***RO/DI selection HELP! Salt Mix HelpWhat brand is good? what do you all use?

[champion6sigma]

Maybe I can mount it on wall of garage? Will 100 plus texas heat mess them up? I'm wondering now how in world I'm suppose to hold up the RODI upright or make sure they are steady and monitor flow, output, basically do this all by myself in bathroom, is whats possible?

 

[homer1475]

While my setup isn't ideal for you, it works great. I put my RO/DI unit mounted to the wall and hard plumbed in my "utility" room(just where my washer/dryer, and on demand water heater are located). I have 2 5 gallon water jugs I fill each time(takes roughly 2 1/2 hours to fill one). One for water changes, and one for top off.

When I'm ready for a water change, I simply dump the stored water into a bucket and add 2 1/2C of salt. Then add a small powerhead, mix overnight, add a heater the next morning. I then do the actual change some 9 or 10 hours after adding the heater, usually after getting home from work.

 

[CStrickland]

I already have an RO sytem under kitchen sink

Have you looked into adding a di can to it?
Some people use their reef rodi unit for drinking and cooking by putting a valve before the di so they can take the water before it goes into that can. Seems like maybe you could do something like that.

My bathroom doesn't get enough pressure so wouldn't work for me. Yeah, I set it on the counter, but it's def a little wobbly. Been meaning to mount it on a plywood sheet with a handle.

 

[TimeConsumer]

Maybe I can mount it on wall of garage? Will 100 plus texas heat mess them up? I'm wondering now how in world I'm suppose to hold up the RODI upright or make sure they are steady and monitor flow, output, basically do this all by myself in bathroom, is whats possible?

They're perfectly steady during operation. No need to try and stabilize it. Mine was under my sink but it wasn't mounted or anything.

 

[Barker88]

Looking for a ro/di system about 100 gpm what brand and how many stage is good?

 

[champion6sigma]

Have you looked into adding a di can to it?
Some people use their reef rodi unit for drinking and cooking by putting a valve before the di so they can take the water before it goes into that can. Seems like maybe you could do something like that.

My bathroom doesn't get enough pressure so wouldn't work for me. Yeah, I set it on the counter, but it's def a little wobbly. Been meaning to mount it on a plywood sheet with a handle.

I can't modify it b/c its warrantied. That was a purchase my wife and I did for our 5 thousand dollar water softener...which included the RO system which is made by GE, for our cooking/kitchen etc...They check out both systems yearly and replace the filter on the RO with gE ones.

I want to purchase the new system today since marine depot has a 15 percent off presidents day sale... and luckily spectrapure is not considered an offlimit brand.

 

[champion6sigma]

OK. I've got 50 minutes before sale ends I think. Why is it good idea to get 180 over a 90 x day or is it better to get the 90 gallons/day and just have to replace 1 filter instead of 2 90 a day filters....

The difference is 20 dollars. I also have to get a 150 dollar booster pump I suppose.

I'm opting not to get anything that has automatic flush. Its a 100 dollar addon that can break down.

Thanks for quick reply.

Like my initial post...maybe someone can explain if the 180 is going to last twice as long (i'm assuming these two 90's will get hit first with water? Then the remaining filters would take on the water which should be even cleaner than the 90? Am I thinking of this wrong?

Thanks

 

[TimeConsumer]

Sorry to be behind on your reply. The difference between 1x 90 and 2x 90 is double the life of the prefilters. Your sediment and carbon blocks will last twice as long since your waste water is reduced by half. Youi will have double the cost of membrane replacement, but that equates to maybe $50 extra over 3-5 years. Whereas double prefilter life saves you maybe $20 every 3-6 months while reducing water consumption and increasing water production.

 

[champion6sigma]

Sorry to be behind on your reply. The difference between 1x 90 and 2x 90 is double the life of the prefilters. Your sediment and carbon blocks will last twice as long since your waste water is reduced by half. Youi will have double the cost of membrane replacement, but that equates to maybe $50 extra over 3-5 years. Whereas double prefilter life saves you maybe $20 every 3-6 months while reducing water consumption and increasing water production.

appreciate that!

Only problem is that all spectrapures are showing out of stock and now I can't buy with coupon. Must be in stock. Really dissapointing not to get the 15 percent off.

 

[champion6sigma]

actually the spectrapure 90 day maxcap for 329 is in stock. says it uses 2:1 waste water ratio

I wonder if I can order now and then pay 20 dollar difference tomorrow when I call.

Both 90 and 180 spectrapures are showing 2:1 ratio. but the longer lasting filters you state makes perfect sense

 

[TimeConsumer]

Yeah. It's tough. FWIW I think this is a great deal for an RODI if your water doesn't have chloramines: http://spectrapure.com/Aquarium-RO-...ement-Filter Kit-TDS Meters-Chlorine-Test-Kit

$159 for a nice unit with TDS meter, pressure gauge, and 1 replacement filter kit.

 

[champion6sigma]

OK. Just ordered the 90 gallon maxcap and got 50 bucks off and ordered the booster pump and got 25 off. 75 off total. I have to call first thing in morning and upgrade my first order to the 180 system, pay the extra 20 bucks and wait the extra day or two for it to become in stock. My tank has been having some issues lately....so having a good system is the name of the game, I can make as much water as needed. Especially if I have to do more quarantining.... I'll just get the reefsalt at lFS, and any other tiny parts to make something work at home, at local hardware. I still find it amazing that a little booster pump can cost as much as that system you linked to ....or half the price of a very high end (in my opinion) RODI system.

No shipping or taxes helps out so much over buying locally. I didn't buy a single major tank part locally except livestock, sand, water, rocks. Misc. tiny parts. Carbon and a few chemicals.

 

[champion6sigma]

Thanks again for all the help. I almost went with the brs but I've read too many other threads or sites where people have had both and preferred spectrapures for their build and filters lasting long time. As far as customer service they r suppose to be good. That being said, I think the brs are still very good systems and I like their customer service too.

As far as the setup, I guess it will help me to see the entire connections diagram, and manual. I wish I had a bigger house, or maybe we just have too many things. Texas is known for being bigger on things...but it blows my mind how the people with multihundred gallon tanks do it! Our washroom leads to the garage and I have no room to manuever or place canisters. Our kitchen faucet doesn't have a regular faucet head.

My best bet would be master or guest bathroom or using garage and extending to an outside faucet. Then make 25 gallons at a time and fill up each individual 5 gallon container. Then put away all equipment. Guessing all ro system and necessary tools can go inside brute canister and then out of way.

Maybe a stupid question. We have one faucet outside which doesn't use our salt water softener. It is better to use a faucet which has softened water coming out,? Right? Should it help out the Rodi system not having to work as hard?

 

[TimeConsumer]

You could also use the adapters that hook up to the sink supply line, or tee off your washing machine supply line with the hose adapter.

 

[CStrickland]

I think it'll be clear when you get the thing in your hands, it's hard to picture some of this in your mind. Take your time setting it up, learn what the parts do and don't skip the set up procedure where you flush the filters before you use them and get your waste ratio on point. That'll save trouble down the road. Congrats on pulling the trigger

 

[champion6sigma]

I might try that time consumer. Using the adapters to go into supply line. Perhaps in the supply lines in the bathroom sink under the counter. I think you are right CStrickland, I've never done any plumbing work in home...ashamed to say....

I've been needing to pull the trigger a long time now. Its just been killing me to take the containers and haul them out and in and overpay for water. I also added some salt to my order! D-D H2O Ocean magnesium pro plus salt mix. The marine depot guy says reef crystals is great but that he likes D-D better and is what he used. He also said I couldn't use the coupon for an out of stock item but said he uses a 90 gallon RODI for his 130 gallon tank. If mine is only 50....he thinks the 90 is way more than enough since I'll never even be making 50 at a time. I went ahead and kept the deal....I can always upgrade to the 2 filter sytem later on if I get a bigger tank, which we wouldn't do for a minium of 7 years....so I'll have to live with the 90. By that time I could just get a new system probably.

I just looked at their site, now the maxcap is on deal of the day . for less than what I paid. Now i have to call them back.

 

[champion6sigma]

OK. 1st order cancelled, new one placed for 66 dollars off total which is better than the 49 i got yesterday. Pretty good deal. Still wish I had the 180 but its nice to know I got a real good deal on a solid system.

 

[champion6sigma]

What are you all's PSI from your source your using? TDI?

I've talked to many people at marine depot, and two at spectrapure. Spectrapure states that I'm very good with the 90gpd unless I want a faster water production with the second membrane piggybacked...and the faster doesn't mean twice as fast. I'm running an aquatek 8800 getting me slightly higher than 80 psi and I have to dial it down to under 80 for optimal performance.
Also, having a piggyback system has nothing to do with less water loss. My maxcap should get 2:1 on either when conditions are right. Everything comes into play...as far as all parameters...except the system is NOT the factor.

Temperature of water, starting TDI, PSI, theres some formulas on the website that talk about the variables.

I haven't made a batch of water yet, I've merely flushed the system well, I'm getting 0 TDI. I have an intake TDI of 270. Hard to believe....since I have a salt water system..but maybe particular outside faucet i used with a water hose adapter...wasn't best choice. I need to buy a counter faucet adapter....spectrapure doesn't include it like BRS does. Or any of the other parts for under sink.

I also saw BRS video which the guy recommends a pre line filter device which they sell on BRS to get the large particles.....may order that soon. Its a tiny inline gadget. I'm also contemplating finder a different container for the water produced.

I'm going to just use system as is...to see how long water production takes...then if I find its too slow....I'll order the piggyback system direct from spectrapure. Its 79.99 includes all hardware brackets, tubes, and the right regulator. for the selectplus membrane which the new maxcaps use.

 

[crocogator106]

Just ordered the 75GPD value model from BRS. I've read some great reviews but I have no practical experience yet.

 

[CStrickland]

What are you all's PSI from your source your using? TDI?
...
Temperature of water, starting TDI, PSI, theres some formulas on the website that talk about the variables.

I have 80 psi, tap tds is 88. Tds can be up to like 450 in some places. My water is low tds but high sediment, I got a fancy sediment filter after the first one only lasted like 3 months with pretty low usage. I guess sediment is like bigger chunks, so the waters dirty in a way that doesn't show as high tds. You want the sediment filters to get the big chunks so the later ones can grab tds instead of being clogged up.

Then you want your membrane to reject most of the tds, there's a proper percentage. That percentage is saying that 90% (or whatev) of the tds is getting caught be the membrane, so your di can grab the last bits instead of getting used up too fast.

Temperature affects how well the membrane does that because cold water is thicker so it doesn't go through it as easily. The 90gpd is 90 gpd at 77 degrees and 80 psi. Cold water slows it down because you are wasting water that should go through the di, but doesn't cause it's too thick for the membrane. Hot waters bad for the membrane. Low pressure slows it down because it's not pushed through as hard.

The flow restricter decides how hard the water gets pushed through the membrane. You need enough psi in the first place, but you also need the right flow (it's confusing how that's diff from psi, but it is). The flow restricter controls how much is wasted, you want enough waste to be removing the right % of tds (to keep your di healthy) but not too much or it takes forever to make water. This ratio is 3:1 or 4:1 depending on your unit. You measure how much waste water and product water you can make in a minute. If you get 400ml of waste for 100ml of product water in that time, you have 4:1.

At least, that's how I understand it from having to deal with really cold, high sediment water. Some of that infos probably wrong but I think it's the basic idea. Most people don't get this in depth with it. They just plug and play their unit. IMO if you learn what the parts do, and how to keep them running well, you can save a lot of time and money because your unit is running as well as possible.