RO/DI Dummy

O

orion251

New member
I have no experience with RO/DI systems but I know I need one. I can install one under my kitchen sink and use a (or 2) 5g bucket for top off water. Then I could move 5g at a time to another container when needed for top off water. Or I could put one in my laundry room and use wheeled trash cans to hold the water. The undersink looks good to me because I could get a tank and use it for drinking water as well (I drink a lot of water, soda is useless if there is no Maker's in it). What complete kit should I be looking at? Would like to spend $200 to $300 max. $200 or so would be better.

I have a 36g tank right now that is cycling but it will eventually be a 75g (may be a while on the 75 though).

Thanks for the help!
 
I installed mine under the sink to double as a drinking water purifier. You should tee off the line to be used for drinking water before it runs through the DI filters. DI water is not recommended for drinking, it pulls the electrolytes out of your body.
 
For that small of a tank, I would put it under the sink and set it up for drinking water too. You can always run the line from the DI into a 5gal bucket in the sink (in case of overflows!) and then transfer it to another holding tank. They have charcoal caddys at Home Depot that are 10 gal that might fit under the sink too. Store the water there and pump it out into buckets for use:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b235/evolution159th/tankbuild048.jpg

When you go bigger, then I would get a bigger holding tank, like the trash cans or some kind of tank you can move around. You can always plumb the RO/DI tubing to where ever you want to keep your water storage containers.
 
Per the website Stage 3 takes care of that stuff...

"Stage 3) acid washed* Gem coconut carbon block filter (1 Micron), that removes the remaining chemicals and chlorine. This filter is rated for 9,000 gallons. Used to strip any remaining chlorine/chloramines missed by stage 2. "

My LFS recommended these guys to me and they use the same manufacturer...on a larger scale of course. I have also read on some threads that anything rated over 75G per day is probably not good for keeping reefs. Mine puts out about 5G per hour. I literally turn the thing on into a 5G bucket...set the timer for 60mins and go back down and the bucket is full.
 
I would get a 4 stage RO/DI. I got mine from the Filter Guys. But what is also very important and has helped me from flooding the house is one of these. Float Valve. Put this float valve in a 10-20 gallon Brute Trashcan and you can fill it without forgeting and flooding the house which I have done in the past. My husband bought me this after the third flood, hehe.
 
stlcardinalnut said:
I literally turn the thing on into a 5G bucket...set the timer for 60mins and go back down and the bucket is full.
Click to expand...

You're lucky. I have too many friends with horror stories of flooded rooms from these. Two I know now keep the bucket in the bath tub just in case. :)

I'll have to check into the chloramine issue more, that's always been my main issue with incoming water, not the usual phosphates, etc.

Jeff
 
I keep mine in the basement next to a drain, so if I forget it (and I have) the water just runs into the drain. I am getting ready to buy a couple of Brutes do to my bigger tank...funny, I was at HD looking at trash cans and trying to find ANYTHING that said "food safe"...guess they aren't marketing towards the SW hobby or restaurants... So I left and went to my lfs, and they just said to get a Brute...lesson learned.

I have never tested for chloramine, but have kept my 24G biocube for 3 years now with ZERO issues.
 
Well, I just ordered THIS. I decided that I would rather have the RO/DI in my laundry room and not undersink as I will be upgrading the 36g in the future. Did I pick a good unit or not?
 
I highly recommend the Bulk Reef Supply RO/DI unit. I purchased the 5 stage "plus" system a few weeks ago and couldn't be happier. Of course I got it at the $179.99 sale price, I think it's normally $199.99. But still, even at that price, its great-- 5 stage unit, complete with pressure guage, dual tds meter, and all the fittings/adapters you'd need. Highly recommended!

Also, try Bulk Reef Supply's eBay store. They usually have them for $149.99 with $12 for shipping on there.
 
I also use the Air,Water,Ice 75gpd reefkeeper. I have it under the sink.

The best part about putting it under the sink is you can fill your water jugs IN the sink, so if it overflows you don't have a flood. (I use office water cooler jugs)

Then I just cap the jugs and put them in the basement until I need them, 5g jugs with handles are pretty easy to move around.
 
orion, you bought a good unit. I don't have the same one (I have a coralife purelfo II). It'll do exactly what you need, and will provide water at a good rate.
To answer your previous question, yes it will remove chlorine. It looks like there's a two stage TDS meter, so if TDS is coming out of the last stage with a TDS = 0, than you're all set!
BTW, you shouldn't be using this for top-off only, you should be doing your water changes with this water (plus salt of course!)
 
orion251 said:
Well, I just ordered THIS. I decided that I would rather have the RO/DI in my laundry room and not undersink as I will be upgrading the 36g in the future. Did I pick a good unit or not?
Click to expand...

Good choice. I just ordered a BRS RO today as well, but I got the version that removed Chloramine, not just Clorine. If you do not have Chloramine in your local water supply, the unit you ordered is the right one. If you do have Chloramine, then get that model instead. Only difference is the extra element to deal with the Chloramine. My local water is adding up to 4 ppm of Chlorimine to treat the water.
 
I also have the 5 stage from BRS and I love it!!!! I have had no issues with it as of yet and have been running it for about 6 months now. I have a 32 gallon brute trash can that I fill up and do water changes out of. Works out pretty well.
 
The BRS RO/DI unit arrived today. Got it up and running. After an hour of "break in" I am getting a TDS of 3 on the input side of the DI and 0 on the output side. I need to get the float valve for sure since I don't like being tied to a timer.

New question..... I set up my 36g bow front about 3 weeks ago using tap water. The only livestock I have in it right now is 7 snails and 3 red legs. It has 45 lbs of DF&S live rock and about 1.5 to 2 inches of sand. I plan on changing 10 gallons of water 2 times a week for the next few weeks to try to get rid of the tap water. Will this help or should I just go with normal 10% weekly changes? I plan on adding some small fish (firefish, clowns) within the next few weeks but corals are at least a month off.
 
orion251 said:
The BRS RO/DI unit arrived today. Got it up and running. After an hour of "break in" I am getting a TDS of 3 on the input side of the DI and 0 on the output side. I need to get the float valve for sure since I don't like being tied to a timer.

New question..... I set up my 36g bow front about 3 weeks ago using tap water. The only livestock I have in it right now is 7 snails and 3 red legs. It has 45 lbs of DF&S live rock and about 1.5 to 2 inches of sand. I plan on changing 10 gallons of water 2 times a week for the next few weeks to try to get rid of the tap water. Will this help or should I just go with normal 10% weekly changes? I plan on adding some small fish (firefish, clowns) within the next few weeks but corals are at least a month off.
Click to expand...

I have done all of my purchasing through Buckeye Field Supply for any/all of my RO/DI needs. They have been great to work with and don't try to sell you stuff you don't need. They asked me a bunch of questions and built a system which changes my well water of 200TDS to 0 TDS. I would do a 50% water change to start since you don't have any fish yet and have not mentioned the onset of hair algae or cynobacteria. Then from there I would do weekly water changes of up to 5 gallons.
 
+1 on the large water changes. At 10%, it would take you about 20 water changes to get down to 10% of the original tap water. I would do large, 40-50% water changes with a few days between each water change.
 
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