430gal., L-shaped display

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Andy
I still can't believe that you can generate so much RO water without waste. I'm almost ready to sell my brand new RO/DI and get one. What is the maintenance on these? Are there filters that have to be changed and what is the operating cost like? Does it need power to run?
Thanks
 
Alan--You are, of course, correct. You _can't_ generate _any_ RO water without waste water, because of the process that RO uses to create filtered water. But, thankfully, RO isn't the only way to filter water. The Kold Ster-il thing is made by the people who make Polyfilters. One of the canisters is just filled full of large Polyfilters. Maintenance is the same as for an RO unit: You open the canisters and exchange the contents for new ones. The operating costs depend on how often you make water and how often you change the filters. My new one is rated at 150,000 gals. per filter change. I doubt it'll go that long, but you never know. No power to run, just water pressure.

The price for the little unit is roughly equivalent to a higher GPD Kent RO/DI unit and the replacement cartridges are a little cheaper than the high GPD cartridges, though maybe you have to replace them a little more often.

But, I stress, I start out with really good quality tap water. Your mileage may vary.

I have heard Calfo talk about these units before. He said he thought they'd be really good as pre-filters for a DI-only unit. That would still give you really well-filtered water with still no wastewater produced. I just haven't seen the need to add the back end onto mine, given that I've seen people around here use de-chlorinated tap water for their reef tanks with fine results. Scares the heck out of me, but I have to admit that I've used tap in an emergency when the RO unit I was using couldn't keep up.

Anyway, I've had good luck with them. I'd recommend trying to find a retailer of these units instead of trying to contact the maker. He seemed really hard to deal with when I tried to set something up with him. If you're looking for the large unit, I think there's a company in Pennsylvania that acts as a retailer for them. I can try to find their information if anyone needs it.
 
Andy
I posted on the Chemistry forum and Randy Holmes-Farley gave me some links. He's not too keen on them and apparently it depends on your local water quality if they will work or not. Some people tried to get the company to take them back as they didn't work on their water but the company refused -- they only guarantee the materials not the function. I guess you got lucky.
 
Well, like I say, I've seen people around here manage to keep tanks with tap water, so I don't think my filter has a lot to do. My LFS also uses one of these to good results for the store and the tanks they maintain, although they haven't been using it terribly long so I would think the jury's still out there.

I think if this hadn't worked out I would have seriously considered going with a DI-only system.

Sorry I've been pretty unavailable. I had a couple of projects come back to me in the last couple weeks on a rush to get to press with thousands of corrections. Did I mention that they were on a rush? Sigh. On top of that, the movers were back yesterday and we had a house guest for about a week. I love unpacking boxes. Really.

As far as the tank goes, we're still trying to get the rockwork in the display worked out. It looks really good and dramatic right now, but it's just too darn big. There's no room for corals now, much less when they start growing out. So, I'm going to go mark up sections that I want him to cut out and then he's going to re-mud. Sigh.

Just ran water checks on the tanks in the fishroom. The 90 that's by itself is still showing a little ammonia and no nitrates, so it's not ready yet. The bacteria have totally decimated the shrimp already and I'm supplementing with plain old fish food now. The rest of the system hasn't even really started it's cycle yet. There's just so much water volume. I think I have a flat of old frozen food in the freezer. I'm just going to dump the whole thing in.

There's the story. I'm off to pencil up some rockwork....
 
I went through one of the threads that Randy had recommended and it looks to me like what really hacks people off is the bad customer service. I certainly experienced some of that myself. Despite that, the filter solves a problem for me.
 
Oh, you know, it's just a thin layer of concrete over mesh. He can drill around a section, chip off the rock, cut the mesh, and re-mud it.
 
Andy
Id the concrete fully sealed to the glass? If not, would you be worried about getting anaerobic zones behind it where there is no flow?
Just a thought.
 
I'm not, really. The concrete will be drilled with many, many holes. And since the intakes are pretty much inside the concrete there should be a pretty decent amount of flow moving through there. Certainly enough to keep it from going anaerobic. Besides, if there's no flow it'll be an anaerobic space. But if there's no flow, there's also no real worry about nasties getting out of there. It's only if you disturb the space that there's an issue and I can't even imagine _wanting_ to lift up this rockwork, much less being able to do it. ;)

Did I ever show you all photos of the rockwork?

This is the side closest to the exterior wall. Nice form, but just too big. If the goal was to show off the rocks it would be great, but that's not really what I want.

rocks01.jpg


This is the small leg of the L, which I think looks great.

rocks02.jpg


In other news, nitrites are finally rearing their ugly heads in the single 90. The rest of the system hasn't even had an ammonia spike yet, despite a shrimp and a whole flat of Formula One. I put two more large shrimp in there this morning.

And, I finally got more done on the plumbing on the 55 gal. drum:

drum01.jpg


I'm not sure I believe too strongly in those zip ties. I have some industrial zips that I think I can work in there. I think they could probably hold up a car.
 
Thanks, Alan!

Thanks, Paul! I think I can drink at least four beers. Why do you ask? :)

I think the whole system will wind up about 1,400 gals. I did the math a few pages back. The problem is that the display volume has changed since I started the thread and I can never remember what I'm looking at now.
 
And there is (some of the) light:

img_0230.jpg


The yellow tank down on the end is for growing algae.

This is the isolated 90:

img_0232.jpg


I'm still waiting for two bulbs to come in. The T5 fixtures were originally supposed to go above the display to hold actinics. But, there was a problem finding timers that could handle the wattage of all those lights. So, the T5s moved down to the fishroom. So, I have plenty of actinic bulbs and have just been waiting for others to come in.

I'm off to the hardware store to get spraybar making supplies and stuff to clean up all the electrical cord mess.

Oh, an pure ammonia, if I can find it. ;)
 
I'm still waiting for two bulbs to come in. The T5 fixtures were originally supposed to go above the display to hold actinics. But, there was a problem finding timers that could handle the wattage of all those lights.
Click to expand...

Just a thought on the lights..

Could your electrician or you rig up a 20amp 30a 110v relay triggered by a light timer?

My thought was an Intermatic wall switch timer wired to a 20a relay in a 3 gang box with a duplex outlet for the lights.

It's not off the shelf but it'll work.

Intermatic switch
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...+500025+90094&marketID=90094&locStoreNum=4739

Or look into DMX light controls for stage lighting..

Just a thought
 
Thanks. Truth is, I think the MHs might be fine on their own. But I will certainly get the dang electrician out if these don't work out. I might even be able to get a couple actinics onto these. The dang electrician I referred to earlier originally told me he could only get timers that'd handle 1,000W, but the ones he showed up with can actually handle 1,200W (x3 timers). But at that point I'd already gotten the installer to start putting up the T5s downstairs. So, essentially, if I need them I know where to find them. So, clearly I should have given you the whole story right from the beginning. Sorry.... :)
 
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