:bottled Water Idea: A Genius Thought:

[Tag2008]

My old LFS sells water and its about a quid a gallon http/danditropicals.co.uk/

It worked out quite dear I though, having said that the bloke is good and his water is tip top and I wish I still lived near him but not for his water..

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Mollyfresh,

Say it was a good idea, how would you get the bottled water to the correct pH, gH, kH ready for sale? How do you know how expensive it would be to do that? Have you costed it? Do you know that it is cheaper than other alternative methods which are already being used?

Also, there are lots of people on here who have aquariums of 400 litres +, one guy i know of has an aquarium of 900 gallons. How would they transport 200 litres (or 450 gallons) of water from the LFS to their home for the weekly water change?

Maybe the idea isn't as practical as you think? It is a good idea if it would work, but i doubt many people would go for it.

Cheers

BTT

 

[fishlover500]

Ya cause I'm not paying hundreds of dollars to fill up my tanks and do water changes. Especially when you can buy
stuff for a lot less money to change your water hardness.

 

[Sunny_Bee]

I was thinking more about how hard it might be to transport it. But I can understand how it would seem like a great idea to someone who is struggling with his/her water chemistry. In reality, it's much easier to just buy buffers, etc

 

[peter22UK]

how would you keep the water in the shops warm? gallons of the stuff???

 

[Don Trinko]

calling yourself a genius is not a good start. things went downhill fast after that. Don T.

 

[tangokitty]

Wow a 20 gallon container of water would be way to darn heavy to carry not to mention it would take up a ton of floor space in already cramped fish stores. I agree that most fish stores already sell water and you can use your own container to cart it off in.

 

[5teady_2012]

I will be grown about this, hehe

Although it is a fantastic idea i might add, there is a lot more involved in it and thats what would make it hard, people who dont have means of good transport as well, like a car, how would they get it home? there is loads more to take in to concideration, space in lfs, time, costs, complaints on water usages lol, there is probably endless probs..

Also, why pay for water when where theres a perfectly working tap in our homes lol, it can be easily sorted to be suitable for the tank.

 

[gaz gun man]

 

[orange shark]

lmao at that picture

 

[maximinimus]

It would be a good idea for some types of fish, but unfortunately it is highly impractical.

Firstly you would need RO water, which would cost you 2p per litre.

Then you would need additives, probably looking at up to 5p per litre depending on the number and types of additives needed.

Maybe looking at 5p per litre in utilities and staffing costs.

Assume you would sell your product in 20 litre buckets, you would have to ship them by the pallet, and you would get a single layer (13 buckets) on a single pallet (260kg of water + 30kg packaging). It would cost approximately £40 per pallet to ship it from your manufacturing plant to distribution depots (assuming you are sending a bulk number of pallets to single destinations).

From your depot you would then either need to buy delivery vehicles and hire staff to deliver it, or pay a courier approximately £7 per bucket to deliver it to the retailer.

Now lets add all that up for a 20-litre bucket:

Bucket + Labelling: £0.50
Water: £0.40
Additives: £1.00
Transport to depot: £3.08
Transport to retailer: £7.00
Other costs: £1.00

That means that the break-even price for a single bucket from tap to retailer would be £12.98. Now add on a 20% mark-up for wholesale price: £15.58

Now another 20% for retail price: £18.70

That makes this water nearly £1 per litre!

Cutting out the palletised transport and going straight for the courier will not save anything, the longer distances needed would up the cost to above the bulk transport.

 

[tyyrlym]

It's not a horrible idea, but in the long run its not economical except on maybe very small tanks. The problem is that at a dollar a gallon its just cheaper to do it yourself. Using things like peat or crushed coral to move your pH around or getting an R/O unit if your water has issues with nitrate or phosphate. A small R/O unit can go for anything from $130 -$200 US for something in the 25-50gpd range. Even factoring in the cost of the water they use the payback is pretty quick on that if the alternative is a dollar a gallon. Someone with a large tank could pay back the unit in only a couple of days, or even on the first fill up for a 200+ gallon tank. Even a small tank could probably hit pay back in less than six months on it.

Personally I have a 55 gallon tank, probably about 50 gallons of water after substrate and decor. I change out 15 gallons a week. That would cost me $15 a week for water that I get for pennies a gallon now even factoring lowering the pH and dechlorinating.

Now if you had a very small aquarium like at the office or something it might be to your benefit to buy pre-conditioned water rather than try to monkey with such a small volume but that's about it. Once you hit 10+ gallons the economics just don't support it. Even the guys at the LFS who sell R/O water tell you that you're better off with an R/O unit of your own in the long run.

Its not a horrible idea, its just that the economics aren't there at a dollar a gallon.

 

[raptorrex]

why do we fish keepers keep trying to buy things solve problems, that don't exist? we seem desperate to avoid, even the most basic of tasks. preferring to give money to the lfs. Instant cycle, err, well maybe not. ready made water? what next. fish in a sealed tank we do nothing with?

 

[rabbut]

what next. fish in a sealed tank we do nothing with?

Acctually Bobo, that one has already been done. Check ebay

 

[raptorrex]

what next. fish in a sealed tank we do nothing with?

Acctually Bobo, that one has already been done. Check ebay

not with fish, that last for any time anyway. and twelve of thirteen years is the record for NASA ecosphears. and they contain only inverts, and plants. but that was not my point. there will always be these odd diversions avaliable, at the moment these are not really working, never mind practical. if we buy everything from packets, how are we to learn anything about out interest? if you just want to look at fish, you can lease a tank and have it looked after. or buy the tank and pay someone to do the work. oddly not as expensive as you may think. but if we are, genuinely, interested in looking after and learning about our charges. perhaps it is better to learn your hobby. after all if you know nothing about your system, how can you fix something when it goes wrong? or do we just buy a packet of tank fixer and just carry on?