Today's dumb newbie question

[bongo fury]

OK, so I found out that I can buy R/O purified water at my local grocer for 33 cents a gallon. Since I have only a 30 gallon tank, this seems like a great alternative to buying my own R/O unit as I'd rather put my money into other things at this point (like more corals!). About a dollar for a 10% water change each week seems reasonable.

My question is this: Is chlorine removed by this process, or should I add chlorine remover before using it?

Thanks!

 

[ChrisRD]

The RO should be OK to use right out of the machine, but that's assuming that the unit is functioning correctly.

That said, budget RO units are cheap enough these days that I strongly recommend just buying your own. At the very least, I would get a little handheld TDS meter to check the water you're using from the RO machine.

JMO...

 

[bongo fury]

Thanks Chris. What is the landscape for "budget RO units"? IOW, what should I expect to pay if I want a decent unit, but at the lowest possible price?

 

[Mthompson]

You can always find descent deals on eBay. Also, do a search for RO/DI threads in the other forums of RDO, as there are several that deal with this question.

 

[bongo fury]

^ Yeah, I did a quick look on ebay, and saw some as low as $35. But I'd like to know what is the POS (piece of "crap") threshold. I mean, $35 is cheap enough, but not if the thing doesn't work. I'll search the forums a little more to see what I can find out.

Thanks for your help!

BF

 

[Mthompson]

As for the POS threshold, I would not know. I am currently looking for an RO/DI system for my 150gal setup, but this means that our requirements for a RO/Di system are a bit different.

Hope your hunt is successful.

 

[mr_X]

i don't think you can get a decent(new) R.O.D.I. for less than 100 bucks, and i'd suggest not to get a used one.

 

[bongo fury]

$100 bucks, eh? For a 30 gallon tank, it seems to make more sense just to buy my water. For $100, I could buy water for two years. So I think I'll put off buying an RO/DI unit until I get a larger tank.

BTW, if anyone tries one of those $35 ebay jobs, please let us know if it works!

 

[mr_X]

post the link to it plz..or pm it to me.

 

[bongo fury]

Oops, my mistake. I was looking at the shipping cost, which is $37.50. The buy-it-now price is 61.99. Sorry for the confusion!

Here's the link, if anyone's interested.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Reef-6st-100GPD ... dZViewItem

 

[mr_X]

exactly. 99.49
:wink:

that's the unit i bought. it works well.