Distilled/RO water- Affordable units

[Divinityinlove]

Hi, next step for me is water hardness. I'd love to use distilled/RO water and remineralize to control hardness.
I just don't know enough to decide on a distiller or RO unit which is worth the price!
I see low prices on ebay but am told by some that those units won't last.
Other units such as on Uk water filters website, seem a bit out of budget for me.
I think RO water unit is better since I won't have to wait a whole day for 20-30 litres of water to be distilled every water change.
Please can you share experience with systems and these water types and suggest most affordable and WORTH the price units.

I'd say my budget is up to £200=£300 if I must!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

This is the one I use and it works great for my saltwater tank.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00204CQF6/?tag=ff0d01-20
(I don’t know if they carry it in the UK though)

 

[NannaLou]

How much water do you need..? I buy RO water, 10ltrs mixed 50/50 with my tap water costs about £3 a week and saves me buying and installing the kit and the cost of wasting so much water to produce the amount of RO that I need. (I’m on a water meter).

 

[Lynnzer]

I was thinking along the same lines as you when I first wandered enthusiastically into the hobby. Then reality hit me.
My local water supply is very hard and not really suitable for some of the species I kept so I decided to go another route.
I notice the £3 per 10ltrs of RO but then you have the necessary additives to bring the water to suitable chemical levels. Without them it's going to be just as unhealthy to your fish.
So, I looked in Asda and found cheap bottled spring water that was chemically sufficient.

 

[malfunction]

I was thinking along the same lines as you when I first wandered enthusiastically into the hobby. Then reality hit me.
My local water supply is very hard and not really suitable for some of the species I kept so I decided to go another route.
I notice the £3 per 10ltrs of RO but then you have the necessary additives to bring the water to suitable chemical levels. Without them it's going to be just as unhealthy to your fish.
So, I looked in Asda and found cheap bottled spring water that was chemically sufficient.

I think this is a good shout. Tesco and ASDA sell bottled water for 17p for 2 litres. When I used to breed geophagus I seriously considered this, but settled on mixing rainwater and tap water. I think either of these options will be cheaper than and less wasteful than RO

 

[Lynnzer]

I was buying 5 ltr bottles. It's easier to lug these around than lots of smaller bottles.

 

[NannaLou]

I was thinking along the same lines as you when I first wandered enthusiastically into the hobby. Then reality hit me.
My local water supply is very hard and not really suitable for some of the species I kept so I decided to go another route.
I notice the £3 per 10ltrs of RO but then you have the necessary additives to bring the water to suitable chemical levels. Without them it's going to be just as unhealthy to your fish.
So, I looked in Asda and found cheap bottled spring water that was chemically sufficient.

I don’t buy additives, my water is very hard, so I mix it 50/50 with pure RO water. This suits my Betta very well.

 

[Divinityinlove]

How much water do you need..? I buy RO water, 10ltrs mixed 50/50 with my tap water costs about £3 a week and saves me buying and installing the kit and the cost of wasting so much water to produce the amount of RO that I need. (I’m on a water meter).

Hi, that could work for me. I'd only need 25 litres also, each week water change 25%. Where can I buy that water? Thankyou!

 

[Divinityinlove]

I think this is a good shout. Tesco and ASDA sell bottled water for 17p for 2 litres. When I used to breed geophagus I seriously considered this, but settled on mixing rainwater and tap water. I think either of these options will be cheaper than and less wasteful than RO

The bottled water will be that much softer than tap?

 

[Deleted member 149562]

I think this is a good shout. Tesco and ASDA sell bottled water for 17p for 2 litres. When I used to breed geophagus I seriously considered this, but settled on mixing rainwater and tap water. I think either of these options will be cheaper than and less wasteful than RO

Be very careful with the cheap bottled water

It sounds great but is often just bottled tap water, not mineral water

I use bottled mineral water for my aquarium and have done for years due to absolutely awful tapwater. I get mine in bulk from supermarkets on home delivery (the delivery drivers are used to it now but they always used to question "Did you REALLY want all of this water?")

If buying bottled water read the label VERY carefully to ensure that it actually is mineral water and not just tap water in bottles as per the cheap Tesco/Sainsbury 17p bottles are.

 

[NannaLou]

Hi, that could work for me. I'd only need 25 litres also, each week water change 25%. Where can I buy that water? Thankyou!

I get mine from Maidenhead Aquatics

 

[Essjay]

If using bottled mineral water the same brand should be used every time. Water from different sources can have different chemistry.

 

[malfunction]

The bottled water will be that much softer than tap?

Depends on where you live. I was in London at the time, which had very hard water so there was a massive difference

 

[malfunction]

Be very careful with the cheap bottled water

It sounds great but is often just bottled tap water, not mineral water

I use bottled mineral water for my aquarium and have done for years due to absolutely awful tapwater. I get mine in bulk from supermarkets on home delivery (the delivery drivers are used to it now but they always used to question "Did you REALLY want all of this water?")

If buying bottled water read the label VERY carefully to ensure that it actually is mineral water and not just tap water in bottles as per the cheap Tesco/Sainsbury 17p bottles are.

Even if the brand he buys is repacked cheap tap water, it’ll probably softer than his tap water. It doesn’t need to be mineral water, just softer than what comes out of his tap (or soft enough to keep the species he has). If there aren’t sufficient minerals in the Tesco water, then combining it with tap water or adding minerals (which he’d have to do if he went down the ro route) would probably work.

 

[Lynnzer]

I think I dreamt the answer to the water parameter problem. Boil your tap water. It seems to have halved the KH and GH of my own tap water. See my thread here.
Do a test youself and please let us know the result. I'm really hoping my own test is verified by someone else. it seems so easy, but hey, if it works then it'll be great