RO/DI question

A

AndoCleophus

New member
OK this may be a dumb question. I'm looking at getting an RO system not only for the fish tank but also for our drinking water. I've been looking at Marine Depot a bit and other various online retailers to scope out the varieties that are out there. I'm guessing the RO/DI units available online are drinking safe correct? I work with a water treatment company now and I know that you can get your water to such a pure concentration that it is actually unhealthy to drink, i'm guessing these units aren't capable of that, but i figure i'd ask around before making the purchase. Does anyone have a setup similar to what i'm suggesting? I'm not looking to use this for all my water sources in my house, just my drinking water from my kitchen sink and for use on the fish tank. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks
 
Very good read Bob. I'm doing a little bit more research online as well...It appears that RO water is widely used for drinking applications, it's when you hit the DI stage of the filter that you run into some issues. I'm going to keep researching.
 
We started out with an RO/DI for our reef.
It was from the filter Guys and filtered public
Water. We moved to a home with well water and
Decided to filter our drinking water with
this unit. We purchased the drinking kit
From BRS as they answered our technical
Questions. We needed a booster pump
Etc. Their system has a "T" fitting that
Is placed before the DI unit. This allows for
Future Aquarium water to pass thru the DI system
But not the drinking water. From what I have read
You don't want to drink water that has passed thru
The DI. As far as safe drinking water goes, basically
You are just super filtering the drinking water, and
Considering we are on well water this has to be
Better than non-filtered.
Removing most if not all of the minerals. No big
Deal we get minerals from other sources. My biggest
Concern is bacteria on the membrane, dosent seem
To happen often BUT it can. Our solution is
Sterilize the system every 6 months or so.

Hope this helps
 
that link i posted above is not the risks of drinking the di water but just the ro water

the text from the site is below. also if you do a search on here you will see this is the same thing alot of people are saying.

After long and I mean a very long research....I've decided NOT to drink RO water, sure, in areas where water is truly an issue/problem RO is the best method to get rid of bad elements. I recently bought a RO/DI unit mainly for my fishtank, but since it came with a container tank and a faucet, I said "what the hell" I could bypass the DI part and have fresh purified RO only water to drink....According to many doctors and even the World Health Organization, drinking RO water or even worse, distilled or DI water can have long term negative health effects on the human body. Water with <75 TDS can seriously affect your intestinal track, and the lack or low level of minerals can cause other health problems, etc. Check this link and you be the judge, http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_...ineralized.pdf

This is just one of the many articles I've found and that for now, has changed my mind, I'll stick to my snap-on filter (carbon) to remove chlorine and odors and leave the RO and DI for my aquarium water changes/salt mixing.

If you find a better article or one that contradicts the "health risks" that RO can represent to humans, please share it, I'd like to see it.

One of the most pronounced negative effects of consumption of RO water is dilution and washing out Na+,K+ and Mg2+. This phenomenon - electrolytic imbalance causes problems with neural transduction, muscle contraction and can lead to sudden death. This is why one should drink highly mineralized water after extensive sport activities and/or during warm days.

Just my 0.02$:

Quote:
drinking RO water or even worse, distilled or DI

RO water is the purest water in terms of ion content, therefore the most dangerous one. Distilled water can still contain some impurities, therefore one produces double or triple distiled water, that is supposed to be pollution free. All these "water" are called DI -> deionized, because they are ion free! (at least in principle).
 
Ok, I am not going to wade into the "to drink or not to drink RO water" debate as there are points to be made on both sides. However, to anser the OP's question - you can set up your ro/di system so it is Tee'd off before the DI. This is how I have mine set up.

Also Ando - if you are interested, given my tank leak disaster, I am selling all my equipment and I forgot to list my RO-DI system. Its the top end unit from BRS about 2 years old ( 75 GPD RO/DI 5 Stage *PLUS* System which they sell for $199.99) - and also includes a storage tank I added separately (stores about 3 gallons of DI water to make top offs very simple) and a tee'd off water faucet for drinking water. Includes a built in pressure gauge and TDS meter. I also have several brand new unopened filters that go with the system (the ones I am currently using have another 6 months of life). If you are interested, PM me as I will let it go for a lot less than it costs new. Thanks
 
Last edited:
I have been drinking nothing but DI water for about four years now and have had exactly zero side affects from doing so in fact I believe that it is safer than consuming all the garbage that comes out of city water.
 
Yeah im with spyder... I have been drinking RO water since a child and no ill effects. This isn't mercury people.
 
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