What type of water is the best for making salt water?

[kaminari369]

I have talked with different people(online and shop), some recommended different things, up till now I have tried tap water, RODI, and distilled water. I wonder if all this water actually have a difference?

[soggycookies]

generally tap water contains the most impurities, followed by distilled water and finally RODI, the latter being the most pure and having the least sedimentation.

Tapwater tends to come with a variety of impurities like chlorine, chloramines, and small levels of nitrate and phosphate along with potentially harmful heavy metals. distilled water may filter out some of these but not necessarily all of them, which is why RODI is the most recommended for reef tanks.


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[koeching]

generally tap water contains the most impurities, followed by distilled water and finally RODI, the latter being the most pure and having the least sedimentation.

Tapwater tends to come with a variety of impurities like chlorine, chloramines, and small levels of nitrate and phosphate along with potentially harmful heavy metals. distilled water may filter out some of these but not necessarily all of them, which is why RODI is the most recommended for reef tanks.


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Is it ok if I use tap water at the start? Then eventually use rodi water for water change and top up?

[CharlieBrown]

You can but I would not recommend as diatom blooms can be more severe and lasts longer. 

One workaround is to get a DI cartridge (see pic) where very little plumping needed to start off and then add the rest of the parts (10" housings, RO)to have a full RODI.   

[R0B]

Both RODI and distilled water are fine. Most long term reefers go with RODI as it removes all the impurities in the water from chemicals, to the heavy metals (even the odd radioactive isotope). The reason RODI is preferred is due to long term cost associated with other clean water sources. (If your tank is small then it may be ok to just get distilled).

I would NOT go with tap water in a reef tank, even with the chemical agents used to treat the water it holds on to too many impurities which will build up in your system.

Hope that helps.

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[matthewreefer]

Get an rodi unit as it will save you time . I remember lugging around distilled water from NTUC every month. Now it’s so much easier with an RODI.