Newbie here tying to decide wether or not to invest in a RO/DI unit or just head down to marine scene in Herndon to buy all the water. I will have 75 gallon tank with a sump underneath and I am planning on doing 5 gallon water changes every week.
I know this a popular debate so here is my situation:
Distance is not an issue because I live right by Marine Scene so I can always drive there or stock up. I believe their water is a little over $1 a gallon for SW and a little less for RO/DO freshwater. So that's about 5-10 bucks a week for a simple remove and dump process.
I also live in a condo so I don't want to install a fancy or complex unit under my sink or by my washer & dryer. I definitely do not want to deal with any of the pipes. My thinking would be to store the RO/DI unit somewhere. When needed, bring it out of storage, install it somehow onto my bathroom faucet (not really sure how but I believe its possible) and create the water into a 5 gallon bucket. I guess I would need 5 gallons of SW and 5 of FW. I would then remove the unit and back to storage. Doing it this way, I would also need to buy the salt mix, heater, small pump, to mix everything. There is also the cost of replacing the filters on the RO/DI.
I guess my question is do I take the lazy way out and spend 5-10 bucks a week, I'll skip lunch one day =), or do I buy all of the equipment and handle everything on my own? Maybe start off buying and then buy the unit? I appreciate any advice!