Top offs with Bottle Water

[fatman]

Depending on the temperature of your well water and the water pressure you could be talking a cost of 10 to 20 cents a gallon to produce your own RODI water figuring your well water costs you the same amount to produce as to buy municipal water. Maintenance on the units would be based on amount of water being produced, figuring at 20 gallons a week for all your tanks combined your maintenance costs would only be about 30 dollars per year. The cost of the RODI filter will depend on your water pressure. If it is 50 psi or more you can get a system for a round $125 with shipping, ask Buffer for the URL. If you need a booster pump for pressure below 50 psi, the add another $200 to the filter cost.

[Rcpilot]

I have less than 200 invested in my RO/DI unit and pump. I had to use a pump due to low water pressure. It's a 6-stage unit and does exactly what I needed. Puts out about 2.5g in 1/2hr.

[NewbReefer]

mine is a 6-stage as well, only cost me $150, water pressure wasn't an issue for me.

[sen5241b]

Just got the water report for Arlington Co VA and we have radioactive barium in our water at the EPA limit! (Hey, maybe it could cause some cool mutation in one of my fish!)

[NewbReefer]

lol, wow. good luck drinkin that stuff.

[tizapolgar]

Purified or RO bottled water is okay, BUT...

...stay away from SPRING water. I've tested several bottled/spring/purified waters for nitrates and phosphates. Everything I've tried, including waters from municipal sources, are okay and test 0 on nitrates. However, SPRING water, usually from natural sources, is super high on nitrates from my experience. Spring water is usually pasteurized but NOT run through an RO filter, as it would remove minerals and defeat the purpose of spring water. This leaves the nitrates, and so spring water is a BAD idea for your tank.

Spring water is always labeled as such - Dasani and brands like that are usually from municipal sources; even the Publix and Winn-Dixie brand purified water seem to be safe for tanks. Personally, I get mine from the RO machine at Publix for 30 cents a gallon.

[fatman]

Originally Posted by Rcpilot

I have less than 200 invested in my RO/DI unit and pump. I had to use a pump due to low water pressure. It's a 6-stage unit and does exactly what I needed. Puts out about 2.5g in 1/2hr.

How did you manage that? A pump and a pressure switch for a 100 gallom per day pump usually runs around $250 with out a RODI unit, and that is from a supplier of RO parts and membranes etc. A pump alone from some place like Marine Depot would run over $290 by itself if it was a pump for 100 gallons per day. We all could use an URL for a site with prices like you say. Plus an output of 5 gallon per hour means 120 gallons a day. That would be a pretty unbeatable price.

[fatman]

When you all say a six stage unit, do you mean one stage being a RO membrane and the other five stages all being canisters holding 10 inch filters or cartridges?

[NewbReefer]

theres mine

[Reefgyrl]

That's the same one I used to have that I bought on Ebay.