Ro/rodi

[torpedo101]

ws going to get a system and wondering what the TDS is in Rutherford County in tap water ..if its over 250 thinking about reverse osmosis..membrane ..I need to refill tank and hate lugging bottled stuff..being as I have a smaller tank do I really need the bigger system..please help this newbie..thanks mary

[torpedo101]

Hey called water plant and they said it was running 250 ..tds ..so now is that high?

[crumbletop]

I'm a believer in good water for the tank. You can get a decent RO/DI like the typhoon from air water ice for ~$139 (http://tinyurl.com/ym8wba). It is worth it to get a decent system -- Angela can tell you her experience with a cheaper ebay model -- which I believe has been more headache and cost over time because it eats up her DI resin, and had reduced output over time. If you get a typhoon, get the 75 gpd membrane. It is more efficient than the 100 gpd and will cost you less over time. The float valve it comes with will allow you to fill up a container of water unattended and not overflow water (something Angela can also tell you about ;))

RE 250 TDS, yes that is high. You don't want that water in your tank. The post RO TDS with the typhoon should be around 5, and the TDS after the DI stage should be 0.

[Pickupman66]

Well, TDS at 250 is considered pretty darn high. I have consolidated water in Rutherford CNTY and mine hist in the 160-190 range. I would recomend going for the full ro/di system. this will take it to ZERO! I bought mine form Buckeyefieldsupply dot com. they have a great range of units. Going with one that will do 100 gallons per day will enable you to get your water faster, but it is not as efficeint in removing the bad stuff, the 75 is slower, but it will take more out at once. I have a 75 with a Di and my tds is at zero now. have had the unit for over a year now and have not had to replace menbrane of di resin. if you get system, get one that has the color changing Di resin and a dual inline tds meter. I prefer the Premier series as the clear chanbers make it wasy to see when to change your micron filter.

buckeyefieldsupply.com

[DMBillies]

I got an air water ice unit and have been happy with it. Regardless of what company you decide to go with (air water ice and buckeye field supply are probably the two most common/reputable), I have to agree with pickupman on the color changing DI and particularly the dual inline TDS meter. That will allow you to VERY easily see how your RO membrane is performing and then to know that the DI is pulling what your RO misses (and to have a good idea of when to change things so you don't go unnecessarily wasting money).

An RO/DI is probably the single best reef purchase I've made in terms of money, sanity, and time saved.

[KAiNE]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10295866#post10295866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by torpedo101
Hey called water plant and they said it was running 250 ..tds ..so now is that high?

I'd think of the source on that....

I'm about a quarter of a mile from the water plant and my TDS on a GOOD day is 250. I have seen 300-400 at times.

When they screwed up a few years ago and added that chemical without flushing (cant remember the name but it was some sort of oxidizer) it turned all my RO/DI lines pink, even after the RO/DI.

Where in Rutherford County are you? I know in the boro, they have better water then we do in northern rutherford. Getting water from priest, what can you expect.

[Pickupman66]

I think all of the boro, Lavergne, and smyrna get their water from Priest. The boro water intake is way back up the east fork of the stones river. I think Lavergne's is near HOng Kong island in the middle area of the lake. I am not sure about Smyrna.

[rcmike]

Your probably thinking of potassium permanganate Kaine. Nasty stuff and if I remember correctly they were telling people not to worry about it. When I was on city water it ran around 180-200 here. Finally got around to drilling myself a well and the TDS is about the same. I'll much rather take what's in the well over the chemicals in the city water.

[KAiNE]

Yup. potassium permanganate.... there was even a thread in Randy's forum, someone wanting to use it like ozone. Weird how it passed my RO/DI too.

Yea, upstream stones river isnt too bad. I will also say I havent checked my incoming in a while so it could have changed. I hear there is a new boss at the plant.


All I can say is an RO/Di is a must. I can get mine to 0 tds.

[torpedo101]

Hey guys went to walmart todday to get some ro.di money together.I live across from smyrna aiport so it s coming from smyrna plant which is yes priest..related..it s not neear as hard as water in florida though.. which is a good thing..but will get a tds and check walmarts beforee next water chng. that is the number one helpful thing when settin up a new tank..results are good..thanks happy reefin

[torpedo101]

I got some distilled water at wallmart..anyone tested it..

[rcmike]

I'd definately test to see if it has copper in it. I think sometimes they store it in copper vats or something.

[torpedo101]

It looks like it might I used an old test kit i had for hot tubs .. is cooper bad or tolerable>.? but will get a better test ... seems can t win need to get a ro..di unit ...:)

[rcmike]

Copper is very, very bad for any kind of invertibrate.

[DMBillies]

Copper.... VERY VERY bad... as a noob in my old apartment I found that out the hard way. The tap water had very small traces. For the first month or so of having our tank we noticed that our snails were all dropping dead after a week. Someone said it might be copper so I got a kit. My tank water tested 0, so I didn't think anything of it. After a couple of days I decided to test my source water and it had a minute trace. Every week I was doing a water change I was adding a very small amount of copper in and then my charcoal was pulling it back out (thus the 0 tank reading). I came over from freshwater, had always just used our tap water and treated with a dechlorinator, so I didn't realize how disastrous copper could be... that was all before I found this wonderful place.

Now for walmart water. I did use that stuff for quite a few months after I found out about the copper problem and had ok results (the water I got did not contain copper). That said, I eventually tested the TDS of the water and came up with around 50 TDS. What worries me about using the water (more than the fact that their high capacity system is probably not pulling as much as a lower capacity unit would) is that you never know when they changed the filters last, how they store the water, etc. At home, you're more likely to get consistency and you'll know the service schedule of the filters.

Besides, the time you'll save by not having to go to walmart, the back you'll save by not having to lug all that water, and the money you'll save (a home unit is pretty cheap to run once you make the initial investment to buy the filter) will make it more than worth it in just a couple of months. If it will help justify the cost, get a unit that will allow you to pull RO water out of the unit for drinking water... then you'll never need bottled water or a Brita pitcher ever again. Just my $.02... all the cool kids are doing it :)

[crumbletop]

It will be good to test the distilled water for copper, but as far as I know (which isn't a whole lot) the water distillers used to use copper pipes but no longer do. My bet is there isn't any copper in the water. Copper is way bad for inverts, though, so it is worth it to test.

Brian is right about the benefits of RO/DI, though, and having your own is very convenient.