Disapointed with a LFS

[Avalanche Wolf]

When we moved to TN from CA i lost my Ro/Di unit so I had bought 4 - 5g water jugs and been paying to have them filled the last month at a LFS which I will keep their name under the hat until I verify the readings.

I bought a TDS meter and keep meaning to test the water I had been getting from the LFS but keep forgetting to do so.

Well my algae problem did not go away and tonight I remembered to test the water. I bought this water 2 days ago from the LFS close to me and was very upset with the readings.

I have verified so far with the meter a few reading but I want to get a sample of pure RO/DI to really make sure but the water from the store was 191 TDS !

SO here I am thinking I am getting premium water that I am paying 0.75 cents a gallon and it turns out the water is only 20tds less than what I am getting out of my un filtered tap.


A lesson for those buying water from a Local store for their tanks , TEST IT !!!!

[reefnetworth]

Current Tanks: 215 Gallons total?
at $0.75 a gallon for a minimum water change of 10% weekly, you could buy a nice RO/DI for what you are spending in drive time and on the water from the LFS and have great water everytime.
JMO...

[Avalanche Wolf]

Testing params
All testing done in the same dry shot glass ( nothing but the best :P )
I did wear gloves since i didnt want anything intefering with it.
All water samples were tested 2 times at 30 seconds each.
All tests done witha Intellitec meter.

Testing I have done so far :

Hose tap water - 191ppm

kitchen tap 215ppm

pur kit on kitchen faucet 132 ppm

fridge filter tap 79ppm

arrow head bottle water 16ppm

LFS water Bottle #1 160ppm
LFS water Bottle #2 161ppm

[gsusfreak]

are the containers you're refilling, the same containers that you use to do what changes?......that might be a reason why you wont get a '0' reading....thats what mine does, usually reads around 20 ppm once the jug fills.....probably from the salt for the waterchanges........HOWEVER, it shouldnt get to 191!!!....so if i were you, i wouldnt be going to get what from that LFS ever again.....thats bull......you should really consider getting your own RODI again......you have 4 tanks, and it'll pay for itself quickly

[NeveSSL]

An RO/DI would pay for itself very quickly... shoot... I'll sell you water GUARANTEED to be 0 TDS for $0.30 a gallon!

Brandon

[coral_reefer_25]

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Reef-6st-100...QQcmdZViewItem

[rsteagall]

Huh... is everyone missing the point here? The subject is "Disapointed with a LFS". I'm sure Avalanche Wolf knows how much RO/DI units are and where to get them since he's owned one before.

If they are selling RO/DI water, you should definitely be getting a reading of close to 0 TDS with your meter. Definitely your meter isn't broken if you're getting those readings from the tap. Did you wash your containers out in any way before having them filled? Is there any way they could have got contaminated?

With that said... I'd be perturbed over this for damn sure. I wish my TDS meter wasn't "in-line" or I'd go around and test the LFS's myself. Is there anyone else that can test/expose this for us? Maybe their RO unit is busted and DI resin nearly spent?

[Fanof49ASU]

I buy my rodi water at the WalMart (grocery store) at Nippers Corner from a Culligans display.
I forget the exact numbers, but it was very good.

And yes, the lfs should be aware of how bad their water is. Maybe they don't realize it? I'm sure they wouldn't intentionally sell bad water. Maybe their tds tester is bad.

I would tell them asap, and see what their response is. I'd be tempted to wait a week or so, and buy a gallon of water and test it again.....to see if they addressed the problem.

[waynesworld]

you may want to ask the LFS before you jump to any conclusion as they may run the rodi water through something else after the rodi and that is adding something in the water that is not bad for the tanks. I know if I rung carbon after the rodi I will get a reading on the tds. But if they say it is suppose to be 0 and it is not I would say you may want to say something to them and also post the name as others may be having the same problem.

[rsteagall]

I wouldn't think the LFS would do any "post processing" of the RO/DI water, but I guess it would be good to double check More likely, I'd be willing to bet they simply don't test their system as often as they should and either their RO membrane is busted and/or their DI resin is spent.

Either way, I think they would be happy for you to let them know. I don't think we have any LFS's in the area that are purposefully out to get you. Most people have great experiences at all of them.

Without hijacking the thread, Wayne why would you run carbon after the RO/DI? Just very curious about this one.

[Freed]

Sounds to me like they run the water thru their own dirt filters before they sell it to you. I'd have a face off with them on it. But that's just me.

[waynesworld]

Some people do I am not sure why that would be more of a Chris Question the one for me I know I have seen some of the larger systems with carbon and other things after the rodi. I do not and I use the cheep RODI from e-bay.

[rsteagall]

Yes, I was pretty fond of dealing with Russ at http://www.buckeyefieldsupply.com/ My autoshutoff had a recall on it and without me notifying him of an issue, I had one in the mail one day with a letter explaining what happened. Good guy.

Wayne, I thought you were doing something else besides RO/DI? What was it and did it fall through? KatiAniDI?

[Lint_Licker]

I worked at at LFS that used a 300g plastic tub for their reservoir water to sell. It was high up in the QT room, and full of sediments from the air(dust..)

[aquaman67]

I know for a fact that a LFS (no longer in business) was selling water from a water softener as RO/DI water. The TDS was actually higher than the tap water going into the softener.

[Avalanche Wolf]

Like I said I didnt want to say anything before I got a reading from a members Ro/Di unit. I have a member that lives very close to me with a brand new ro.di unit that has a inline tds meter reading 0 so that will show me if this meter is acturate or not.

But until I figure this out I would suggest those that get there water in Franklin use caution.

I dont want this to turn into a flame thread against LFS and as some said it could mearly be that the filters need to be changed or the holding tanks cleaned.

After I test the water from the RO/DI unit I will be contacting the LFS in question for a refund/store credit.

And yes no more water from the store for me , saving now for a ro/DI unit before anythign else.

[NeveSSL]

I very seriously doubt any of our stores would do it intentionally. Just talk to the owner... he was very nice at our meeting and I have no doubt he's not aware of it. He may be glad to hear as it could be causing him problems, anyway!

As far as RO/DI units, I highly recommend Air Water Ice, simply because they're a big sponsor of the Frag Swap and it only seems fair to me. Plus, a lot of us have AWI units which means we can group order filters.

Brandon

[crumbletop]

The units that have a carbon stage as the last stage use it for "taste". The carbon adds stuff back to the water that make it taste better. In other words, it is for drinking water. For a reef, you don't want it running through any filters after the DI stage(s). You want the water as pure as can be

[rustrocker]

My understanding is that the filter system used by the LFS in question here is actually an older system, with limited service techs available... the closest one being in Atlanta.. the story I got from an ex-employee is that it's supposed to be serviced monthly but due to the cost, it's serviced about every 3 months if that...

I started using tap water instead of their water and all my algae problems were solved. Go figure.

[wooglin]

I have heard the same thing that the system needs to be maintained on a regular basis, and possibly may no be. For what its worth, the salt in the water is worth abotu 20-30 cents per gallon, so part of the .75 cents is covering that, plus you are avoiding the hassle of mixing the saltwater, seting for salinity, etc. For people that dont keep reef tanks I can see where it could be worth it.

For those with Reef tanks I would avoid that water, and buy a RO/DI unit. I buy a new RO/DI every two years off EBAY for 90 bucks. I dont even bother to change out the filters, etc. I just replace the DI resin until the unit wont keep water at zero TDS then I buy another 90 dollar unit on EBAY. I am on my second 90 dollar six stage ebay unit, you really cant beat the cost, and there is almost no maintanence involved.

PS- I am talking about EBAY.COM not emerald bay

[Avalanche Wolf]

the .75 cents is not salt water it is fresh water . their salt prices are higher

[skirossi]

Originally posted by Avalanche Wolf
the .75 cents is not salt water it is fresh water . their salt prices are higher

Have you tried the local grocery store or walmart? My local walmart sells the water out of their Culligan RO machine for $0.33/gal. I don't have a TDS meter though.