The following fresh water source alternatives should be considered in place of using tap water to make-up sea salt mixes or add as top-off water to a saltwater system. The reason being, that even after filtering or purifying tap water, it can still potentially contribute to problems that often arise in aquariums.
- Check with local fish stores in your area to see if they sell RO/DI (Reverse Osmosis/Deionization) filter unit processed water.
- Check with any public aquariums or commerical water companies in your area to see if they sell filtered fresh water. Even better yet, rather than having to make up sea salt mixes at all, see if they sell filtered "natural" sea water like the Seattle Aquarium in Washington State or the Catalina Water Company in Los Angeles does.
- Find out if there are any public RO/DI water dispensers set up in your area. Kind of like a vending machine, you put your money in, and it pumps filtered water out. Believe it or not, one of these units was set up here on the island of Moloka'i in 2002, right in the town of Kaunakakai where we live!
- Buy bottled water from a water bottling company that uses commercial RO/DI units.
- You can also use bottled distilled water, but one concern with this type of water is that the bottler may use copper tubing during the distilling process. Not all distillers use copper tubing, so if this is a concern, test the water prior to use for any copper levels. You can always contact the manufacturer and inquire about their processing methods.
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