noob water questions

[azrednex]

I just intalled a RO unit from Sam's club I have some questions now.
1) how do I tell if the produced water is good for use(I tested with my test kit and it's good for nitrate, nitrite, amonia but low PH) how do I test for the other things I suspect for being in Chandler ground water? arsnic, chlorine and such.
2) Am I being paranoid?
3)I don't currently have a DI unit ,is this something I should add and were can I find it?

I probably should have posted this in the New to hobby part of the main index but I value the advise of locals more thanks for the advise in advance ,Jonah

 

[rljlll]

http://www.airwaterice.com/product/ADDVERTDI

here is a link to what you want and they are having a group buy get in on the 25-30% saving by ordering with the group anyone is welcome

 

[sir_dudeguy]

hey, i got a question for you...how much was that unit? i see it there all the time, but i always forget the price..im thinkin 60?

but i guess you should just test for phosphates i think...other than what you've already done, thats about it i think. The pH will be low..its low out of the tap for me, but once i get all the salt and stuff in there, its back up...

hth
mike

 

[AZDesertRat]

With the RO only unit your finshed water TDS or total dissolved solids should be reduced to about 2% of what they were from the tap, or 98% rejection. The only way to tell is with a TDS meter. Locally www.spectrapure.com and www.wattspremier.com both sell handheld TDS meters which can probably be picked up at their locations.
For best water quality add a DI filter after the RO and you will be in great shape, but still get the TDS meter so you know when your DI is exhausted and in need of replacement.

 

[jdieck]

As the RO/DI water has not minerals or ions in it, PH measurement is rather useless. Whatever PH you measure might most of the time be on the low as what you are really testing is some dissolved CO2 in it. As soon as you add a small amount of any salt or carbontate the PH will change imediatelly as pure RO/DI has no buffering cpacity.
The best way to know is to get a TDS meter (Total dissolved Solids) which will measure the degree of total impurities and the test is very simple, they are rather cheap and there are the ones you install in your RO/DI line and ones "Pen" style that you submerge on a sampe of the water.

 

[reefrandy]

some one of you steered me to purely h20 website they have the di for $30 u have to ship but thats still cheap who has the best price on the tds meters?

 

[AZDesertRat]

Locally Spectrapure has them for $29 I think. I think Premier is $39 but they are by the Deer Valley Airport and Spectrapure is in Tempe. Online Purely, Air Water & Ice and others are all around $20 to $30 plus shipping. E-bay has some inexpensive ones but they sometimes get you with shipping.

 

[azrednex]

thanks all, for the info. The unit was $160. I don't think it was a particularly good deal, It's a WATTS. My family is using it for drinking water at the moment, but I'm still going to water and ice for water changes and top - off.

 

[AZDesertRat]

The watts is a pretty good deal for a drinking water system. Mine started out as the same thing, has been highly modified over time but I have never had a housing or fitting fail so they use high quality components including Dow Filmtec membranes. Add a TDS meter and DI system and you have one as good as anybodys.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

dang...at least i got part of the price right lol...i just forgot to put a "1" before the 60.. lol i wish it was only 60

 

[azrednex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7791974#post7791974 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AZDesertRat
Locally Spectrapure has them for $29 I think. I think Premier is $39 but they are by the Deer Valley Airport and Spectrapure is in Tempe. Online Purely, Air Water & Ice and others are all around $20 to $30 plus shipping. E-bay has some inexpensive ones but they sometimes get you with shipping.

I went to the spectrapure web sight and the $30 DI units seem to have a very low GPD output aroud 8GPD I'm not sure this would due since I'm planning to still use this filter for drinking water also. I wonder if I could put 2 tanks in 1 before the DI filter for DW and one after for the reef.

 

[AZDesertRat]

DI flows much faster than an RO membrane. Its actually more like 8 GPM. You only need one pressure tank, thats all I have. Store the RO only water in it and just put a tee in the line downstream of the tank and install the DI filter. I could probably draw you a diagram of what I have and e-mail it to you if you PM me your e-mail. If you are considering DI talk to Spectrapure about their Max Cap system. Its brand new and will outlast any other DI on the market by 3.5 x or more.