rodi water/nsw water Gold coast

Hi guys,

i am just getting started with a reef tank, i have a Boyu Tl550 130 litre tank.

I live on the gold coast and can't afford to a ro unit at the moment.

do you know where i can get ro water on the gold coast?
do you know if the tap water on the gold coast is any good?
Should i use natural sea water from the sea way?

Thanks guys!

Hi nicoc.
Yeh reverse osmosis filters can be a bit expensive, though a cheap one isn’t hard to find on the net of just three stages and not the DI function, the three will suffice nicely.
I am not sure about anywhere else but there is RO water down the gold coast at living reefs, Shop 8, 1136 Gold Coast Highway  CNR Gold Coast Hwy & Palm Beach Ave Palm Beach.
Give them a call on 07 5559 5665 to line it up though, RO is slow!
Your best water change site on the goldie is in here-- https://southeastqueenslandm.aforumfree.com/t1749-best-water-change-sites-on-the-sunshine-coastgold-coast-on-brisbanes-bayside
The sea way has abundant heavy metals and some serious nasties in it, they both have sewerage, but talle has near nothing else.
You can tell by the marine life in the area, a part from testing I have done in the past.

Tap water on the gold coast is no worse then anywhere else, but if you are going with stationary inverts like sps a such, you will need to use a little extra GFOH to get the phos out.
The main issues with tap water, a part from inorganic orthophosphate is the metals in it, you need a substantial bio area allowing a bio sink to handle the metals or corals will get sick over time.
If you are not going with many of those life forms, then neutralised tap water is okay but still use some GFOH and maybe some titanium bio cubes, that will reduce cyano and hair algae.
Just chase up a cheap RO filter and you will be fine.

Oh and don't forget, more or less only the hydrogen and the oxygen in liquid form evaporates when humidity is low, nothing else leaves your water including the salt, so never top up for evap with saltwater or your salinity will keep going up!

Thanks for the well written reply. learnt heaps. I have decided to fill my tank with nsw from the location you recommended and use RO to top up my tank. I thinking about starting a tank journal soon. Thanks again for the help.

Hey, I often buy RO water from the vending machines. 19 litres cost $5.00.

I live in Tweed so I only know where the local ones are for me, there is one in a car wash next to Woolworths Petrol Minjumbul Drive Tweed South.

There is another one downstairs carp ark to Centro Tweed Heads.

Cheers

Hi pyro with those vending machines do you need a specific vessel that fits in the machines outlet or will a jerry can suffice? There's one near reef secrets in miami on the gc highway. Its on the same side as them a little bit south.

I take a piece of PVC pipe about 80cm long and run it from the outlet to my drum. Take a funnel if it helps.

The other thing I do is collect water myself when it rains, I absolutely hate paying for water. My wife calls me a tight arse.

I disconnect my downpipe and let the first 50 litres go in the garden then I put a plastic sheet on a chair and funnel it into a bucket. There are probably a lot of total dissolved solids but there are no added chemicals.

Cheers