Is DIY tap water filter sufficient because i dont have R/O

[Lasse]

Second stage - active carbon -> if you do not want chloramines - its enough with active carbon filtrating or using ascorbic acid. But you can`t use a TDS meter in order to detect it.

Look at this curve - it is my analyzed values of zinc (brown) ans copper (blue) I started with RO after 18/03/21. To be quite honest - I can´t see any improvement after that date -its rather the same.

My tap water - around 90 ppm - my RO - around 3 ppm

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Sincerely Lasse

 

[jacksin]

I have a well and don't feel comfortable with the waste water produced with an RO system. I bring home city water in 5 gallon buckets, place a bucket up on a shelf and siphon the water thru a carbon block and two DI canisters. This produces 0 TDS water. It is a lot of work but for now it works.

 

[Lasse]

You would be the first one in the history of the hobby to make this work, and it’s more complicated. Xenia’s could probably live in urine so I would not be using that to measure anything. Consider what you would spend on corals to add to your setup, compare this with a RO system.. don’t write posts like this if you are already convinced that the successful majority is wrong. Hit us back in a month or so when your impending cyano and algae problem warrants a reset.

No - he is not the first one in history keeping a successful reef tank with good tap water - I have done it for many years in the past - and with me many others all around the world. RO water and DI water are good tools when it comes to tap water that is not as good as it is in my hometown or if the copper pipe system is too new.

I have also always wondering why those that say that you should not be in this hobby of animal health's reason if you can´t afford a RO/DI system ? Why do they stay there if it of animals health reasons?

Such a system do not take away all risk according to health issues - you also need to double/triple distillate it in order to be sure that you do not bring in any health issues into your livestock. Its not enough with a single distillate. I know - I once forget a glass bottle of distillate water in a window for a whole summer - and guess - the sides of the bottle was green (at the inside) after that summer.

The difference´s - please see here

And - I do not think that there is a direct and obligate link between RO/DI water and a successful algae free reef tank. If that´s was true - 90 % of the existing reef tanks would be outstanding and the need of this forum would be 0 %. It could be an useful tool among others (including individual skills) but still just a tool not needed in all situations. IMO - not even the most important tool in the kit

I have a well and don't feel comfortable with the waste water produced with an RO system. I bring home city water in 5 gallon buckets, place a bucket up on a shelf and siphon the water thru a carbon block and two DI canisters. This produces 0 TDS water. It is a lot of work but for now it works.

This is the question at many places in the world with limited water resources. For me living in rainy Gothenburg and with highly purified water that you can drink directly from the tap - its not a real problem with the waste but I will consider your method for the future. Just for moral/ethic reasons.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Nano10]

Could you keep hardy fish and the hardiest of corals in treated tap? Sure. Doesn't mean its optimal.

Theres so much crap in tap water that's not good for us let alone sensitive marine creatures. And besides that theres stuff in there that is good for us that you dont have in pure sea water. Or if it is it's in different proportions.

The whole point of rodi is to remove everything so you know you're starting with pure h2o and that when mixed with a quality salt you have saltwater with zero contaminants and as replicates natural sea water in composition.

 

[Lasse]

This become more and more interesting. Remove all things and put in a new qualitative salt. We are talking about trace elements that in some circumstances should be put into the salt mix at so low levels that an equal mix is impossible. For an example - zinc should be 4 micro gram/l -> 0.004 ppm. As average (it differ between different brands) 38 g/l will give you a salinity around 35 psu. It means that 0.000004 g of this should be pure zinc. for 10 liters - 380 g and 0.00004 g is zinc -> 100 liters = 3800 g (3,8 kg) and 0.0004 g zinc and so on. The result for zinc is that the manufacturer need to mix 0.105263 g to nearly 1 ton (1000000 g- 0.1052253 g) saltmix and mixed so well that every 10 kg bucket contains exactly 0.00105263 g zinc. And they have also to be sure that this 0.00105263 g of zinc is evenly mixed in a way that every 38 g taken from this mix contain 0.000004 g zinc. I congratulate that salt producer that can guarantee this without using liquid trace elements. According to this - I can mention that I did my WC changing between 1 of January 2018 and 10th of January 2018. The high zinc reading is from a sample I took around the 12:th of January. Either - my tap water have been high in zinc for 5 days or the salt I use was the contaminant. There had not been any detectable zinc levels a year before that - with one years of tap water top off (more than 10000 l that year).

According to copper - the needed amount to mix into 1 metric ton of salt is between 40 to 100 fold lower.

IMO - not evenly mixed qualitative salt mixes is many times more dangerous according to heavy metal poisoning than using tap water. And if you know what it is in your tap water or using DI filtration (note - only ion exchange) you will not have this problem with using tap water. This is one of the reasons why I do not do WC as a rule of routine.

In Sweden we use to say that " Ni silar mygg men sväljer kamelerna" (You strain mosquitoes but swallow the camels )

Sincerely Lasse

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[siggy]

Austin TX actually has decent tap water as far as tap goes.

I lived in Midland TX for a bit..Man the water was like 10w-30w , even the roaches wouldn't touch it

I put enough faith in large reputable salt mix manufacturers to get the rest of it correct, which so far they have

Curious on what salt you use....Might get something useful here

Thank goodness for that second stage of the RODI filter, amirite?

Now Im curious how many check their carbon blocks or water output for chlorine and ammonia. Honestly I haven't checked my new system. I did check my old system. I don't think much about it. I use these from brs

 

[Key-tie]

No - he is not the first one in history keeping a successful reef tank with good tap water - I have done it for many years in the past - and with me many others all around the world. RO water and DI water are good tools when it comes to tap water that is not as good as it is in my hometown or if the copper pipe system is too new.

I have also always wondering why those that say that you should not be in this hobby of animal health's reason if you can´t afford a RO/DI system ? Why do they stay there if it of animals health reasons?

Such a system do not take away all risk according to health issues - you also need to double/triple distillate it in order to be sure that you do not bring in any health issues into your livestock. Its not enough with a single distillate. I know - I once forget a glass bottle of distillate water in a window for a whole summer - and guess - the sides of the bottle was green (at the inside) after that summer.

The difference´s - please see here

And - I do not think that there is a direct and obligate link between RO/DI water and a successful algae free reef tank. If that´s was true - 90 % of the existing reef tanks would be outstanding and the need of this forum would be 0 %. It could be an useful tool among others (including individual skills) but still just a tool not needed in all situations. IMO - not even the most important tool in the kit



This is the question at many places in the world with limited water resources. For me living in rainy Gothenburg and with highly purified water that you can drink directly from the tap - its not a real problem with the waste but I will consider your method for the future. Just for moral/ethic reasons.

Sincerely Lasse

Thank you.
Great post.

 

[HunterW]

I never went out and got a reverse osmosis filtration setup. But I had old tanks lying around, so I built my own tap water filter, and would like to know from the experienced reefers if if they think it is sufficient. I basically took an old 10 gallon tank, put two HOB filters on that are each rated for a 20 gallon tank. One has activated charcoal and ammonia remover, the other has bone Char carbon to help remove fluoride, and I added a small UV sterilizer to the tank. I let it run constantly filled with tap water, and when I need water for my saltwater reef tank, I just scoop out of gallon and basically dump it into the saltwater tank. I get constant filtration of the tap water multiple times a day in the entire 10 gallon "tap" tank, and the UV sterilization also. Is this equal to reverse osmosis or at least close enough that the tap water I'm getting out of my 10 gallon tank filter is good enough to go straight into my saltwater aquarium?

In my area, and actually in the part of the state where I tended the fish depts at one time the local water although purified for potable drinking water was heck on fish, due to circumstances going on which caused the water dept to up the ante on chemicals back in the day. If you get a local water report in your area ( its usually free online these days) it is eye opening... I guarantee you would NOT even think about doing this...or I hope not..even today. Some DIY'S are not worth it and very detrimental to all livestock, and quickly!
I use a Berke system msrp $600 which does the job and is an RO/DI, more expensive than some actually s the filters pull dissolved chems I cant even pronounce... but still getting an independant RO/DI for my tanks shortly just because I can turn over more water per the amount of tanks I now have and am going to be setting up.
Wait til you can acquire either or get your water from a LFS vs. using tap water PERIOD.
Hang in there & happy reefing!

 

[HunterW]

Thank you.
Great post.

You always give balanced responses. I did use tap back in 73 when I started out in N.Y. Used the usual declorinator drops, but then also would get LFS saltwater. N.Y. had great water. But here in the state I live in..nah. I dont like the drinking water here either...hence my Berke

 

[naterealbig]

Now Im curious how many check their carbon blocks or water output for chlorine and ammonia. Honestly I haven't checked my new system. I did check my old system. I don't think much about it. I use these from brs

Chloramine has been shown to have a severe negative impact to marine organisms down to 50 ppb.... For this reason (combined with my municipal water supply report which states they test ~ 3 ppm chloramines regularly) I run 4 stages of carbon, rotate the blocks frequently, and test for chloramines in my tap weekly using my Hanna ULR chloramines checker.

If you know what's in your tap water, and are versed in water filtration, fine. WWC does it and they are obviously successful. If you don't know, your gambling - there's no way around it. For some that's ok, and others it's not.

 

[Lasse]

If you fill up jugs with tap water a very small amount of ascorbic acid is enough to get rid of the chloramines. You will get low amounts of NH4 but it normally so small amounts that it not matter and could be aerated out as NH3 if the pH is over 8

Sincerely Lasse

 

[EMeyer]

I have a well and don't feel comfortable with the waste water produced with an RO system. I bring home city water in 5 gallon buckets, place a bucket up on a shelf and siphon the water thru a carbon block and two DI canisters. This produces 0 TDS water. It is a lot of work but for now it works.

I'm on a well too but I'm curious why you feel that way about waste water. I can understand it in the city, but my RODI waste goes right back into the ground. Given a long enough time, it re enters a local aquifer. The way I see it, its zero wasted water -- I'm just recycling it.

In the city it would be wasted -- straight down the drain where it would have to be treated again. Out here I see zero waste, aside from the electricity to pump the water. Then again, I'm in Oregon where we don't run out of water very often. If you're in a dry part of the country I could imagine worrying about draining your well.

 

[Key-tie]

I have mentioned many times in this thread i am not a saltwater reef "rookie" by any means.

 

[Key-tie]

Unfortunately, my work and having to travel made it tough to impossible to set up and care for reef tanks for a long time in my life.
But I am older now, and I am in the area where I anticipate being for a very long time. So now I can get back into it all over again. I found a lfs while I was shopping in my new area that is phenomenal, and specializes in saltwater only. After walking around in there for a half an hour I had to restart my tanks all over again.
So basically...my LFS "Something Fishy"...restarted my passion for tanks again.
And of course with Google, you can research virtually anything if you dig deep enough.

 

[Key-tie]

My LFS has literally 2 full aisles of corals and frags going at any given time.
I was immediately hooked again...lol.

 

[Lasse]

It is not a question of thin skin - it is a question of showing respect for other people and their experiences. If you read the whole thread - it will be clear that the OP have a long experience of aquariums and so on. He has only another point of view that you have and so do I. The thread was about his solution of the chose not to have a RO/DI unit and the thread was fast changed to - if you do not use RO/DI and zero in TDS - it will be algae, up build of toxic substances and all of the ancient Egypt's ten plagues too.

He state - I have no RO/DI and is this enough in order to compensate for this. The answer he get from a lot of people was - your doomed, you should not be in the hobby if you can´t afford a RO/DI and you should study more if you want to get into this hobby.

I have been in the aquarium hobby since 1973, have a lower academic degree in fishery management, Have been a professional worker with fish, water, waste water, fish farming, public aquarium and much more connected to water since 1986. Have worked with salt water since 2001. I have the same opinion as the OP - RO is not always needed - it depends on the quality of the tap water. In one of my jobs - I managed an RO unit that produce 50 000 l a day.

Should I also do some research

before jumping into the hobby.

?

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Reesj]

I was hoping not to post here anymore although just thought of posting one more about all talking of algae.

Get a diy Algae Scrubber like me. I'm 4 months in full on tap water and only had small diatom stage only. No other algae except starting stage Coraline algae now.
I also have a thriving Goniopora colony which people here said only possible due to great water quality.(I'm on complete opposite end on this thinking though)

 

[Key-tie]

I was hoping not to post here anymore although just thought of posting one more about all talking of algae.

Get a diy Algae Scrubber like me. I'm 4 months in full on tap water and only had small diatom stage only. No other algae except starting stage Coraline algae now.

Very nice !
And it gets done what you need it to do.
Thats how you do it...

 

[Key-tie]

It is not a question of thin skin - it is a question of showing respect for other people and their experiences. If you read the whole thread - it will be clear that the OP have a long experience of aquariums and so on. He has only another point of view that you have and so do I. The thread was about his solution of the chose not to have a RO/DI unit and the thread was fast changed to - if you do not use RO/DI and zero in TDS - it will be algae, up build of toxic substances and all of the ancient Egypt's ten plagues too.

He state - I have no RO/DI and is this enough in order to compensate for this. The answer he get from a lot of people was - your doomed, you should not be in the hobby if you can´t afford a RO/DI and you should study more if you want to get into this hobby.

I have been in the aquarium hobby since 1973, have a lower academic degree in fishery management, Have been a professional worker with fish, water, waste water, fish farming, public aquarium and much more connected to water since 1986. Have worked with salt water since 2001. I have the same opinion as the OP - RO is not always needed - it depends on the quality of the tap water. In one of my jobs - I managed an RO unit that produce 50 000 l a day.

Should I also do some research
?

Sincerely Lasse

All of Egypts 10 plagues...
That made me chuckle...thanks.

 

[Awesome Dennis]

the OP posted a question, with what seems like a decision already made up in their mind. He has no actual data on his current untreated or “treated” water and seems to have no plan on doing so and just letting things ride.
To the OP either do what your going to do and let us know how it goes or get your water tested and post the results otherwise no one can answer your question.
Stop dragging people into a discussion and asking a “question” with no facts and repeating that you were into the hobby 20 years ago doesn’t make you a pro now try taking some of the advice given to you.