Ro Units

[lawrie]

this might be a silly question, do i need a RO unit for a 12 gallon nano cube or is dechlorinated water ok? or is it maybe better to buy the water from the LFS?

i have never read anything that says its best or not anywhare! just thought i would ask.

 

[cheesy feet]

An RO unit would be best, as always, if you could get a small unit it would produce perfect' water for you...

 

[new_world_disorder]

id deffinatley get one . i paid £75 for mine and it does the job nicley. theres far to much crap in tap water to put it straight into the tank !

 

[andywg]

It depends on the stocking. For keeping sessile inverts then it is usually best to go with RO, for FO and FOWLR then tap water can do fine.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

An RO unit would probable be the best bet in the long run but for a 12g you could get away with just buying from the LFS. Would probably work out about £50-60 a year that way to get enough water for a weekly 10% Water change.

http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...a1a7fd200a177f6 2 stage RO unit for £50 so over the course of two years would work out cheaper (including the price of replacing the membrane).

Depends really on what is more hassle for you:
Going to the LFS every couple of weeks or having an RO unit set up somewhere in the house (I'm at the LFS at least once every two weeks anyway so for me that wouldnt be a problem).

I wouldnt use just dechlorinated tap water unless you are going for a FO or FOWLR setup in which case you can probably get away with it.

 

[jetbox]

Does an RO unit need to be set up in a house (in the warm) will cold affect the water produced. I have a water supply in the garage, would this be ok... does get cold in the winter

 

[xxBarneyxx]

If the water is very cold it will work a lot slower. My 75GPD system makes about 20-25gpd because my cold water is freezing cold. A good tip a couple of guys on here gave me was to have a bucket with water and a heater in to warm it up. Then use a long pipe for the water in and have it coiled up in the bucket to warm the water in the pipe before it gets to the RO unit.

(so yeah you could have one in the garage but you might have to use this method to warm it up).