RO Water, what would be a safe and acceptable TDS reading for a reef tank?

I ask because I got RO water from Big Als Scarborough and measured it at 7ppm from their system (apparently). and I had a jug of the seapora RO water which read 8ppm. 

there's a nimbus water fill station at the Canadian Tire on sheppard and its claimed to be 4ppm (haven't tested that statement yet)

so what are your thoughts ... and go lol


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

I think anything under 10 is acceptable. RO is around this mark. The DI is what lowers it to Zero TDS. IMO I would not worry.


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## Steve1505 (Feb 24, 2015)

TBemba said:


> I think anything under 10 is acceptable. RO is around this mark. The DI is what lowers it to Zero TDS. IMO I would not worry.


Thanks TBemba. that seems to be the norm from what I have read.

I'm not really worried. It's more i have read varying opinions but they seem to be outdated so I wanted current opinions. On top of that to get a 5 gallon jug at big als is $13 (new) $6 (refill), where as I can get 5 gallons at crappy tire for $3


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## bbgobie (Oct 13, 2016)

If this is the case, why bother with DI? It's not like you can run jugs of ro through a DI after.

My spectrapure shows 1-2 TDs after RO and 0 after DI

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

bbgobie said:


> If this is the case, why bother with DI? It's not like you can run jugs of ro through a DI after.
> 
> My spectrapure shows 1-2 TDs after RO and 0 after DI
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk


Indeed.~~~~~~~~


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## Steve1505 (Feb 24, 2015)

bbgobie said:


> If this is the case, why bother with DI? It's not like you can run jugs of ro through a DI after.
> 
> My spectrapure shows 1-2 TDs after RO and 0 after DI
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk


My intention was not run anything through a DI filter. It was to gain knowledge as to what would be acceptable in terms of TDS. How negative an impact will it have on coral colouration type of idea. would it make sense to use Prime in the RO water I purchase. I apologize I should have been more clear in the initial post, but my brain works in mysterious ways  too many hits to the head in hockey 

This is really only until I save enough to get a new RO/DI system when I finally buy a house in this wonderful housing market.


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## bbgobie (Oct 13, 2016)

You'd have to decide what works for you. Unless you have a small fish only or softie tank I wouldn't plan on buying any of the water you mentioned. Google when to change Di media, I think you'll find most people are changing their cartridges by the time TDs reads what these stores are selling you.

What works for person a might not work for person b. Tds is not a measure of harmful containment a or things like lead or copper. So one person can have a higher reading than someone else and probably still do ok. To me since rodi is such a cheap part of the hobbie I wouldn't bother with high TDs water, if minute amounts of say phosphate was getting through I'd rather change my cartridge than risk an algae battle.

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk


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## twobytwo (Oct 25, 2014)

I tend to wait until my TDS is above 1 to change my DI resin to get it back to 0. Change filter media about 6 months (RO membrane 2-3 years). I flush my RO membrane when I make a large amount of water 

If you're buying water, look into Distilled from grocery stores. It would essentially be the same as RODi in terms of TDS


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## amps (Feb 24, 2015)

I used RO water from 'The Water Store' for the first year of my nano. I definitely had issues with algae during that time. I think it really depends on what's getting through the filter. Ammonia and copper would be the two things I would really worry about. 

Maybe buy the water and test for specific things you typically worry about in a reef. Ammonia, Copper, Phosphate and Nitrates would be my choice. If it comes out clean then be happy. If not, switch brands.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Always gives me a smile to see a users name in grey...


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