walmart water ok?

[adshuraj777]

I'm getting blooms out the wazoo, I've been topping off with tap sincce I stopped buying water from AC...
someone told me about the water at walmart stores form the dispenser machine, is this cool.

I'm about to buy an RODI, so if any of you have one to sell let me know, I need to top off bad...

[fishdoc11]

You can use distilled water if you need to. I don't know about Wal Mart water but I would guess it is better than tap water. I would also think the H2O from AC is better than tap water and you also might go buy some tap water from Sean lol! Wooglin got his RO/DI off of Ebay (the online auction site) for $90. That's the best price I've seen by far. I got mine for $175 and most online places sell it for about $225.
Chris

[SRA4031]

I read recently not to use distilled water. Distilled water has no carbonate hardness (KH), and will cause the pH to change significantly stessing the fish. Is this true.

I have been using distilled water, and it has been a chore to keep the pH about 8.1. I thought this was because my tank is one month old until I read this.

[reewik]

I have some buffer you can have Jason. Just remind me.

[A. Critter Killer]

Yep, you can get a new R/0 off e-bay for about $60-90. That's really the way to go if you are going to go with filtered water. Just make sure to re-add the recliam chemestry. As everyone already knows, I like declorinated tap water. 8.2 pH, ~0 PO4, 0 NO2, 0 NO3, 0 NH3, 105 p.p.m. T.D.S., and I have pretty new plumbing, so I don't have to worry so much about local contaminants. I know people who use the 5 gal. jugs from Sam's Club, and it works well for them, but can get expensive. Also Adam, you might want to try a phosphate pillow for now. ----Sean

[Sir Knight]

One of the biggest problems with buying Distilled water is you don't know how it was distilled. Some of the distillers use copper tubing in their process. This will be a killer in a reef tank. I always recommend RO/DI or just DI systems. I wouldn't consider using tap water in a reef tank. But keep in mind when I say this I won't even drink tap water after reading the water reports. Also do a search here on RC about using tap water vs RO/DI and you will see what I mean. We add a lot of metals with our salts and it does accumulate in our tanks we don't need to add more from our source water.

Lets look at it another way we spend 1000's of dollars on tanks, lighting, super skimmers, additives, our live stock, etc. So the price of an RO/DI is cheap compared to the other items .

Last Comment: I will be moving to Hendersonville in May so I will be looking forward to meeting all of you. I will not have a reef tank at this time because we will be renting until my house sells here in Maryville. Then we will be buying a Townhouse. I think I will be getting a 90 gallon tank and get one of my favorite fish. (Golden Puffer). this will be my pet dog. If you guys haven't had the opportunity to own one, believe me, they are just like dogs expect you don't have to follow them around and clean up after them or walk them.

[fishdoc11]

Welcome to neighborhood Joe! You will be a valuable asset to our reefing community. I have allready apreciated your input on our forum and look forward to meeting you someday.
thanks, Chris

[fishdoc11]

Oh, almost forgot to say I guess I was wrong about distilled water. I used it a couple of times a long time ago in a pinch and never had any trouble. I did not realize copper could be involved but that makes sense. I also agree when you think about the risks and also just thinking about how much effort and money some people spend trying to get rid of algae it's more than worth it to buy an RO/DI.
Chris
Chris