Kalkwasser

[beagleton]

can you mix kalkwasser in a tapwater solution dechlorinated with bio-safe?

[GaryP]

Yes, but you will get better solubility in RO or distilled water.

Gary

[beagleton]

i dont have and cant afford a RO/DI machine. i have some ozarka drinking water that have been prosessed via RO but ive seen mixed responses on its use.

[GaryP]

I know the cost of an RO unit is higher, but in the long run its cheaper than buying water.

Gary

[beagleton]

yeah i know i just worry that my H20 bill will go up so much from it that it might not be worth it. ive heard that RO machines waste 3 times as much H20 as they process. any way im just being stingey, in fully recognise the benifits of RO and its on my wish list along with refugeum, CA reactor, chiller, and oh yeah coral. its just a matter of priorities.

[GaryP]

I ran a long length of plastic tubing from the waste water fitting on my RO unit into my garden. I have never been able to keep a Hydrangea alive in this climate because it needs so much water. My Hydrangea is about to explode out of my garden since I got an RO unit.

As far as the expense of an RO unit, you also have to figure in the cost of gas and your time to go get water for you tank. My evaporation rate in my tanks is about 5 gal. a day, plus water for water changes. In my case that would run up a pretty hefty water, gas, & time bill.

Gary

[btacker]

Yeah, I agree with Gary that once you crunch the numbers, you will definately come out ahead with an RO Unit instead of buying water.

But it sounds like you are using tap water. I would question using tab water unless you test it. Even then, it could change on you.

[Instar]

There are several kinds of water in the grocery store. The drinking water has additives because pure H2O tastes really kinda crappy. If you must use bottled water, then use the distilled in the one or 2 gallon plastic jugs. Don't buy it from the dispenser machine outside. Tap water is dangerous as you have no control on dosing or chemical changes. There is a heavy metal added to mine; one thing to solve another. Good for people and laundry, bad for reef animals. I'll bet you could find someone with an RO and buy some water from them. I saw a pretty good RO not long ago in Austin. It didn't have much waste at all and was not that expensive. Cheeper units with small membranes surfaces do have a lot of waste. You will loose some metals, organics, etc., if you mix kalk with tap water, due to precipitaion. Don't put any solids from kalk mixing into your tank no matter what kind of water you use. I seriously would not use tap water. Tried it one time and killed an algae culture and a tank full of baby clowns in a couple days. That was a petty dramatic lesson for me as I didn't really think it would have quite that much effect.

[thedraven]

Hey, its definitely worth the investment for the convience of having RO close at hand. I just bought an RO unit two weeks ago from that auction site by the bay, and it only cost me about a hundred dollars. Youre right about it using three times as much water compared to final output, but its ten times better than having to drive to HEB, lugging 5 gallon containers every week. Just try to save and reuse the extra water if possible (we water our plants too GaryP lol). Thankfully we dont pay water at our condo, but even if we did, Id still feel good about buying this unit (with all the problems I had with tap water).

[Tim Marvin]

What if we could get you a top notch ro/di machine for $140 with no shipping?

[wtrujillo]

What if we could get you a top notch ro/di machine for $140 with no shipping?

some of us might be interested. :skeezy:

[beagleton]

i would definatly be interested in that tim.