R/O System Purchase Questions
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Help
Forum Name: General Help
Forum Description: The place to ask about pest, problems, hitchhikers, etc.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=72626
Printed Date: January 28 2025 at 5:14am
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Topic: R/O System Purchase Questions
Posted By: justchillinuno
Subject: R/O System Purchase Questions
Date Posted: August 21 2014 at 9:23am
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Hello there, We are looking to get a RO system very soon as we are tired of rushing to LFS for water... I am not very familiar with the differences between 3-4-5-6 stage systems... Can anyone please explain in simple terms lol. I am currently looking at these 2 systems and would love thoughts... I am ready to buy so any help would be appreciated!! We are wanting to install under our house with a 50ish gallon storage tank for use with ATO system! Thoughts? http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-5-stage-plus-ro-di-system-75gpd.html or http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-5-stage-chloramines-ro-di-system-75gpd-1.html I dont know what Chloramines means but thats what im reaching out for! Thanks in advance!!! J ------------- 55g - RIP - Moved to 90g 36g Bow holding tank 90g Reef Tank Dreams of many more! |
Replies:
Posted By: Molli
Date Posted: August 21 2014 at 9:43am
| I didn't check your links, but I know for sure is that you want a TDS Meter installed on your system. They are often sold separately, but are very cheap. |
Posted By: justchillinuno
Date Posted: August 21 2014 at 9:50am
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Thanks for the info! ------------- 55g - RIP - Moved to 90g 36g Bow holding tank 90g Reef Tank Dreams of many more! |
Posted By: BobC63
Date Posted: August 21 2014 at 11:39am
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If you can have your tap water tested for TDS that is the first thing I would do
(Some LFS will do it, or you could just purchase a stand - alone meter like Molli suggested)
Unless you have a very high (over 600 ppm) tap water wfrTDS, I would probably just do an RO - only unit (as opposed to RO/DI).
Look for a unit with an advertised max at 75 gpd (gallons per day) and a rejection rate above 97%.
What that means is that the RO membrane will reduce your TDS by 97% over the tap amount. If, for example, your tap TDS is 300ppm, then the water coming out should be down to a max of 9 ppm or less.
The max output is because the 100 gpd or higher units tend to be less efficient (lower rejection rate)
If your after RO - only TDS is below 20 ppm, then IMO you don't need to run it through DI afterwards. Adds a significant expense for not so much benefit.
------------- - My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) - * Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 * |
Posted By: LaRue
Date Posted: August 21 2014 at 11:51am
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Chloramines are a mixture of chlorine and ammonia usually you don't need to worry about them because the way they are removed is with carbon and there are carbon blocks in the ro unit however if your city water has a strong chlorine smell to it you may want to consider it. Where you want to have the unit hooked to a container you need to have an auto shutoff valve on the unit and a flat valve I would also suggest that you have a pressure gauge because the unit has to run at a minimum of 65 psi to function properly also you want to have a dual tds meter one before your di resin and one after so you can monitor the life on your filters and know when it is time to change them. The last thing I would recommend but it is also the most controversial on the forum is that I would run di resin. my recommendation is to run either a 5 stage or 6 stage filter the only diffrence between the two is the 5 stage has 1 canister of di and the 6 stage has 2 I personally prefer the 6 stage so I don't have to change the resin as often the brs 6 stage deluxe is a great unit that is what I run and it has all the features I recommended |
Posted By: Molli
Date Posted: August 21 2014 at 12:02pm
| Oh one more thing -- I've been told that if you have a soft water/water conditioning unit that if you can run your RO/DI unit on a softened water outlet that it might help with the filter time on your FO/DI unit. That is how mine is set up, but I have no way of knowing if it is saving filters or not. |
Posted By: LaRue
Date Posted: August 21 2014 at 1:42pm
| I have been told the same thing that the soft water helps to save on the life of the di and the ro membrane. |
Posted By: millsu2
Date Posted: August 21 2014 at 2:08pm
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Hard water has a nasty habit of depositing minerals all over whatever it is flowing through and clogging things like shower heads and faucets. The same thing that happens to your shower heads and faucets happens to the RO membrane. Unfortunately you can't soak the membrane in vinegar to fix it when it clogs :( Chlorine will also destroy the membrane, but that should all be removed in one of the pre-filters.
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Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: August 21 2014 at 2:34pm
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I use a 5 stage with dual TDS, and a single DI cartridge. My City water comes from two different sources and depending on the time of year they either treat with just chlorine or with chlorine and chloromine. I run 1 single .5 micron sediment cartridge, a carbon block, then the chloromine cartridge, RO membrane and of course last is DI. It works great, gives me 0 TDS water and I get about 6 months out of the DI before I have to change it. I also have softwater which might be helping make my DI last. I change my sediment cartridge as soon as I start to see any yellowing or browning on it to make sure none of the sediment makes it to the carbons or RO membrane. Hope that helps. Krazie  ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |