While at Wal-mart the other day, I came across a machine that produces RO quality water that has also been run through an ultraviolet type sterilizer. You purchase a refillable bottle, and then refill it for a small price.

At my Wal-mart, the 1 gallon jugs are $1.28 a piece. The refills themselves for $.25 cents regardless of how big the jug or bottle is.

I purchased 9 bottles and got them filled up for an initial investment of $13.77.

I plan on changing the water in my 29 gallon marine tank every week, at 3 gallons of water per water change.

For $2.25, I can get my 9 jugs refilled. This allows me 3 weeks worth of water changes. This averages out to just 3 dollars a month for pure RO water.

Thats only $36.00 a year!

Now, to compare, a decent RO filter is going to cost around $150 dollars. Each filter, which must be changed about every 6 months, depending on use. The average filter cartridge is going to run about $50.00. Your initial first year investment is going to be around $250 dollars.

Initial Investment
---------------------

Wal-Mart RO Machine

$15.36 for 12 1 gallon jugs (1 time initial investment)

$3.00 for 1 months worth of 3 gallon a week water changes. ($36.00 a year)

Average RO Filter

$150.00 (1 time initial investment)

$50.00 for 1 6 month filter cartridge ($100.00 a year)

WMRO = $36.00 a year
Average RO = $100 a year PLUS maintenance PLUS having to wait to produce RO quality water PLUS having to take up a sink to use it

All in all, it seems like a great deal, especially for water changes. It certainly seems a lot easier and cheaper to just purchase the RO water, especially when it's only 25 cents a refill.

After 4 years, I've only spent $144.00. I STILL haven't saved enough money with water changes to even buy the average RO filter!

Think about this, after 4 years, I've spent 400 dollars replacing cartridges, on top of the $150 dollar investment. That's $550 hard earned dollars. With the Wal-Mart RO machine, I don't have to do the maintenance, so I save on filter cartridges, and like I said before, I've only spent $144.00 on water!

That's a savings of $406.00! That's a new tank, lighting, fish, corals, you name it!

I'm in the process now of testing the water for exact parameters.

I'm going to test pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and if I can ever find someone to do it, TDS (Total Dissolved Solids)

I'll post my results here. If any of you have used water from these types of machines, please feel free to elaborate about your experiences here.

Sounds like a great deal what is a RO filter though?

I think RO is refered to as Reverse Osimas(sorry for the spelling) They make water soft and makes water much much safer for fish to live in. Its way better then tap water with decholiner.

RO is reverse osmosis. When water is passed through a filter like this, it removes all the dangerous chemicals and minerals from the water, resulting in 95% pure H20. If you want it even purer, then you can pass it through a Deionozation unit or ultraviolet light. Unfortunately though, if you are going to use it in freshwater, you need to purchase an RO stablizer. RO water removes all the calcium, trace elements, important minerals and everything in between. What comes out of the RO unit will be about 5.8 pH and very few TDS.

It's great for softwater loving fish, and if you can adjust it, it's great for any other fish, too. It's top notch for marine aquariums.

The only thing I would say about RO unit is that you get a lot of wasted water from it , but u have a use for the wasted water e.g gardening or something else i think purchasing your own unit is well worth it, it also saves alot of time and effort that going to get it down your lfs.

I will agree with you there. I use the water from water changes to water my wife's plants. They seem to do much better, I guess from all the nitrates in the water. I have been putting off going back to Wal-mart to refill those bottles for quite some time. I think I am going to go some time soon though, this weekend I believe.

Speaking of that type of RO water though.... I still need to test it for exact parameters.