store bought water

[drey]

Is it possible to use purified drinking water instead of buying water at your LFS. I am pretty sure that distilled water is not the best neither is spring water. But have heard that purified drinking may be OK. It would make life so easy for a 5 gal Corner Eclipse nano reef tank.

Any thoughts? :gcool

 

[reefman23]

If the water is filtered using reverse osmosis, it should be fine. Note that if machines like the ones in front of grocery stores and water stores are not properly maintained, the water may still have phosphates and other stuff in it that arent good for your tank. Your best bet is RO/DI water...reverse osmosis deionized water.

Welcome to nano tank!

Jesse

 

[drey]

Shame on me to think that Walmart reps would take care of the water machines. Oops! Better safe than sorry..I will stick to my LFS.

Thanks for the welcome.

 

[leakyfaucet]

I've bought and used deionized (distilled) water before and it's pretty good. I bought like 20 gallons when they were on sale at safeway. The lady looked at me weird haha

 

[EDGRAY]

You should stick with the LFS water cause you never know about water ... we humans tend to be ok with anything cause of our inmune system but fishies mmm dont risk it let thing for fish be for fish and human stuff for human.... :lol: :lol: god had spoken :lol: :lol:

eddy :cool1:

 

[skipm]

The use of distilled water is fine but RO/DI water is better.

 

[Semo]

I'm still quite new, but I would like to add advice on testing water from your LFS. We have a booming lfs here..with sky high prices and lots of very knowledgable staff. Beautiful tanks as well.

When I started my tank, I was buying ro and premix saltwater from them. That was the only source I had used for any water. I started getting diatom blooms big time and checked for slicate...well...go figure...the fresh batch of premix saltwater had 3 ppm of silicate. No..good, well according to the guys on here..

I have no input about the distilled water but you should check anywater you buy for any unwanted suprises..

 

[islandcreation]

I just bought water from a Ralph's going out of business. They were "Alhambra" crystal-fresh which states on the label RO filteration. I had to search through all of the waters and make sure it stated that. ha,ha,ha Hope this helps

 

[sadielynn]

we use bottle distilled water here from walmart 60 cents a gallon
our LFS charges an arm and a leg for RO/DI :mrgreen:

 

[EDGRAY]

REALLY sadye my RO/DI is only 25 cents/galllon and saltwater 35 cents/gallon... is amazing how the prices may vary from place to place... but the one for walmart is $1...

eddy :cool1:

 

[reefman23]

Sometimes the bottled waters may well be RO water, however some companies and minerals and such back into the water "for taste"...like arrowhead for instance.

 

[NemoNano]

I use filtered tap water for my FOWLR tank. Never had any problems.

I was thinking of using Supperstore RO/DI water for my reef it is easyer to pick it up there then at the LFS. I always seem to buy something more then water when I got to the LFS. :mrgreen:

Eric

 

[EDGRAY]

I always seem to buy something more then water when I got to the LFS. :mrgreen:

Eric

:lol3: :lol: i know that feeling :lol: :lol:.... Brain at LFS --> have to but something.... :lol3:

eddy :cool1:

 

[nautilus]

I use Clear blue Pacific Ocean water I get hammered by the waves sometimes. My Top off water is from the grocery store machine. Never had any problems with the grocery store water machine. I dont think the lfs does a better job with maintaining the Ro systems than a grocery store. Grocery store has more regulations to comply with since it is sold for human consumption. I think many ppl have gone a little overboard with water prefernces. I hear about ppl rinsing everything that will come in contact with the aquarium in DI water . Its sillly IMO

 

[drty811]

RO/DI .49 gallon, RO .39gallon...........i absolutly agree with the statement about the LFS not maintaining there filters.....i ran into algae problems and switched LFS's and havent had a problem since.

 

[NemoNano]

I just went to the grocery store and there water machine is a culligan. They have a sheet to make sure someone checks each and and signs off. The water is RO/DI and the use a UV light.:mrgreen: Seems like good water I think I will be getting it from there next time.

Eric

 

[drey]

It seems like this has sparked quite a debate. I am not ready yet to purchase my own RO/DI system. Too expensive and I hear you waste alot of gallons just to make a few. Tap water for me is out of the question. Some of you make a good point of not blindly trusting your LFS because even they might not always replace filters. I guess trust then verify from LFS.

 

[KidNano]

Please forgive me for bringing back such an old thread however I have a quick question. My LFS "ran out of fresh water". What ever. Anyway I'm in dier need for a top off so my only option is store bought. Somewhere up there Jesse mentioned that you need to be careful because even if the bottle says RO water they sometimes add minerals back in for taste. Well I got some Nestle "Pure Life" water that is just that. They added Calcium Chloride, Sodium Bicarbonate and Magnesium Sulfate. Now please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't all three of these things that we want in our reef tanks? Calcium, sodium and Magnesium. I'm not so good with Chemistry so maybe there are different kinds.

the water TDS for this water
http://www.nestle-purelife.us/about/NPL_BWQR_091205.pdf

Thanks.

 

[Element]

nobody? I'm curious about this as well...

 

[SaltWaterNewb]

Please forgive me for bringing back such an old thread however I have a quick question. My LFS "ran out of fresh water". What ever. Anyway I'm in dier need for a top off so my only option is store bought. Somewhere up there Jesse mentioned that you need to be careful because even if the bottle says RO water they sometimes add minerals back in for taste. Well I got some Nestle "Pure Life" water that is just that. They added Calcium Chloride, Sodium Bicarbonate and Magnesium Sulfate. Now please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't all three of these things that we want in our reef tanks? Calcium, sodium and Magnesium. I'm not so good with Chemistry so maybe there are different kinds.

the water TDS for this water
http://www.nestle-purelife.us/about/NPL_BWQR_091205.pdf

Thanks.

This is old but nobody answered so I am going to bring it back from the dead. I am thinking about either a 10 or 20 gallon setup and even though my own filter system might be cheaper in the long run I just don't feel like maintaining it and the initial costs and blah blah blah. I have not checked with my LFS yet to see if they sell water but I would still like to see about viable store bought options as well. After the initial tank fills and cycling it would be so much easier to just keep several gallons on hand for top offs and water changes rather than having to make my own plus the fact my closest LFS is 40 minutes away but the grocery store is only 5.