Water

[ravenfan8705]

I started calling around today....do I want RO water or DI water?

 

[Doc]

RO water. Some places sell RO/DI combo water, that is OK for the short term, but I believe that the DI part can be harmful over the long term. It is to humans. RO water is the best bet

-Doc

 

[ccCapt]

...........I believe that the DI part can be harmful over the long term. It is to humans. RO water is the best bet.

-Doc

I never heard that before. I've been using RO/DI in my reef for well over 10 years. What is considered long term and what are the effects?
I'm not sure about the harmful to human part either. I do know that RO/DI is stripped of all minerals and I've seen discussions about the effects on people, but I have not seen anthing conclusive that RO/DI hurts people. Do you have access to some studies saying it's not good for human consumption?
My RO/DI unit has a seperate output for RO water which goes into a holding tank and then to a spigot on the sink and the other output goes into the DI filter to a line out for my tank water. We always drink RO water.

 

[Doc]

from my understanding, it is not harmful in small amounts (whatever that means) but in larger amounts may take out minerals and vitamins from your body and potentially harm the lining in the throat.

Myself, I drank it for several months and noticed having a sore throat much of the time and since I stopped, not having those problems. I cannot pin down scientific studies, although there are numberless arguments one can find for or against. I am a fan of being safe rather than sorry, especially when I noticed something in my own body from drinking it.

-Doc

 

[bobby]

Alot of units are ro/di. Either or is fine and will not harm anything. Even straight DI is fine. I think all Yote uses from walmart. I used the Di jugs from walmart also and it was good water, however, I have bought a RO/DI unit and only use that now.

 

[reeffreak]

RO/DI water is even better than RO water for saltwater water aquariums.All the minerals will be in the salt mix.I hear RO/DI water is not good for freshwater aquarium because of what Doc mention though.Something about the water being too ''pure''.

 

[fatman]

RO water is fine for human consumption in all ways safe for human use, and it makes a great cup of coffee. RODI water is as reefreak says better for marine tanks as it is as pure as we can get in order to build just what we want. RO or RODI water is to stripped for use in a freshwater tank, however, they make a electrolight additive for the RO or RODI water to prepare it for fresh water tanks. There is still adjustments to be made for freshwater tanks , usually to the pH, and for some fish requiring hard waters or brackish waters. It can be used straight up for ATO water in freshwater tanks. To most people RO and RODI water have virtually no taste and having virtually no electrolights does not quench the thirst as does nasty tap water. Pure is a iffy word, because to me pure water means water pure of harmful bacterial contamination, and neither RO or RODI water is neccessarily pure of harmful bacterias as there is nothing to prevent regrowth of that bacteria in RO or RODI water as there is in scanky chlorinated tap water.

 

[Piggy]

That sure explains why my freshwater tank went crazy.