2 quick inquiries for the many geniouses of the forum :)

[fatman]

I have purchased many RO units over the years and found it not unusual to get a unit that has a pretty bad TDS water output probably due to the RO membranes not storing well over long periods of time in factory packaging. They will go long periods of time stored in water and do fine, but the preservative oil they use on new membranes just doesn't work as well as water for long term membrane storage. The bad units I have recieved always worked fine when the RO membranes were replaced with membranes from places like http://www.waterfiltersonline.com or http://www.airwaterice.com Bacteria will build up on RO membranes outter surfaces over time regardles of whether or not they are used. Luckily most of they bacterias which effect us and fish are not small enough to pass through thr RO membranes. What is problematic is storage of water after it comes out of filter as tere is no chlorine taht means any open storage of water, such as tote containers and such, are quite prone to bacterial buildup and there are airborne bacterias that will grow in the water readily that can make persons sick. So water stored in a barerel should not be considered safe to drink. The RO water in an inline small storage tank is safeto drink however as there is no method of entry for bacteria.

[Reefgyrl]

That's probably true. I just had a bad experience with the one on ebay. The instructions were vague, and the guy I bought it off of was no help at all. I did replace the membrane, but it just never worked right.