Tap Water Purifier vs. RO/DI

[Anonymous]

Having problem with hair algae, have been researching the problem and am about to make the step I should have made during initial investment, the purchase of a good RO/DI unit.
Have not had any corraline grow yet,have stopped siphoning substrate,have ordered 12 red scarlets(to add to the 50 blue and 50 astrea have one spiny brittle and have a red serpent on order) Phos. is off the chart(coming down slowly) Nitrate is 1.2mg/l(removed 3/4 of biobale from wet/dry) have 50lbs+- lr in a 55 gallon.
Was told the tap water purifier was plenty for getting "great" water for the reef but now am in doubt after using it from the begining have had nothing but problems.(high phos,nitrates etc, I know nitrates are from the tank itself but if I'm feeding the problem.....) which after looking at alot of opinions on this and other boards keeps leading to the same thing. "START WITH PERFECT WATER" and you are less likely to have water problems down the road.(seems that if ONE molecule of phos. gets in the tank it multiplies like a room full of rabbits!)
So was wondering if anyone could give me some input on the Tap water pur. vs. a good RO/DI. Also have heard that home depot sells a good unit, but is it cheaper to get one made for the aquarium or would this one work just as good and is it cheaper. Any input is greatly accepted! Thanks again, Lee
Just tested my makeup water,mixed instant ocean in a 30 gallon tub, came up with .6mg/l of nitrates?!? Is this from the IO mix or is this from the tap water? If its from the tap it's kinda scary?!?(final product of decaying matter???)

[This message has been edited by roo (edited 28 December 1999).]

 

[Anonymous]

roo:
The Tapwater Purifier should be enough to take out 97%-98% of stuff out of your tap water. It's a stand alone DI unit. DI filters actually filter slightly better than RO filters; however, used as stand alone units they are highly affected by the hardness of your local water supply. This means that if the cartridge of the TWP is rated for 150 gal. of purified water, and your tap water is moderately hard, then you'll be lucky to get 50 gals. (this is from experience). This is why most most filter companies (in our hobby) like SpectraPure or Kent Marine will recommend an RO/DI filter. Meaning that the DI cartridge is the final stage in a multi-stage unit (post membrane). The pre-filters and the RO membrane take out most of the impurities then the DI resin will polish off anything that gets by the RO membrane. If you've been having problems with your TWP unit, check the hardness of your water. IMO RO/DI is the best way to go - add up the cost of how many TWP cartridges you've gone through, or will go through. The cost of RO/DI units have gone down. The RO units that are sold in Home Depots are just RO units without a DI cartridge. They will normally come with some set of pre-filters, but you can add a DI cartridge later. Someone posted on aqualink a week ago about someone auctioning off RO units for only $65, on e-bay.com. Sorry this is long, HTH.

 

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with riftek, the cost for the TWP (Tap Water Purifier) in the long run is to high if you even have slightly hard water verses an RO unit.

I'm not sure that the TWP is causing your problems though. You can simply test the water out of the TWP before you mix to checks it's quality. For the most part he water TWP puts out is good water.

Maybe you should tell us more about your setup (i.e., skimmer, filtration, circulation, feed habits, etc). Are you using an addatitives?

Wayne...

 

[Anonymous]

Hey guys thanks for the input, I ordered a RO/DI unit. It is the Kent HI-S max 60gpd. You are right about the twp cartridges! I have spent over 150.00 on them to date and have two on their way.
My setup is a 55g, with cpr sr-6 skimmer,cpr wet/dry and overflow,a ocean clear mech with an 18 watt uv, moving about 800-900 gallons through the wet/dry, uv and about 600 gallons through the skimmer. Additives:All kent
coralvite
strontium-molybdenum
essential elements
And feed my feathers and other various critters with microvert, directly to them with syringes.

 

[Anonymous]

Roo,

I think you'll like the Kent Hi-S RO/DI unit. I have one and love it. Just make sure you follow the instruction carefully. You initially need to run water through the system WITHOUT the DI section hooked up or else you'll use up most of the DI resin.

IMO your additives are causing most of your problems -- especially the Microvert! Kent makes good products, but I would stop using all of them except the strontium-Molybdenum. I would start dosing the tank with either Kalk or a two part solution like ESV's B-Ionic or C-Balance -- (maybe Iodine) nothing else. Your corals and feather dusters will be fine without all the extra additives. Here is some good reading:
http://www.connix.com/~reefkeep/21.htm http://www.connix.com/~reefkeep/17.htm http://www.connix.com/~reefkeep/FAQ.htm


Wayne...

 

[Anonymous]

There is an article on recharging TWPs. It seems kinda confusing but after you read it a few times it doesn't sound that hard. If you had a bunch of them it would be very feasible and cost effective to recharge them. If you have a bunch of them in line they will purify better than anything out there. It costs like a dollar to recharge one of them. In the long run that is very cheap.

 

[Anonymous]

Wayne, I had a problem with keeping cal. level up I would dose and dose but the cal. wouldn't move(stayed around 250-300 using Kalkwasser)Got some kent turbo-calcium and brought the level up to 500 then waited about a week and started dosing without testing first. Tested the following day and cal was at @525 mg/l. this was 3 weeks ago and the cal is still 525.(I have 3 kits to test cal. red sea calcium, red sea calcium pro and sea test, so I know the 525 is right.So I'm afraid to dose right now. Snails are showing that "new white edge" on their shell so I know they are using it.(alot of the snails are running around with the hair algae on them, looking like soldiers that stick camo. in their helmets(lol). Just took order of 12 red scarlets to add to the 50 blue legs and 50 astrea's They instantly started "nibbling" at the hair. I STILL HAVE NOT EVEN A TRACE OF CORRILINE!! Everything in the tank is thriving, even the hair algae(lol) but NO corriline!!Anyone want to try and field this? AAAHHHGGG!
anyway thanks!(sorry this is so long)

 

[Anonymous]

Hermits eat coralline algae.

Some more than others. Sorry cant remember which tho.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi again roo:
Got to agree with waynek about the additives probably causing your hair algae. I would go even farther than what waynek suggested and recommend that you stop dosing the strontium-molybdenum for a couple of weeks. However, you didn't say how many corals, nor what kind you've got. I didn't really need to use any additives until I stopped doing water changes and the number of corals exceeded 10. Now, the only trace elements additives I use is either Combi-san or Reef Plus by Seachem, as well as Tech-I iodine by Kent. For calcium, I use Aragomite powder (had coralline inside of 3 mos.). A friend of mine uses the B-Ionic product and loves it. I do dose Kalk for ph buffering, but do not depend on it for calcium supplementation. BTW, I've got a 180 with 3x400wt MH, 2x96wt PC blues, stocked with sps, lps, and softcorals, for the past couple of years. HTH