Is Walmart RO Water good enogh for reef tank? TDS meter test result!

[CJSAQUARIUMS]

My tap water is exactly the same as yours 190 or so... RODI takes me to 0tds... Sounds like you finally about to get a unit. Just think about money u have invested in your tank. Providing the best water is really a no brainier... 👍🏾

[waterlover]

I used to use distilled water from Walmart for my mix reef tank, never had any problems but it would cost a pretty penny every week

[Aquatasy]

Yeah, that is indeed a real eye-opener.

[MileHighReefers]

I haven't tested my tap water in a while, but last time I did it was about 40. Walmart doesn't use a DI stage on their RO water. This is'n't bad because the water is for human consumption and the human body needs the dissolved minerals in the water. I recommend buying RODI water from the LFS or buying the RODI unit. Even at the low TDS of the Walmart water you are adding nutrients and unnecessary minerals to your water every time you do a water change or top up. I used dechlorinated tap water for years and I have to say using RODI made a night and day difference in my tank.

[rogl]

Dude i used all the water you used and ended up buying a rodi unit from amazon for about $63.oo well worth it

[jesterscorner]

I pick up my RODI from my LFS, but I am super lucky as I have a dedicated Saltwater LFS less than 1 mile from my house who use an RODI system with 0 TDS water. Incidentally congrats on both being a reefer and a Calvin and Hobbes

[jrturtle-xflp]

i guessed 50. i was actually suprised to see it was at 53. I didn't use ro at first either which for me was a HUGE mistake. my local water is down-right disgusting. switched to ro/di from the lfs and the difference was night and day. now i got my own ro on its way right now. Not to say tap water couldnt work, it just didnt for me. it all depends on your local water supply.

[arringar]

I'm glad you took my suggestion. 😊 That's brown diatom algae. Your tap water at 194 is pretty high. My tap water comes out at around 60, which is barely any different from your Walmart water.

I have my RODI connected to the shower output in my spare bathroom. The dirty water goes down the drain and I can run the RO water into a large 5 gallon jug. If it happens to overflow because I stupidly left it running for too long (happens entirely too often) it goes directly down the drain. You just need a screw on adapter for your RO to fit to the shower pipe. About 50 cents at Home Depot and $2 for some pipe thread tape to make sure it doesn't drip (you will definitely need this).

[AdventuresofAwesomeJoe]

I tested the Primo "RO filtered water with UV light" from Walmart. It showed 220 TDS and my home tap water was 226 TDS.
I felt so ripped off.

[isal]

Yay! How am I only subscribing now :) Love this video, Chow!

[zoeith]

In central PA we get ~330. In Atlanta some areas are almost as pure as RO/DI <10. Then in the SouthWest, like Phoenix area its over 1800 TDS due to the run off of minerals from canyons, salt river etc etc.

[Reefgrrl]

Our tap water TDS these days is anywhere from 550-800 (what do I win, huh? Huh? 😡). I learned this when we started getting white hazy water after doing maintenance on the big freshwater tanks we have. Panic city, and we at first blamed it on aggressive cleaning and consequent biological depletion, causing mini cycles. We found out about the extreme TDS when I was given an RO Buddy for my birthday, and we added a DI cartridge to it, along with a TDS meter. Talk about shock: at that time (about 2 yrs ago) the TDS read 1, 100. That is not a typo. I immediately called the water dept and found out they had recently switched wells and were working on stabilizing the TDS levels in the water supply. The geology of the region we live in is the reason for these high levels, but this was extreme.

My comment to them was that didn't help my situation with the aquariums, and we had been wondering why we were unable to keep various species of barbs alive - I found out later they are sensitive to alk and pH, more so than the other species we have. At that time I was also having big algae problems with hair algae and dinos in my 29 cube (which was one year old at that time). I had no idea it was because of using conditioned tap water and sometimes distilled water.

Apparently the water standards are based on human consumption and anything up to 500 is considered acceptable for TDS. No explanation available as to the effect of 1, 100.

These days we are "down" to the 550-800 range. The good news? Though we tend to burn through resin, the TDS coming out of the RODI unit is almost always 0 or 1, rarely it goes up to 2.

Moral of the story? (If you've got this far...😬) You will really benefit from an RODI unit, if there is any way at all to rig one up. You might need to swap out your slot tap or try and find an adaptor, or maybe find a plumber to cut into your water line under the sink. You won't regret it.

[stellarlivingstoned]

I didn't know there were people not using an RO/DI unit for reef keeping in 2016. I got my first one in 2006👍

[DeAndreEllison]

I think that Hanna checker can check phosphates in fresh water as well. so, you can check phosphates on the ro water you use as well

[Fakken]

Lol I love Calvin and Hobbes!! Subbed!

[georgearias]

TDS of RO/DI water from Walmart is 53. TDS of tap water here in New York City is 40-46!! :-)

[dustina.]

My Tap water here in Texas (which is ground water) is 170ish. I've been using an RO for a year and was getting 20-24 TDS and was still getting cyano. I then added DI canisters to my water and got 0-2 TDS. This solved the algae and the cyano problem.

[seanpaterson]

How does the blue tang get along with the clown fish ?

[dreaddinit]

I used nothing but Walmart water before and it destroyed my system. However, I was a fool and didn't get the $10 tester. lesson learned. the placard on the machine said 5 tds at any given time. Real world was over 100 smh...

[kencress]

Total dissolved solids. My tap water is around 160ppm. My ro water is zero from Canadian tire.