Which water to use?

[Burrito1]

I have been getting RO water from the grocery store for water changes and everything checks out, everything is growing, havn't really had any problems except for diatoms on the sand. I read that I shouldn't use just RO water but the grocery store only sells RO water and Distilled, both seperately. Is it better to use Distilled or RO or mix the two?

 

[Anonymous]

RO is better for the tanks due to the way it is processed.

 

[Anonymous]

RO probably has a lower TDS number. Either way, RO is usually less than 25ppm and is fine for the tank. RO/DI processed water is even better, usually yielding 0-2ppm of TDS. You may want to look into picking yourself up an RO/DI unit. They can be found pretty cheap on ebay and other sites, and you'll end up saving yourself money in the long run not only on water for the tank, but you also wont have to buy any spring water again.

 

[filippo]

RO + DI.

RO alone - TDS reading 004
RO + DI - TDS reading 000, which is better

(It also all depends from where you like and from how good of a water your city has)

Getting a complete unit w/ DI isn't much more expensive than an RO alone. I would invest the money if I were you.

As a matter of fact, I just bought mine from thefilterguys.biz (Ocean +1). $260 total including shipping and other accessories - toally worth. Just figure that I spent about $50 a month for ro water alone (not anymore!)

Best,

 

[IslandCrow]

If you're not having any algae problems, the RO is probably just fine, but for the long term savings alone, I'd also suggest investing in a RO/DI unit of your own. RO and distilled are pretty much the same. There was some fear for awhile that distilled may contain copper, but there doesn't seem to be anyone still using copper tubing to distill any of the water you'll find in a grocerty store. As far as which one has the lowest TDS, it really depends on the source water as well as the purification process.

 

[Anonymous]

RO is fine.