immedicatdru2
Active member
I don't know about anyone else, but I've read several times of other people getting tired of going to the LFS to get RO water. Does anyone have any D.I.Y. plans for an RO or RO/DI filter? That would really be a help.
Ro/di?
- Thread starter immedicatdru2
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wrightme43
Well-known member
Its cheaper to buy on ebay than to make one
jeremys78
Active member
The Ebay versions or other reef-specific versions?
Any drawbacks to el-cheapo?
Any drawbacks to el-cheapo?
steve-s
Well-known member
Depends on the water quality (TDS) of the source water. If the TDS of the source water is low (mine's 11), they work quite well. If your on well water, near farms or have a reasonabley high TDS, then I would look at an alternate source. The quality of the RO membrane will make a much larger difference in performance (longevity?) in that case.jeremys78 said:
Got mine from Aquasafe Canada last year and TDS is still 0!!
Cheers
Steve
NaH2O
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2004
- Messages
- 8,568
Holy cow! TDS of 11?? I'm so jealous! 
(and I'm a real geek that I'd be jealous about water quality ) LOLOL. My TDS post water softener is high 400s...almost 500. Others in the area say their TDS without water softener is 700 . Thankfully, my RO/DI unit takes my TDS to 0.
Check out our sponsor AquaFX. Here is a recent thread in their forum: Just Made My Order.
(and I'm a real geek that I'd be jealous about water quality ) LOLOL. My TDS post water softener is high 400s...almost 500. Others in the area say their TDS without water softener is 700 . Thankfully, my RO/DI unit takes my TDS to 0.Check out our sponsor AquaFX. Here is a recent thread in their forum: Just Made My Order.
steve-s
Well-known member
Hehe... shocked the hell out a me when I first tested the tap water!! Completely blew me when I tested bottled water and it was higher LOL..
Cheers
Steve
Cheers
Steve
snobanker
Well-known member
I have the aquasafe as well...works great
RandyStacyE
Well-known member
I bought my RO/DI on eBay from an excellent company called:
Filter Direct Co.
They have such great prices that I even bought a booster pump from them. It came with everything you could ask for less than "the pump only" from any other company I have found.
I hightly recomend them. They even threw in a TDS meter. They have excellent tech support, they quickly respond to emails, etc...
Filter Direct Co.
They have such great prices that I even bought a booster pump from them. It came with everything you could ask for less than "the pump only" from any other company I have found.
I hightly recomend them. They even threw in a TDS meter. They have excellent tech support, they quickly respond to emails, etc...
acemart
Active member
I bought a great unit from http://www.airwaterice.com/ and have been very pleased. They offer a variety of models and can customize for your specific requyirements. They are more expensive than E-bay sellers, but they have great customer service and stock all the parts you need and will need in the future. I'm not a very "handy with tools" guy, but they have a multitude of ways to hook up the systems and will walk you thru it step by step.
thereefgeek
Member
I put together my system from easily accessable parts online and from Home Depot. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/photos_members/showphoto.php?photo=3827&cat=500
The first two canisters (from left to right) are sediment and carbon respectively. You can see the two spare refill inserts (GE household filtration) sitting on the shelf above the filter canisters. The third is a DI add on I got from Kent Marine a few years back and just keep changing out the resin with refills our club makes from a bulk order from www.resindepot.com . You can see the two empty refillable inserts on the shelf at the right. Our marine society just orders 1 cubic foot (about $160) of mixed bed ion exchange resin (60/40 mix of cation to anion resins) and bags up 3 cup refills and sells them to members for fundraising. You can get the refillable cartridge inserts from resindepot as well and the clear canisters are about $25 from Marine Depot. Our municipal water supply reads only about 32 ppm of TDS and the DI resin refills last me about 2-3 months. I usually change the sediment and carbon about every 3-4 months. Since we're on metered water and charged by the cubic foot of use, I stopped using Reverse Osmosis years ago in lieu of DI only. TDS readings are ZERO on top-off and make-up water for my tank.:razz:
The first two canisters (from left to right) are sediment and carbon respectively. You can see the two spare refill inserts (GE household filtration) sitting on the shelf above the filter canisters. The third is a DI add on I got from Kent Marine a few years back and just keep changing out the resin with refills our club makes from a bulk order from www.resindepot.com . You can see the two empty refillable inserts on the shelf at the right. Our marine society just orders 1 cubic foot (about $160) of mixed bed ion exchange resin (60/40 mix of cation to anion resins) and bags up 3 cup refills and sells them to members for fundraising. You can get the refillable cartridge inserts from resindepot as well and the clear canisters are about $25 from Marine Depot. Our municipal water supply reads only about 32 ppm of TDS and the DI resin refills last me about 2-3 months. I usually change the sediment and carbon about every 3-4 months. Since we're on metered water and charged by the cubic foot of use, I stopped using Reverse Osmosis years ago in lieu of DI only. TDS readings are ZERO on top-off and make-up water for my tank.:razz:
The R/C Man
Well-known member
Holy Cow Nikki!
You must go through filters like crazy!
Do you back flush your membrane occasionally?
You must go through filters like crazy!
Do you back flush your membrane occasionally?
RandyStacyE
Well-known member
Here's the link:
http://www.filterdirect-water.com/index.html
100 gpd 6 stage Ro/DI including a TDS meter. I paid $103.00 including shipping. Now the price is more like $120.00
http://www.filterdirect-water.com/index.html
100 gpd 6 stage Ro/DI including a TDS meter. I paid $103.00 including shipping. Now the price is more like $120.00
NaH2O
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2004
- Messages
- 8,568
The R/C Man said:Holy Cow Nikki!
You must go through filters like crazy!
Do you back flush your membrane occasionally?
LOL Greg, funny you should ask....I have a back flush kit to install, but haven't gotten around to that yet
. I am actually about to change all my filters again, and they were installed Sept 2 (I label the canisters so I know when they were installed), so I suppose that isn't so bad. My membrane was new in Sept, too, but the old one lasted just about a year.
