Anybody in Urbandale use tap water with any problems?

I hate to say this, but if the RODI water is making the budget tight you might wanna reconsider doing a saltwater tank. Using tapwater is gonna lead to nothing but headaches.

There are a lot of reefers in your area, if it were me I would ask around and see if someone could help you out with some water until you can figure out another option.

 

What size tank are you running? If it is small enough someone in the area will probably be able to help you with water for water changes. Or if you could swing 100-150 on a unit I would check out Air, Water, and Ice. They are a sponsor here and if you are a member you get a 10% discount. I have worked with them quite a few times and always pleased to help you out. If you see anything let me know because I will most likely be putting in an order soon when I hear back from them on a few things.

 

i used to use tap water and i could grow everything but lps and sps and now i use the big Culligan water jugs that you can fill at walmart and now i have no issues with any corals and for the fist time im my reef life i am able to grow sps in a nano

 

I think on a small tank you will have more of a chance of problems using tap water due to the small amount of water in the system. You can always go the Distilled water route like I did but in the long run it will be cheaper to invest into a RO/DI. Hopefully someone a little closer will chime in and maybe be able to hook you up with some water in the mean time.

 

For a tank that small you would only need like 2 gallons a week for water changes. Why not just buy RO water from Wal Mart? I think it's only like $0.25 a gallon.

Want a good reason not use tap water?

http://www.greateriowareefsociety.o...fault.aspx
Straight from the tap.

 

For a 20 gallon system, do yourself a favor and get water from your local pet store or Wal-Mart.  At .20 to .30 a gallon, it will be worth it in the long run.  I know, it's a hassle, I did it with my nano before I got an RO/DI unit...but it's worth it to have one less contributing factor when battling things like algae outbreaks.
--AJ

 

I live in Urbandale and the water SUCKS... It blows through my filters on my RODI Chlorine levels are really high the tap TDS reading at my house is 385... With such a small tank let me know I am more than happy to help you out with water, it beats going to wally world...

 

TDS at my house is at 600+ so feel lucky!

 

There ya go, anything else we can help ya with.
/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/tongue.gif

 

if you do think about getting a ro/di unit might want to try to talk with billbigsbe he sent me a link once to a company that had really good prices for ro/di units

 

One other thing, you might want to just bring a water sample to one of the local socials and have someone take it and test it for you so you know what kind of water you're dealing with. I'm sure that someone in your area would be willing to do that for you.

--AJ

 

For such a small tank you can also buy 5 gal jugs of real ocean water at Pet co for 11$ http://www.petco.com/product/11884/PETCO-Real-Ocean-Water.aspx
but thats gonna add up quick so you might as well get an rodi. Having to leave your house just to do a water change sucks! I did it forever trust me you'll get tired of Wal-Mart!

 

this might be a cool thing to look at, its a cheap ro unit from reefgeek.com and there is even someone looking from more people in the club to do an order with, http://www.reefgeek.com/product/Stingray_2-Stage_RO_w!_Flush_Kit_-_50_gpd_by_Aqua-FX

 

you could see if anyone in your area has an ro that you could buy water from you could get some from me if you don't mind driving to the east side i almost always have water mixed with salt ready to go all you would have to do is bring a bucket and just pay for the salt

 

Posted By mnvikes on 10/29/2009 01:43 PM

Posted By Gered on 10/29/2009 01:30 PM
What size tank are you running? If it is small enough someone in the area will probably be able to help you with water for water changes. Or if you could swing 100-150 on a unit I would check out Air, Water, and Ice. They are a sponsor here and if you are a member you get a 10% discount. I have worked with them quite a few times and always pleased to help you out. If you see anything let me know because I will most likely be putting in an order soon when I hear back from them on a few things.
20 gallon. Its not that I cant afford it I just dont want to spend +$100 on RODI for a small tank if its only going to make a small difference
You can get an RO system for less than $50 and that should suffice