Drink More Water

[MMfish]

Has anyone used drink-more water in a reef tank with success? They sell water out of a store in Travilah square shopping center with a TDS of 1-2ppm. Any experience with this water as it would be a lot more convenient that setting up a home based system. Thank you.

[scott711]

their water is fine, but it will cost you a lot more than setting up a home based system and you would get the same results for TDS.

[Coral Hind]

Unless you have a nano tank, then I agree with Scott, in the long run your own system will be cheaper and much more convenient.

[MMfish]

their water is fine, but it will cost you a lot more than setting up a home based system and you would get the same results for TDS.

 

Thanks, I live a mile away from their store and the water is $.59/ gallon at year's end pricing. Before investing in a home RO/DI system, I wanted to use their water to get a feel of the reef tank water usage. This will help decide how big a RO/DI system I'll need.

 

I was asking for anyone who USED their water in a reef tank and if was successful, without TDS, nitrogen, phosphate, calcium problems.

[scott711]

I have used their water with success, it is very pure water as advertised.

[Coral Hind]

How big of a system do you have?

[MMfish]

How big of a system do you have?

 

 

120 gallon display, 45 gal sump, 35 gallon live rock refugium

[Origami]

Figure about 1% per day evaporation, or 7% per week, plus 10% per week for water changes.

 

While you've got 200 gallons of capacity listed, it may be closer to 160 gallons of water with 40 gallons of displacement by rock, sand, and other stuff. So, figure about 11 gallons a week in evaporation plus 16 gallons for weekly water changes. That's 27 gallons a week usage.

 

Even with 5% weekly water changes, you're still using 19 gallons a week.

 

At $0.60 per gallon of the water you've listed above, that's about $16.20 a week in water for 28 gallons (not to mention the pain of having to transport 28 gallons around). Your cost recovery on a decent RO/DI system is about 4 months out in this scenario.

 

The evaporation figures seemed to work out for me when I had my 90 with sump (losing about 1 gallon per day) and with my 180 (which has around 330-350 gallons in system and which evaporates around 3 - 3.5 gallons per day.)

[flowerseller]

I have not used their water so other than saying I haven't used it, I can't comment any further.

[Coral Hind]

^^ that was really helpful.

 

 

 

MMfish, With a system that size you should get your own RO unit.

[davelin315]

I would also try and figure out what the 1-2 PPM TDS is. When my RO/DI gets to 1-2 PPM TDS, it generally is something that I really don't want in my tank such as phosphpates or nitrates starting to creep back in. You can probably ask them if they're in the business of selling water what it is and make a judgment based on that. Is it actually DI water that they're selling or just RO?

[davelin315]

I decided to look them up and referenced the companies that monitor and provide standards for them. They use the IBWA (International Bottled Water Association out of Alexandria) standards for their own water and those standards are listed on page 18 here: http://www.bottledwater.org/public/pdf/IBWA05ModelCode_Mar2.pdf. According to that site, 10ppm total nitrates are acceptable, so are Chloramines of 5ppm, and if I'm reading any of this right, TDS of 500ppm. Again, I don't know if I'm reading any of these figures correctly, but the standards don't see very high.

 

If you then look at their own report from this lab, their nitrates and other levels are ND (which means that they are not detected above the standards listed above!). Sodium is .58mg/L. Not sure how much that is, but seems like their water is softened which you may not want for your water (this figure is above their guidelines, as were a few others). There's a .pdf here that lists their results from last year: http://www.drinkmorewater.com/technology/analysis/.

 

I'm sure that RO/DI also has some of these chemicals in it, but I'm guessing that we have it at a lower rate than they do if they have 1-2ppm.

 

I have not used their water, but was curious after you posted and looked them up.

[davelin315]

FYI, here's the page that shows their filter system. http://www.drinkmorewater.com/technology/technology/ There's no DI stage on it. They do add an ozone stage, but I'm not sure what that will accomplish. Also, 2 stage RO stage doesn't seem to make sense to me other than making sure that if the first filter is clogged the second one catches what makes it through. I suppose it all depends on that ozone stage and what it can remove (again, I don't know what it does). If it does not remove things than you can safely assume that the TDS is still probably high. Most use the DI stage as the end stage to really clean out all contaminants that are left behind (some even use straight up DI systems, but they're very expensive).

[MBVette]

I use them, but I just started my 220 up about 6 weeks ago. I go through about 25 gallons a week. 20 gallon change and 5 gallons in evap.

 

RODI is definitly going to be cheaper, but being that my tank is in my business, I dont have a place to hook up an RODI unit. Outside of the bathrooms in my building I have 1 very small janitors closet that doesnt have room for the unit and a storage container.

 

Since my system is only 6 weeks old its hard for me to say how good the water is or not, but my testing readings show very good. So I guess time will tell though.

[gmubeach]

IF money is tight buy used on wamas when somone is getting out... I was buying my water from my favorite aqurium store for a dollar a gallon, but I guess he gota bad batch and it grew hair algee.

[Integral9]

After seeing the diagram, I think what they are doing to filter is very good. Yes they do have a De-ionizer at stage 2; which I find rather odd. So, I would only question the order of their operation as it seems their sediment filters and carbon filters should be right after one-another before the RO and any de-ionization and sterilization takes place. I believe they could improve their water quality by re-arranging the order of their filteration.... and changing their 10micron filters more regularly. Did you see how dirty that thing was?

[MMfish]

Think how lucky one can be having some form of RO/DI water available nearby. I agree that a home system solves some problems but creates others.

[davelin315]

Yeah, that thing was filthy. I can't imagine how it can get to that stage... my first stage is a 5 micron filter I think and even when I'm super lazy and don't replace it often enough, it never gets that dirty. It's like they're pulling water straight out of a mud puddle!

 

I didn't pay attention to the fact that they had DI that early in their diagram since, as you mentioned, it seems to be out of place. Based on their diagram and the fact that they are saying they regenerate them, this is a cation and anion system which in essence removes the need for the later stages, at least in my limited understanding. I would wonder if they are overtaxing the deionization stages through this as once it leaves the deionization stage it should be completely free of everything. The DI stage should be far more effective that the RO stage in removing contaminants so if things get through the DI they would probably get through the RO stage, too.

[Charlie]

Think how lucky one can be having some form of RO/DI water available nearby. I agree that a home system solves some problems but creates others.

Many LFS sell RO/DI water. Pristine in Alexandria sells theirs for .50 / gallon and so does House of Tropicals in Glenn Burnie. I don't know where you are, so I can't advise much more than that, but if you're buying 30 gallons a week, it might be better to go to the LFS (I'll warn you that it take lots of discipline to leave a LFS with just water). Both of those store also sell mixed water (they claim that the SP is 1.025). That is definitely an alternative, at least until you see if you really want to be in this hobby. Then you'll want to get your own RO/DI system, even if you have to set it up at home and carry the water to work.

[Origami]

The DI stage should be far more effective that the RO stage in removing contaminants so if things get through the DI they would probably get through the RO stage, too.

Actually, the two stages work very differently. The RO membrane is selective based on the size of a molecule - it's a mechanical filter. That is, it works like a sieve, sifting out large molecules and hydrated ions and letting small ones pass. This includes (obviously) water molecules. Very high rejection rates are achievable using this approach, but it still can let through small, charged ions. These are normally picked up by the DI stage - a sort of "clean up" stage.

 

The DI stage attracts and binds ions, or charged particles. It does not bind uncharged particles.

 

Putting the DI stage ahead of the RO stage is a waste of DI resin because typically the RO membrane can remove 95%+ of the charged particles that the DI stage would pick up. This would cause the DI resin to deplete 20 or more times faster than if it were properly placed.

[MMfish]

on drinkmore.com you can ask questions via a chat box. Try asking these things.

[gmubeach]

Centerville aquariums also sells water mixed its lower in salt though... hes relized ppl make mistakes if he has it 1.025... I got some bad water one time.. but for 2 years of the hobby I used them!