RO/DI Filter Suggestions

wcolwell88

wcolwell88

AC Members
Jun 25, 2007
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Oakland, MD./Terra Alta, WV.
www.waynecolwell.com
I'm setting up my first salt-water aquarium and I would like suggestions for a RO/DI unit. The tank is a 29 gal. will be FOWLR. I'm on a meter and water in my area is extremely expensive compared to all the other places I've lived, so I would like to have a good product to waste ratio. I personally don't care about the water that much, but I live with my parents and they would not like me wasting water, which brings me to ask what can I do with the waste water? I also can not make any permanent plumbing changes, so I need to be able to hook the unit up to a threaded water line. I was originally thinking about hooking it up under the bathroom sink, but I just noticed that for some reason my parents didn't bother to put a shutoff valve under the sink so instead I will be hooking the unit up in the basement behind the wash machine( and then carrying the water up 2 flights of stairs). I will be hooking it in to the cold water hose off the back of the wash machine. It will be running at night so I will also need an automatic shut off for it. I thought it would be easier to just buy RO water so I started looking for prices but I can't get it. I have a saltwater fish store about an hour away 1 direction called Scales N Tails, they told me not to use RO water and that I would have to add nutrients to the water if I did, but these are the same people that told me to use crushed coral because they said sand would break my impellers, which I asked about here and found to be not true. I have a Petco about an hour away the other direction, they don't carry RO water because they claim it is not profitable, but they carry saltwater that is suposedly from the ocean for 11.99/5gal. My third option is water from the Culligan machine at a Wal-Mart about 20 min. away, I'm not sure if this would be a good option or not. I'd like to not pay more than $250 for the filter setup including auto shutoff and water containers but I supose I will go higher if I have to, just means it will greatly extend the time before the tank is finished. Anybody have any recommendations for a RO/DI system for me? Also, any ideas for good water containers that will be easy to carry up 2 flights of stairs and pour in my tank would be good too. Thanks, Wayne.
 
If you are comfortable regenerating resin (using hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide), you can get the Kent Deion 200R. That unit is DI only, so it doesn't waste any water, but the resin runs out quicker. The 200R version has separate cation and anion resin you they can be regenerated as needed and then replaced about once a year.

I use 5-gallon plastic carboys for my water.
 
Oh, there are RO/DI units that discharge the waste water into the house's water heater tank to avoid waste. That might be an option for a 29 gal tank, since you won't be using a lot of water anyway.
 
wcolwell...first and most importantly....you should always use ro/di water for you tank....your salt will provide your inhabitants with your trace elements..im using reef crystals .depending uopn what you have in your tank...you might need to dose at some point..but as long as you test your water youll know what supplements you will need..for your ro/di unit you can get a y splitter and attach it to your cold water supply at your washing machine...all rodi's have a lot of waste water..you cant get around that...i use mine for watering the flowers( like i have time for that..but i hate wasting it)i have a coralife 50 gpd that works great..i have it hooked into a 32 galon rubbermaid trash can with a kent marine ato....it has worked great so far...but they are not fail safe..google rodi and see all the places that pop up...i would stick with a reputable store online, most will also sell replacement filters as well...your 250.00 price estimate is right there.. i use a couple of 5 gallon pails with lids that i got at wal mart for 3.00 a piece and marked the RO ONLY..a friend of mine uses a 5 gallon plastic gas jug...thats all i use them for. its so much more convienant to make your own water.. i hope this has helped...and good luck
 
ill be honest, i didnt bother reading the post..... but check the link in my sig, they have good units at good prices. I have only seen people pleased with them, and I myself, am very happy with both the unit, and the total cost.
 
I was asking around about options and came across this Tap Water Filter by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. I was told it is a DI filter. I found the product on a site I buy stuff from. Here is a link:
http://www.aquariumguys.com/tapwaterfilter.html
Would this work for me? They said that all I would have to do is buy the replacement filters after about every 50 or so gallons. Also, I still want to know if a phosphate reactor would work.
 
I wouldn't bother with the Aquarium pharmaceuticals tap water filter.
I got one a few months ago for about $35, and replacement filters are about $17. I'm already almost done with my second filter so I'm already at $52 plus shipping so more like $60.
I live on Long Island and my town has excellent water, but I still only get about 50 gallons out of this thing.
I just purchased a RO/DI unit from e bay (6 stage) for $100 delivered. You only have to change the filters on that about once a year, and thats if you are using it daily (rated for 100 gallons per day).
Trust me its a much better deal to get the ro/di unit, and as an added benefit, you can drink the water out of the ro/di unit not from the "tap water filter"
 
Ok, reporting another mistake of mine. Although several of you suggested against it, I bought the tap water filter. It said on the website that it would "slide" up over the faucet. Any other solution would have to be installed to the water lines behind the wash machine. I figured using this would not have waste water and I would not have to carry my water up 2 flights of stairs. I just got the filter in the mail and opened the box to find that this unit needs a threaded faucet. The bathroom sink I was going to install it in has no internal or external threads on the faucet. Also, in case anyone wants to ask, I can't hook a filter up to the water lines behind this sink because for some reason it has no shutoff valves behind it. Since this filter will not work, I need to find something else. I will be hooking it up to the cold water line on the back of my wash machine, which is currently the only place I have to hook it up. blockamon mentioned the Kent Deion in his post. I'm thinking about going with something like that because it does not have any wastewater. Is there any problem with using just DI water without RO? Anyone that could give me some advice, it would be greatly appreciated.
 
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