Ajmal C
Member
Hey CR,
a heads up to all the reefers who never purchased an RO/DI unit and still lug buckets from their respective LFS's.
A few months back I noticed my corals were not fully extending their polyps like they used to, mostly zoas. After a few days of pondering and measuring parameters, I was still baffled, everything was where it was supposed to be. The only thing left was the freshwater reservoir I used for topping off. I didn't have a TDS meter so I took a sample to the LFS where it was purchased and had mine measured, a whopping 160 ppm!!. They measured theirs and it was equally astonishing at 170 ppm.
After the Reefwise Holiday party I was lucky enough to win a TDS meter and went on a 2 week long investigation spree to a few different LFS's. Attained several values from 40 ppm on up!.
I decided to stick with Distilled water from the grocery store which read 0 ppm., at a $1-$1.40/ gallon it wasn't too bad but wasn't great either.
Yesterday I, went to purchase some more distilled water and happened upon a water dispensary machine, at a Marianos, read that it was 39 cents per gallon if you bring your own container. I called the 1-800 no. and the polite lady told me they filter the water via Reverse Osmosis. Bought some water, came home and measured TDS at 3 ppm. I know that its not the desired zero value, proly due to the fact that they don't have the final De-ionization process, but it's good enough for me especially at 39cents/ gallon.
I know it's is a gazillion times cheaper and safer bet to just own an RO/DI machine but for those of us who don't I believe this is a great alternative. I am sure lots of supermarkets have such water dispensaries. Wish I would have encountered this earlier.
So be cautious of what kind of 'distilled' water you are lugging back from your LFS, not all are vigilant with membrane or cartridge changes. Companies that specialize in purified water have to be vigilant in their testing since it is their main trade. Thanks for reading and I would love to hear your input on the matter. Haters included
a heads up to all the reefers who never purchased an RO/DI unit and still lug buckets from their respective LFS's.
A few months back I noticed my corals were not fully extending their polyps like they used to, mostly zoas. After a few days of pondering and measuring parameters, I was still baffled, everything was where it was supposed to be. The only thing left was the freshwater reservoir I used for topping off. I didn't have a TDS meter so I took a sample to the LFS where it was purchased and had mine measured, a whopping 160 ppm!!. They measured theirs and it was equally astonishing at 170 ppm.
After the Reefwise Holiday party I was lucky enough to win a TDS meter and went on a 2 week long investigation spree to a few different LFS's. Attained several values from 40 ppm on up!.
I decided to stick with Distilled water from the grocery store which read 0 ppm., at a $1-$1.40/ gallon it wasn't too bad but wasn't great either.
Yesterday I, went to purchase some more distilled water and happened upon a water dispensary machine, at a Marianos, read that it was 39 cents per gallon if you bring your own container. I called the 1-800 no. and the polite lady told me they filter the water via Reverse Osmosis. Bought some water, came home and measured TDS at 3 ppm. I know that its not the desired zero value, proly due to the fact that they don't have the final De-ionization process, but it's good enough for me especially at 39cents/ gallon.
I know it's is a gazillion times cheaper and safer bet to just own an RO/DI machine but for those of us who don't I believe this is a great alternative. I am sure lots of supermarkets have such water dispensaries. Wish I would have encountered this earlier.
So be cautious of what kind of 'distilled' water you are lugging back from your LFS, not all are vigilant with membrane or cartridge changes. Companies that specialize in purified water have to be vigilant in their testing since it is their main trade. Thanks for reading and I would love to hear your input on the matter. Haters included
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