RO Water vs My Tap water

dallasg

dallasg

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hi all,

so i have a RO unit that makes 0tds, i added the tunze calcium thingy, and get a tds of 10, now my tap water has a tds of 15, when i fill my 1500L system, can i use the tap water for the cycle period, doing water changes with RO water to eventually swop out the tap water, or just leave it as is.

thanks
 
just remember that whatever you put in your tank will seep into your liverock and lie in your substrate and dsb. imho try and keep whatever you put in your tank as 'pure' as possible. that way you wont haveto deal with the possible outbreaks from the additional nutrients or use chemicals to remove later(ro cheaper than phosguard etc)
 
thanks, was just asking as even though the diff is 5, would such a small diff be that bad
 
Only bad things happen quickly in marines ........ Take your time and use your RO machine!
 
Have you got a DI thingy on your RO unit. That should bring it down to 0.
 
i think a few tests would determine phosphates etc. remember five percent difference is actually a thirty three percent increase!
 
thanks guys
 
besides that TDS, TOTAL dissolved solids.....do u actually know what the 33% increase is? Not worth the risk in my view. RO seem to be a good system to me, but then so do skimmers:)
 
hahaha
 
i am bored :)

but always good to learn things :) why i asked is that i filled with tap water to test plumbing etc, and dont feel like emptying 1500L :)
 
almost my own boss :)
 
The TDS is important yes, but there are also other chemicals in the tap water like chlorine that the counsel add to remove all the chemicals humans add :whistling:
The carbon and other media in the RO unit removes that :)
 
let me clarify why i asked, i used tap water to test if my system all works, no leaks etc and didnt really want to waste the 1500L of water there is in it, so was just seeing how bad it could be seeing as it had 5 more than my RO which is mostly calcium :)
 
Dallas,

From the tap water I've tested in Woodmead & Buccleuch , the PO4 value was less than 0.05 , Nitrate = 5 and a TDS reading of approx 20ppm

Problem would be the contamination with heavy metals such as lead , copper etc. and then of course there are silicates.

You could probably test for all of these and take a chance , but I wouldn't .

IMHO , I'd rather dump the 1500l of tap water or use it for some other purpose, than spend huge amounts of money later in combatting water problems in the tank.

Just My 2c;)
 
thanks, i think i will use it to water the complex gardens :)
might be a little salty :)
 
hmmm that sounds like a great idea, will def give that a try
 
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