Poly-Bio-Marine Kold Ster-il filter

[Paul_PSU]

Anyone know anything about these? I was wondering how they are compared to an RO/DI unit. It says they produce NO waste water. Just curious if they would be worth it over the RO/DI units we use just based on no waste water, how quickly it filters the water and the fact that it does not strip out certain things that are beneficial to the reef tank. Dunno, that's why I'm posting

Here is a link for retail purchase

http://www.marineandreef.com/Poly_Bio_Marine_Kold_Ster_il_RO_Systems_s/479.htm

And here is a link for the mfg site:

http://www.poly-bio-marine.com/products.html

a quote off of the site:

"Yes, the Kold Ster-il® produces very high quality water meeting the ASNI/NSF Standards. The filtrate produced contains: Chlorine 0.05mg/L, Odor, 3 TON, Lead 6ng/ml, Mercury 1ng/ml, Cadmium 3.0ng/L, Zinc, 200ng/L, Copper, 100ng/ml VOC's, 100ng/ml, Turbidity 0.50 NTU, Particle count 0.45µm, Pesticides .01 ng/ml, Total Phosphates 100ng/ml, Tannins 50ng/ml, Algae 00/ml, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, .01%, pH 6.5-8.5. A new add-on activated alumina sorbs phosphates, silicates and fluorides. The big advantage for human consumption and reef applications is the water is not stripped of calcium, magnesium nor alkaline reserve. Drinking low hardness water is not healthy. Reef tanks require hardness!! Kalkwasser or calcium, magnesium and carbonates, bicarbonates and hydroxides are regularly added as supplements between water change periods."

 

[cloakerpoked]

with no export, you'd probably have to change the filters more frequently....

 

[Misled]

and you probably wouldn't know when to do it. I don't think a tds meter would work right with that.

 

[cloakerpoked]

Well, it would if you measured it as it started out, and then watched for a spike. Still, with a very conservative cost-benefit analysis, for your $400, you could probably afford a 2nd hand Calcium reactor to add the alk and calcium this stupid filter leaves in your tap water, and get a decent R/O filter. Not to mention you'd still have to buffer alk and calc since there's no way tap water has enough to boost your levels that much.

 

[Paul_PSU]

I agree. I was wondering more about how many gallons you could get before you had to change filters and if it was more economical that way. The Ca and alk was more of a bonus. I already have a Ca reactor so that wasn't a major factor for me. It caught my eye because of 1) no waste water and 2) the gph it produced compared to RO/DI. Like you said, if I have to change filters out monthly then it's not worth it. The waste water isn't a huge deal as far as $. I just wondered if anyone had any experience with them or knew someone who did.

 

[bnmir]

Talk to Bob Nell in the club he used (uses?) one for years.

 

[Paul_PSU]

Is he on here (RC)? What's his user name? I would love to get first hand experiences.

Thanks

 

[Steven Pro]

Bob does not do RC. He does come to just about every meeting, so you can talk to him there.

I have a Kold Ster-il and used it previously for maintenance accounts. It works ok, but is not as good as a RO or DI filter in my opinion. I always used it to freshwater or fish-only marine setups.

A TDS meter will not tell you anything regarding the purity of the water coming out of a Kold Ster-il since it does not take out any calcium, carbonates, bicarbonates, or magnesium, which make up the vast bulk of TDS. It does/should/claims to remove chlorine, some metals, and when using the added phosphate removal cartridge (which is really nothing more than a bag with the white aluminum based phosphate removal media) removes phosphates and some organics.

If you want to try it, I will sell you one cheap as it is just sitting in my garage.

 

[miatawnt2b]

I've looked into them, filter changes are to be scheduled at 4000 gal. I'm very interested in one as it's a real PITA to deal with the waste water of an R/O. But there is next to no reviews from people who have actually used them for a reef tank.

-J

 

[Paul_PSU]

Steve,
Thanks for the input. That's what I was looking for. Sent you a pm.

Paul

 

[miatawnt2b]

Paul, if you start to use this, please let me know how it works out for you.
-J

 

[Paul_PSU]

If I do give it a try I will post back in this thread.

 

[Steven Pro]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14486949#post14486949 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Paul_PSU
Steve,
Thanks for the input. That's what I was looking for. Sent you a pm.

Paul

I sent you a response.

 

[cloakerpoked]

4000 gallons could make something like this a lot more reasonable. Of course, the danger being it's really really hard to make sure it's doing what it claims to do. Phosphates are easy to test for, but copper, zinc, and other metals might be a lot harder.