RO Water

A

AndyNH

Reefing newb
I have been reading the articles and a lot of the posts and it seems that this type of water is a good idea. My question for the people who use it has to do with storage. The filters that I am seeing that are in my price range are 35-40 gpd. So for my 55 that would be a little over a day to fill. Do you just put the water into the tank? If so how do you mix the salt in? In the future when I am doing a partial change do you put the water in a bucket mix the salt and then add to your tank?

Thanks in advance.
 
You put the water in a bucket and let it sit for a bit(i forget how long, someone will chime in), then you add the salt and have it heated and mixed for 24 hours, then you put it in the tank.

But for top offs (for evap) just use regular RO water no salt.

Make sure its an aquarium RO system, i believe the drinking ones dont filter as much out.
 
I have mine hooked up to a 14 gallon rubber maid container with an auto shut off on it. I always have some on hand. Then I mix the salt in a five gallon bucket
 
I have 8 5g buckets that I picked up at home depot that I just fill up. I attach my unit to my kitchen sink about once a week and spend an evening filling a couple of buckets. Mine is rated at 90gpd though, which I thought was kind of standard. 35-40gpd sounds really low. What unit are you looking at, and what is your price range? Also, you really want to get an RO/DI unit, not just an RO unit.

And welcome to the site, btw :)
 
Water storage tanks and mixing station. :D

1. Let top 65g tank fill with RO water.
2. Transfer RO water to bottom tank.
3. Throw salt in bottom tank and turn on pump.
4. Go back inside and surf Living Reefs. Or porn. Your choice.

7355364526_23b4754ce2_c.jpg
 
Thanks everyone for your replies. I don't think I have the room for a setup like Dennis', that is pretty amazing. I did mean to put RO/DI unit. I am looking to spend between $250 and $300. I saw some systems that were over a grand and that is too much. If anyone has recommendations that would be appreciated. I am getting a piece at a time and learning more about setting up and maintaining the tank. It will probably be a few months before I actually take the plunge.
 
+1 Hannah. Less than 200 and you have a 75 gpd unit. Also remember that once thetank is full, you will only be needing about 20-30 gallons a week. Many people have a large garbage can they store their water in. Nothing nearly as elaborate as Dennis' setup.
 
My 90gpd is the spectrapure 5 stage maxcap ro/di unit - pretty high quality, and I got for just under $300 from aqua cave. Totally love it and get more comments about how ultra clean my water and tank is. Were the systems you were looking at for drinking water? Those systems are different than what you need for aquarium water and I think more pricey, even though they are only RO systems.
 
The 5th stage is usually the DI. 4 tends to be just RO.
6 is an additional RO Membrane (the horizontal white canister on top) that doubles your output and lessens your waste water.
 
so no matter if the system says 4 stage ro/di system, it is not a true ro/di system? I have even seen 4 stage ro/di system that websites sell like marinedepot. Just curious before I go to invest in one.
 
Ya, what BJ said. If it has the DI canister, then it's going to have one less pre-filter.
Obviously, the more filters the better.
Also a good idea to add the dual tds meter for $35. This will tell you exactly what your tds is before and after the DI. Mine is like 2-4 before and a big fat zero after.
 
TDS, not TOS.
Measures Total Dissolved Solids, of which you want none.
Tap water is full of all kinds of crap, besides chlorine. All kinds of metals, organics, etc.
The better your filter, the cleaner the water, and the TDS meter will let you know exactly what you are getting out of it. It also helps to show you when it's time to change your filters.
 
TDS = total dissolved solids. How much "crap" is in your water, besides just the pure water. It's a measurement of how well your RODI unit is working. The TDS of your tap water could be between 200 and 400 (where I live, it's around 500). That means there are a lot of dissolved minerals, salts, solids, metals, etc. in the water. When it goes through the RODI unit, all that stuff gets taken out of the water, leaving pure water behind. Once it has run through the RODI unit, the TDS should read close to 0. The TDS will creep up over time as the filters get old. Once it gets to around 10 or 20, you will want to change your filters out. A TDS meter is essential to knowing if your RODI unit is working, and if the filters need replacing. If you don't want to get an inline one, you can get a cheap one for around $15 on Ebay. Be sure to get the calibration fluid with it.
 

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