# r/o unit



## tyourkie66 (Mar 13, 2003)

i dont have a r/o unit and cannot afford one. ive been using straight tap water for 5 months. i vac my substrate once a week and by the time the next gravel vac is due the substrate is covered in algea again. i get alot of algea patches. i have a few snails and they help out, but i was wondering if i should boil my water before mixing the salt into it. then it will be distilled water? or should i pick up some sort of inverts, if so what kind.......please help me out.


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## -=BOB=- (Mar 6, 2003)

hmm.. RO is not really expensive, you can get second hand one (one that produce 30gpd (gallon per day) new one costs 100$ so second hand you could score for 50$ .

It is never ending story with algae cause of high PO4 level (probably) 
your snails wont help much cause there is plenty of food for algae.. Thats frustrating.. 
maybe you can get some Caluerpa algae (it feeds on PO4) it is better to put it in the fuge than in display but with bit of extra attention to tank it can also look nice. If you chose caulerpa you have to harvest it every now and than.. otherwise might take over..









good luck


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## sprinter78 (Nov 24, 2003)

A question I have is where do you put the RO unit. Is it something you attach to your hot water heater or can it be installed locally under a sink?


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## Pmemo (Apr 5, 2004)

under sink


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## -=BOB=- (Mar 6, 2003)

Usually people fit it to washmachine waterfitting in the bathroom, make RO water and than connect washmachine again..


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## sprinter78 (Nov 24, 2003)

Thanks.


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

Pmemo said:


> under sink


 That's what I do. I just attach a saddle valve and hook it up that way. It's worth it, boiling will do nothing to phosphates and adding inverts will just add more poop-makers. I avoided it for a while but have been extremely happy ever since I got one.

My side-bar question is how do you tell when it's time to change the filters? Is it a reduced flow thing or a usage/time thing? Thanks and sorry about the derail.


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## -=BOB=- (Mar 6, 2003)

acestro said:


> My side-bar question is how do you tell when it's time to change the filters? Is it a reduced flow thing or a usage/time thing? Thanks and sorry about the derail.


 with the device called TDS meter


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

Never heard of it, where do you get this?


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## -=BOB=- (Mar 6, 2003)

Its a small electronic device (Ph meter like), runs on batteries , probably you can score it in LFS or some other shop.Try to goggle for it. I don't have one, once per month I take water sample to LFS for second opinion (water test kits can get out of date too) than I let my RO unit be checked also.


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

Thanks!


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

Phensway, Don't you have a water to go store or a pet store that you can buy the water from? Thats what i do, I can get 20 gallons of water for 8 bux at the place that sells water. The lfs by me sells it for 30-40 cents per gallon.
Most likely your tank will turn into a swamp using tap water.
The money you save on conditioner is half the cost of the water right there.


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

How high of a level of total dissolved solids is high?


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

Actually a more interesting question to me is how do you know which part of a 5 stage R/O unit to replace when the dissolved solids go up?


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## Uncle Buck (Jul 14, 2004)

got mine on ebay, killer deal on a sweet 6 stage. works great. I have it plumbed into a 45 gallon tank with a float valve for a storage tank.


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

Got mine there too, it is a great deal on Ebay. I haven't gotten into the float switch thing yet but I need to so I have less messes to clean up!









But seriously, how would one know which of the 5 or 6 stages to change out? I've seen time lines that say when but they're made by the manufacturer (and are thus suspect! ).


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

Sorry i can't help ya out ace, Thats why i buy the water, I am switching my 190 over to a reef in a couple mos and i will have to invest into a ro unit.


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

That's cool, for 190 you sure will need that R/O! I've actually had no troubles yet (no algae outbreaks in the reef, etc.), but it's been a year or so since I hooked the R/O up. It's great for so many reasons, don't forget Ebay!


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