PETCO water vs Mixing your own

[NavyNano212]

Who out there has an opinion or prefers one over the other...

PETCO is around $12+ tax for 5 gallons...

Benefits of either?

Drawbacks of either?

I currently use PETCO, but have been doing massive water changes to combat whatever is ailing my tank(possible Dinos, but not 100% sure).

Thanks!

 

[tosiek]

it can get expensive if your doing 10+g water changes a week. And some people have been getting bad water, ie. alot of Po4 or No3. There also isn;t alot of stability in the amounts of calcium and alk in each. so one can be perfect and the next can be off. Even if your doing 3g water changes it pays off to get a RO/DI and mix it yourself with what you would spend going out to buy a few boxes once a month.

Have you been always using petco water? And whats ailing your tank. it might be from the petco water.

 

[dabgood21]

I never buy pre-mixed water. Compared to the R/O I get for .50 cents a gallon, I'd rather mix my own. Whatever problem you're having with your tank could be related to the water you're getting from Petco. I'm actually surprised they even have such water, I would never think of getting it from them.

 

[Tangs Rule]

I have purchased water from my LFS for a long time now. The water quality has been excellent. I plan on getting an ro/di very soon but I have not got around to it yet.

$12 for 5 gallons seems very steep to me. I pay $1 per gallon, which is already mixed with salt.

 

[NavyNano212]

Been using either Nutri water or PETCO for almost 4 years...never had a problem, up until now.

Look up "tank degrading" under the general discussion thread and you will see what I posted about my ailing tank...

Anyone have a suggestion on which salt to purchase to mix?

 

[masterswimmer]

Get an RO/DI system and then the choices of salt are almost endless. There are numerous threads on MR touting the 'best' salt. Every salt has its attributes.....and ultimately their downside. Some salts are high in Mg and Ca, so no need to dose those elements. Others are high in ALK, so no need to dose that. Others are low on Mg, ALK and Ca, so you'd need to dose all three.

Find one salt, test the parameters of the salt coming out of the bucket and dose accordingly.

Making a suggestion for someone else to use a specific salt is a never ending discussion.

Russ

 

[RARECLOWNSNJ]

Not to rain on Anyones Parade but

If you are having problems with Petcos water its your tank!!!!

PETCOS water is made by one of the leading suppliers of Public AQUARIUM water.

http://www.catalinawater.com/Product.html

I have been using it since the Compnay Catalina Water Company announced that were going to be providing it for PETCO. When petco first supplied the water it was in catalina boxes, after awhile petco in a effort to get a hand in saltwater market had them switch the boxes to their labels. Just like store brand cereal.

Caribsea also has a verison of this water that is packaged from them by a different company.

 

[masterswimmer]

I never said their water was bad. I mentioned getting an RO/DI due to cost alone. $12 + tax for 5g of water is rich. Save the $$$ and produce your own RO/DI.

swimmer

 

[DHaut]

RO/DI Unit for $100 can save some dough. Plus, without knowing an exact breakdown of what's in PETCO's water, it's hard to say what it's doing to your tank. Have you tested Salinity, pH, Cacium, Phosphate, Nitrate, Magnesium, Alkalinity, etc? Those might check out fine - then again, they might be way off.

 

[JonnyIce]

I've been using PETCO's water and been thrilled with the results...granted my tank has only been up for 7 or so months...It just saves me the hassle of setting up an RODI system somewhere in my house and mixing. I buy the RO bottles from Walmart and I know it isn't the most economical, but it saves me intruding more on the 'footprint' of the house.

 

[RARECLOWNSNJ]

Check out that site i posted.

There is a link to all of the resources and refrences.

Mastaswim im not saying you said it was bad. Im just saying its from a reputable source and it used in labratories.

Read all about it. I have a 30 gallon tank so its cool for me but for someone who has a bigger tank.

 

[masterswimmer]

Mastaswim im not saying you said it was bad. Im just saying its from a reputable source and it used in labratories.

No worries. All good :grouphug:

It can get expensive when doing 10g water changes a week. :banghead:

I actually arranged for almost 600 gallons of the CaribSea water for the last MR swap at Pace University. I used it along with all the other vendors, so I know it's quality water. It works perfect for smaller systems and those who don't have the storage room for an RO/DI and the product water.

 

[Matorral]

I have the cheapest solution: Tap water
Change 20% once a week and only one fish per 10 gallons of your aquarium.
My aquarium have done fine over 10 months, no algae problems that hermit and snail cant solve.
I use instant ocean salt and let water circulate with pump and heater for 24h to get rid of chlorine

 

[masterswimmer]

I have the cheapest solution: Tap water

:sad2:

 

[Matorral]

Well, im a big fan of tap water; easy, no messy RO/DI, specially in tiny NYC appartments. And last and not least enviromentally friendly (ro/di is a big waste of our clean water resources).

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

I have never used anything but petco water or nutri seawater/carib sea seawater. I have also never had a problem with water quality.

 

[DHaut]

I have the cheapest solution: Tap water
Change 20% once a week and only one fish per 10 gallons of your aquarium.
My aquarium have done fine over 10 months, no algae problems that hermit and snail cant solve.
I use instant ocean salt and let water circulate with pump and heater for 24h to get rid of chlorine

What's the TDS of your tap? Phosphates? What corals do you keep?