which R/O filter to use

[b-gin-86]

so far I have been going to my local water supply for my RO water. It is taking to much time and effort and I would really like to have more control over my water and not trust the local store. I looked at some of the RO systems online. does anyone have any advise as to which unit may be better than the next. im not looking for more than 50 gallons a day I will not even be using that much. Is the three chamber system enough filtration for saltwater systems? any information will help. thanks

 

[Reefkeepr1986]

I recommend BRS 5stage RO/DI filter with tds meter! It is worth the money to invest in this filter system!! There are many people with different opinions about even using ro/di filters but in the past I have tried to low ball my reef and suffered the consequences of a major Nuisance algae bloom and it took me two months to rid of all the hair and brown algae from my sand, rock, and even my tank walls!! after investing in a RO/DI filter I can say my nuisance algae is controlled by my cleanup crew!! As of Minerals that the filter will clean out of tap water there are products like Replenish by seachem that after being filtered it adds important minerals back into the filtered water!! Hope that helps??

 

[AZDesertRat]

By far the best RO/DI on the market is Spectrapure. No other vendor specially treats and tests the RO membranes to improve the performance, custom blends all their own DI resins in house based on thousands of hours of real world testing under the worst of conditions, uses near absolute rated 1 micron or smaller sediment and carbon filters, capillary tube flow restrictors you the end user adjsut to your water conditions and more.
There really is a difference.

And get a good handheld TDS meter versus the inlines which are not ATC temperature compensated.

Don't get wrapped up in the "stages" game. This is an old ebay trick to make acheap drinking water system with a couple extra carbons or hollow DI tubes sound like the best thing since sliced bread. You need 4 good quality stages, no more, no less. A high quality 1 micron or less sediment filter, a single high quality 1 micron or smallr solid extruded carbon block, the RO membrane and a single 20 oz vertical refillable DI. Thats it. If you want bang for your buck you can add an additional full size vertical DI but extra carbons or sediment filters are awaste of your hard earned money.

 

[SantaMonica]

I use a 3 year old Spectrapure Maxcap 180 with select membrane. No cartridge changes yet, and still 0 tds.

 

[b-gin-86]

thanks guys for the information. so how much does a RO system usually cost and what is a good TDS tester.

 

[AZDesertRat]

A good reef quality RO/DI will cost you between $130 and $300 depending on the quality of the components, filters, membrane and DI resin and what options you purchase with it such as the TDS meter, DI bypass valve, autoshutoff valve etc.
Check out www.spectrapure.com , thye have a great deal at the top of the page on a 90 GPD refurbished system with all new filters, membrane and resin. It is sold as refurbished because a housing, fitting or bracket may have a scuff or scratch but it in no way affects the performance or quality of the system.
A good TDS meter is the HM Digital TDS-3., TDS-4TM or AP-1. All are ATC temperature compensated and serve dual duty with the built in digital thermometer for around $25.

Another very good vendor you may want to check out right there in Ohio is www.buckeyehydro.com , Russ is great guy!

 

[b-gin-86]

thank you for the specific information desert. that's what I need.

 

[b-gin-86]

there is one on Drs. Foster and Smith. the brand is a aqua FX barracuda Reverse Osmosis De-Ionization Units for Aquarium Use: AquaFX Barracuda RO/DI Units I was reading it and it said it only removes 90% of TDP. Any information

 

[AZDesertRat]

Not the same quality or efficiency so it will end up costing you more over its lifespan in replacements.

Both Marine Depot and Premium Aquatics sell Spectrapure systems or you can buy one direct. One or the other had a 15% off RO sale advertised the other day and I think both offer free shipping which may save you even further.

 

[Mandrew]

I bought a 5 stage one off eBay for like $80-90 brand new. I added on a membrane flush kit, dual TDS meter, and a float valve for filling my storage container. So at most I have $150 into it and its reading 1-2 TDS out of the RO membrane and 0 TDS out of the DI stage also it's 100gpd!

 

[ptreef]

BRS units. Very good stuff and quality filters! great price especially on a Group buy

 

[AZDesertRat]

BRS uses way too coarse sediment filters at 5 microns, better systems use 1.0 or even 0.5 microns to protect the carbon blocks billions of tiny microscopic pores. You can see 40 microns with the unaided human eye so 5 microns i really pretty big compared to 1 or 0.5 microns and plugs the carbon pretty quickly rendering it useless. Love their supplements but their RO is average at best.
You really do get what you pay for and not all systems are the same even though outwardly they appear so. It is what is inside that counts.

 

[ptreef]

You can get 5, 1 and ,06 micron filter from them. In general no reason for that fine The RO membrane is top notch and so is the unit build as well.

I go 1 micron in the 3 pre filters...

 

[DRThompson]

I bought a 5 stage one off eBay for like $80-90 brand new. I added on a membrane flush kit, dual TDS meter, and a float valve for filling my storage container. So at most I have $150 into it and its reading 1-2 TDS out of the RO membrane and 0 TDS out of the DI stage also it's 100gpd!

+1....save money, buy ebay. after 6-12 months you can put in better cartridges.

 

[AZDesertRat]

While the ebay systems look similar often they are not. Many use the old style screw on compression fittings which leak every time you move or touch them, opaque or white housings which you annot see through, canister lids with less plastic around the threads so they end up with hairline cracks around the threads., often little hollow horizontal tubes for DI versus a full size 20 oz vertical refillable DI, granular carbons versus carbon blocks and worst of all Dow or no name 100 GPD nanofilter membranes rated at 90% rejection rate versus real Dow Filmtec or GE Water RO membranes rate at 96-98% rejection rate. The differences are significant and if you are not an informed buyer it can cost you much more in the end trying to prop them up and make them work s they should. I can go into great detail on the differences and why you should spend an additional $30 or so up front and buy the quality system from the beginning.

Look at vendors like Spectrapure, BuckeyeHydro and PurelyH2o for real reef quality stystems then compare them feature by feature with the ebay and other systems to learn the differences. You do not save money with ebay systems and it has been demonstrated time and again.

The better the sediment filter the longer the carbon will last and better it will perform. The better the carbon the longer the RO membrane will last and perform since it does not have to work as hard removing suspended solids. The better the RO works the longer the DI lasts. It is a system from start to finish and everything depends on the quality of what is in front of it. Since water is the single largest ingredient in a reef system don't skimp on the RO/DI. The difference between a $130 system and a $90 system is dramatic and the $130 system will more than return the difference in the first year alone just in DI savings.

 

[Mandrew]

Still puts out 0 TDS and when I change the filters I will put better quality membrane and sediment filters in so that doesn't bother me a bit.

 

[AZDesertRat]

It all comes down to total cost of ownership. Any RO/DI should produce 0 TDS water, at least for a little bit. The difference is for how long and how much you need to spend on replacements and upgrades to make it continue to do so. With my previous name brand RO/DI the RO membranes lasted 18-24 months so I had to figure the cost of a new membrane in every 2 years at a minimum. It also had a rejection rate of about 97% so the RO only TDS was coming out at 13-15 and the DI lsated 150 measured gallons before requiring changing. The current RO/DI is over 6 years old, on the same RO membrane it started with, the rejection rate is 99.4% and my DI lasts over 1000 gallons with the same tap water. So in 6 years I would have replaced the old systems membrane 3 to 4 times and the DI would have been replaced 24+ times versus the 3 times I have replaced it with this system. Add up the cost of 3 membranes and 24 DI cartridges and the better system has more than paid for itself over and over. There really is a difference.
When looking at the quality of the system don't just look at the RO/DI TDS, look at the RO membranes rejection rate and TDS since it is the membrane that does 90-98% of the work. Then to keep it that way you need better sedimen tand carbon block filters or it won't last. Its an engineered system from the start to the finish and the good one required no replacements or upgrades from the very beginning.

 

[Noah707]

Hey I was just wondering what's an acceptable tds reading for a reef? Are 22 tds alright or should I get a new system? I'm using a 13 year old 3 stage RO.

 

[AZDesertRat]

I am sure 22 TDS is much better than your tap water but the problem is you have no idea what that 22 consists of. Since RO membranes are not particularly good at removing phosphates, silicates and all forms of ammonia by themselves it could contain those or it could be calcium or sodium or? The idea is you have no way of knowing.

Much of Southern California is fed with the same Colorado River water we get here in Phoenix and it could contain rocket fuel byproducts from manufacturing years ago or arsenic or who knows what. Everything that came out of creating the Grand Canyon is in the water at some level or another so I would not use it myself.

My acceptable TDS is less than 1, when I first start seeing signs of anything other than 0 TDS I change the DI cartridge and monitor the RO membrane TDS to ensure the membrane is still somewhere close to 98% rejection rate. Since you have RO only you will never see 0 TDS as most membranes are only 90-98% efficient even when new, it takes the extra DI stage(s) to get that to 0 TDS.

You also want to make sure you are testing with a good TDS meter that is ATC compensated, calibrated and clean and you use a clean glass or small container to draw the sample from the unit and immerse the meter in.

 

[Mandrew]

Hey I was just wondering what's an acceptable tds reading for a reef? Are 22 tds alright or should I get a new system? I'm using a 13 year old 3 stage RO.

You could just replace the filters and RO membrane, then get the add on DI stage. Then it *should* produce 0 TDS water.