Water for water changes

[flored]

Hello all , Wondering if this should be ok , I have read alot RO water and so on , The cost of purchasing the water gets kinda expensive round these parts and at the moment no funds to buy the equipment to do it myself. I have set up a 40 gallon rubbermaid container with heater , power heads etc, Mixed the salt added the chemicals and am going to let it age betwen water changes. It is a better idea than just dumping in the treated tap water straight away as i have been told. Not sure on how long it needs to age before it is ready to use 24 - 48 hours under good agitation i am guessing. Is this a good alternative ?:confused:

[OrionGirl]

Eh. Aging will allow for a complete dissolution of the salt, and any chlorine will gas off. For chloramines, you will need to treat with something, and this won't remove any impurities from your water. If you are worried about what's in your water, or know it to have high nitrates/phosphates/iron/etc, this won't help. Sorry.

[flored]

ok thanks for the reply , Am i wasting my time with setting this up to age the water a bit or should i just continue to use water straight from the tap with the Aqua plus chlorine remover?

[OrionGirl]

It depends on what you want the aging to do. It will allow the salt to mix well, but it won't remove anything else, other than chlorine.

[Lecba]

Keep your eyes open on eBay. I got a brand new RO/DI undersink setup, capable of 75 Gal per day, for less than $100. It has made a noticeable difference in all my tanks, not to mention it just tastes better.

[flored]

Excellent idea thnks for the info

[NanoMan]

walmart has distilled water for less than a dollar a gallon.

[Cygnus]

On the same topic, I was at Petco the other day and they have boxes labeled "Pacific Ocean Water" 5 gallons for $9.99. It says it is straight from the Pacific, has pH of 8.3, salinity listed and everything. I assume it is UV sterilized, but didn't look closely. Has anyone used this stuff? It is more expensive than mixing your own, but not if you factor in buying your own RO/DI unit and salt mix. It also might come in handy in a pinch if you didnt have time to mix and age water in an emergency. Just wondering if anyone has seen this stuff or used it with success.

[RothChyld]

I never have used that but I do use the RO units outside the grocery store when I have to. They are generally 25 or 30 cents per gallon. Keep your eye on when the filter was replaced. The ones by me are usually kept up with a 3 day filter change.

Mike