buy ro/di unit or rent culligan?

[ahullsb]

Anyone have an opinion?

 

[juaninsac]

Buy an RO/DI unit. I thought you already had one?

Regards,
Your mom's friend's son.

 

[ahullsb]

I've been close to buying one a couple times. A few people at the lfs suggested renting culligan like they do. But I was reading threads from people who use their ro for drinking water and use the di stage for aquarium water. if that works, it might justify buying the unit in my opinion, and I wouldn't have to pay for water delivery anymore.

 

[MrMikeB]

If you are going to stay in the hobby and have a sizaeble tank (like 50 gallons or more), you will need a lot of water. For the price of a nice 6 stage unit off eBay (approx 125 shipped), you will do well to buy.

 

[Fragmented]

I don't know how much Culligin is charging these days, but do the math. How many months will it take to pay $150? After that time you are just buying equipment for Culligian. Compared to servicing a tank, servicing a water unit is too small an effort to call it servicing.

 

[funman1]

I love my Typhoon III from AiwWaterIce ($200)
I went out to Home Depot and bought a nice water cooler with cold and hot. ($150)
Then went to WinCO and bought (2) 5 gallon bottles ($20)

Now I pull off before my DI and have EXCELLNENT tasting drinking water. I just have one bottle on the Cooler and one filled ready to change out.

Total cost 200+150+20=$370

Now I was spending $50 a month on bottled water from Crystal Mountain Springs (Including the cooler rental from them)
So time to ROI (return on investment) 370/50= 7.4 months

And that's just using it as drinking water! So the water for the reef tanks is just a nice "extra"

That's how I justified it to the wife too
Numbers don't lie

 

[kevin95695]

Noob: "Why pull drinking water off before DI stage? Is my 4 stage RO good enough for my reef? Do I need DI?"

 

[funman1]

DI water has a weird metalic taste to it.
Your tanks needs the pureness of DI, however if you want good tasting water, DI is a bad tasting idea

 

[Reefugee]

Kevin,

DI water has no ions in it, so some people theorize that if you drink DI water, it will pull ions (vitamins and mineral) out of your system. Other thinks that the DI water will react with surface tissues because of it's purity.

My opinion is that DI water is perfectly safe to drink. However, I dont' drink DI water for one simple reason - taste. Believe it or not - ultra pure water does not taste as good as water with a little mineral in it. Oh - also because I am too much of a cheapskate to pay for DI resins when I don't have too. :lol:

Minh

 

[kevin95695]

Thanks. I'd wager the water coming out of my RO is relatively pure. So is DI necessary or a luxury?

 

[Reefugee]

BTW - if you use DI water for making coffee or tea - it's no longer DI water. So it's perfectly safe for cooking and making drinks.

 

[Reefugee]

Kevin,

Get a TDS meter and measure your water quality. I think there are a few people in the club who runs RO only. I live in Davis (where water is crap) so I need the RODI.

Minh

 

[ahullsb]

Thanks guys. I guess I will just end up buying one. I know buying is usually the better option but I wasn't sure of the quality of these units or their lifespan. I know I will be paying to "recharge" them too. But if they really are built well then I will order one this weekend. Any opinions on maxcap or competitors? I'm aware of the Filter Guys, but am open to other options

 

[funman1]

Typhoon III from Airwaterice is my Fav unit.

 

[kevin95695]

ahullsb, can I piggyback on your thread?

I love MARS, RC, ebay, and craigslist.

I read the RO/DI FAQ here on RC. I ordered a TDS meter on ebay. So what is an acceptable TDS reading from an RO unit for reef purposes?

 

[ahullsb]

bump

 

[Reefugee]

I try for zero, but don't change the DI resin until it goes above 10. That's just my opinion though and is not based on an facts at all.

 

[funman1]

You should get 98% reduction from your RO membrane (If it's a Dow Filmtec).

and then the DI "should" clean it up to 0 output

But like Mihn, I wait till my DI is putting out 5 TDS before I replace it.

I find much above 5 and the water starts to get a really weird smell to it.