thinking about getting an ro/di

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bigdaddyadam

New member
I have been dealing with a small algea or diatom issue on my substrate and some of the water for a while now. Additionally, my coralline growth is very slow. Both of these lead me to believe there is more chlorine and phosphate in the RO water I get at Meijer than I would like to believe. Additionally the maintenance record on the machine there seems spotty at best and I am sure their standards for water quality are not up to snuff with mine. I also know that once we move to Cleveland it will be even more difficult to easily get decent water.

Consindering all that I have it in my mind to get an RO/DI system.

Anyone have a suggestion for one that is good, fairly cheap, and easy to install?

Additionally I am wondering how hard they are to install, and how hard to uninstall, because it will be going into an apartment that we don't permanantly own and I am sure they will not be real thrilled with any major damage to the plumbing under the sink in the kitchen.

Any information would help. Thanks
 
I run mine off my washing machine cold tap with a Y-connector and send the waste down the laundry drain. Once you have one you'll kick yourself for lugging all that water from the store. I figure at a little under 200 for the whole ro/di setup and .69 a gallon for store water, at 10 gallons a week, this is beyond economical: it should save money in the long run.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7096304#post7096304 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
.69 a gallon for store water
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Dang dude I was spending only $1 for 5 gallons before I got my RO/DI unit.
 
I gotta agree Adam, even if you install it under the sink its a matter of a saddle valve on the cold water line that's easily replacable that you can turn off leave in place and a 1/4" hole in the sink drain that's easily sealed when it's time to go with a dob of silicon. Just don't forget the drain fitting or you have to order a new one for $8.00 (I know because I replaced the old sink mine was hooked to and took it to the landfill). It really wasn't a big deal either way. Even at a quarter a gallon like I paid here I stood outside in all kinds of weather filling my 5 gallon bottles, it wasn't always bad... sometimes I stopped at the drive thru across the street first:D
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7096632#post7096632 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dubbin1
Dang dude I was spending only $1 for 5 gallons before I got my RO/DI unit.
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I think it's $.49 here if you get it at the store with your own container isn't it?
 
so am I correct in thinking that with the faucet adapter you don't have to puncture any pipes at all it just runs from the faucet and the waste can go down the sink drain? or am I crazy?
 
how does the one above compare with other ro/di units? that one looks pretty cheap but I want one that it is easy to get filters etc for, I had looked into the typhoon at one point.
 
Yes it as easy as that and yes these are very good quality units. I don't know what you think looks cheap about them because they are very well made. BTW most RO units all take the same filters.
 
no no, not cheap as in crappy, cheap as in not very much money. I meant it looked like a good deal which made me wary that maybe they were a smaller brand that it might be hard to get replacement filters for.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7096872#post7096872 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hllywd
I think it's $.49 here if you get it at the store with your own container isn't it?
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You can get it from the dispenser at the car wash across from Findlay Ford. $1 for 5g. The owner also does a good jod on the quality of the water.
 
I always got mine from Flag City... before the carwash was built...:rolleyes: It's a flat $.25 per gallon.

Adam, we just tested mine and after about 2 years use my TDS are 4ppm. Raw water was in the 190s if I remember right. Somebody said that wasn't good enough but come on 4ppm??? He did have a valid arguement for the DI cartridge being mounted vertically rather than horizontally. The resin could settle and water could bypass in the vertical configuration.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7098353#post7098353 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hllywd
I always got mine from Flag City...
Click to expand...

So did I and you would crap if you knew how bad that water was. We would have been better off using tap water :rolleyes:
 
Tim are you saying that the di portion is vertical on the unit that you all use? the one in the picture shows horizontal? is that 2 years without changing the media at all?

I guess what I want is 0 ppm water, which is what the DI should result in by the time it comes through there it should be nothing but pure water. It was brought to my attention that even if you only had 2 or 3 ppm TDS if even .5 ppm of that was phosphate or chlorine then you're really inhibiting coral and coralline growth while maybe encouraging nuisance algea at the same time.

Did you get 0ppm with the unit initially? and how long, in unit use, was it before you started getting anything above 0ppm TDS

I am just curious, because if the unit is real good I will probably get one like that, but if it is just decent and you still get disolved solids then I will spend the extra $50 to $100 dollars for a typhoon or a spectrapure unit
 
Positive: I believe that the e-bay unit is good and gives 0 TDS.

Negative: As I understand, the DI unit is horizontal on the e-bay unit and it is not replaceable (correct me if I am wrong guys). I have heard that once the DI is used up, the manufacturer recommends replacement of the entire unit.

I plan to get the Typhoon III as well.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7099855#post7099855 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bigdaddyadam
Tim are you saying that the di portion is vertical on the unit that you all use? the one in the picture shows horizontal? is that 2 years without changing the media at all?

I guess what I want is 0 ppm water, which is what the DI should result in by the time it comes through there it should be nothing but pure water. It was brought to my attention that even if you only had 2 or 3 ppm TDS if even .5 ppm of that was phosphate or chlorine then you're really inhibiting coral and coralline growth while maybe encouraging nuisance algea at the same time.

Did you get 0ppm with the unit initially? and how long, in unit use, was it before you started getting anything above 0ppm TDS

I am just curious, because if the unit is real good I will probably get one like that, but if it is just decent and you still get disolved solids then I will spend the extra $50 to $100 dollars for a typhoon or a spectrapure unit
Click to expand...

Adam, No it is mounted horizontal but I just went and looked at it and it took me 5 seconds to move it to vertical. The entire filter is as I purchased it a little over 2 years ago. I can't tell you what it did initially. Dwayne and Jeff's units are much newer, they should be able to answer that better. Maybe I'll recheck with it vertical.

Jen, As far as I know everything is servicable. I don't think I can refill the DI canister with new media I think it has to be replaced. The RO section has a removable cap to change the membrane and all of the others are regular filter cartridges.
 
You may want to look at the "Typhoon with asov and float switch" on airwater ice's site, its only $159 and the same thing as the typhoon 3 without the tds meter and pressure gauge, i got that and just added the pressure guage since i already had a tds meter. Buckeye field supply also has some nice units
 
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