50 GPD 4-Stage RO Buddie - price error?

[jarviz]

I don't understand why it's $60 on amazon but $110 on the actual product website. Am I missing something? These appear to be the same two products right? Also, is there a reason to not get this for $60? I'm not very familiar with RO/DI units; and just trying to get something small and simple. I have a small NYC apartment and relatively clean tap water if that matters.

50 GPD 4-Stage RO Buddie Reverse Osmosis/Deionization System

Description The AQUATICLIFE RO Buddie +DI is a four-stage RO/DI unit designed for residential use to remove the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) from tap water. Each RO Buddie includes a Sediment, Carbon, Membrane and DI Resin cartridge. Useful applications include smaller aquariums, fountains...

aquaticlife.com

 

[Jekyl]

Seems the same. What size tank are you getting it for? It's the one I started with also.

 

[jarviz]

Seems the same. What size tank are you getting it for? It's the one I started with also.

10 gallon. i readthat the replacement cartridges are fairly expensive for this unit... but i imagine i would rarely change filters if i'm only doing 2 gallon WC every week.

 

[Jekyl]

The unfortunate thing was no TDS meter. Was hard to tell when all the filters needed changing or just new DI resin. I ended up switching to the BRS 5 stage with a built in TDS meter. I like it better. Costs more but saves in the long run.

 

[jarviz]

The unfortunate thing was no TDS meter. Was hard to tell when all the filters needed changing or just new DI resin. I ended up switching to the BRS 5 stage with a built in TDS meter. I like it better. Costs more but saves in the long run.

BRS's 4 stage units are like $150; even more for their 5 stage. I like the Buddie unit too because it looks smaller. can't i just get a TDS meter for like $10?

 

[DDenny]

BRS's 4 stage units are like $150; even more for their 5 stage. I like the Buddie unit too because it looks smaller. can't i just get a TDS meter for like $10?

Yes you can get a handheld TDS meter to check the effectiveness of the the filters and know when its about time to replace them. There are a lot of reefers that use those particular RODI units. Even at 2 gallons a week plus maybe another 1/2 gallon for topoffs possibly the filters still should last a while. One thing that you not looking at is future upgrades. Maybe getting a bigger tank and now you need more water and that little unit wont supply the amount you need. I am saving up for a 5 stage system at 100GPD. I only have a 4g tank and do 1 gallon weekly water changes so I buy my RODI from LFS and check it with TDS before I leave the store. Owner doesn't mind he gets a double check on his RODI water from his TDS meter.

 

[Acros]

I use this RODI system. My only complaint is that it’s too slow. Realistically it will make 1 gallon of water every 35-45 min. It’s not a big deal for a 10 gallon tank.

 

[Scott Ulrich]

I used an ro buddie 4 stage for the last 3 years on a 40 gallon setup and was able to get 0 tds. I would get about 4 gallons every 90 minutes. The di resin filter goes bad the quickest (changes colors). So plan to but an extra 1 or 2 of those. Once the other filters go bad I think it is probably less expensive for $60 to replace the whole setup than replace all the filters. Definitely get a tds meter.

I actually just ordered a 75 gpd 5 stage brs plus filter today. I was lazy not checking the tds in a while and I switched my 40 over to a 125 and after filling the while thing up found that my output tds was 50. Oops. I think it probably started better than that but as I went it was filtering faster. I thought it would get slower as it for more clogged, but not the case for me, it sped up as it went bad.

I think the ro buddie is a good option though for small setups or newer reefers before making a bigger investment.

 

[DDenny]

I use this RODI system. My only complaint is that it’s too slow. Realistically it will make 1 gallon of water every 35-45 min. It’s not a big deal for a 10 gallon tank.

Might be the incoming water pressure is not high enough. I have to buy a new soon. The housing has a crack on my current RO but it is 9 years old. Been using Distilled water for now hope to order one this weekend.

 

[Themastaa]

I don't understand why it's $60 on amazon but $110 on the actual product website. Am I missing something? These appear to be the same two products right? Also, is there a reason to not get this for $60? I'm not very familiar with RO/DI units; and just trying to get something small and simple. I have a small NYC apartment and relatively clean tap water if that matters.

50 GPD 4-Stage RO Buddie Reverse Osmosis/Deionization System

Description The AQUATICLIFE RO Buddie +DI is a four-stage RO/DI unit designed for residential use to remove the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) from tap water. Each RO Buddie includes a Sediment, Carbon, Membrane and DI Resin cartridge. Useful applications include smaller aquariums, fountains...

aquaticlife.com

I ordered it a few weeks ago off Amazon for $60. Works great. Tested TDS 0

 

[Acros]

Might be the incoming water pressure is not high enough. I have to buy a new soon. The housing has a crack on my current RO but it is 9 years old. Been using Distilled water for now hope to order one this weekend.

I don’t believe it is the water pressure. The system is rated to make 1 gallon every 29 minutes. I usually get 1 gallon made in 30-35 min (45 on one occasion).

That means, if the system is working as designed, it will take 5 hours to make water for a 10 gallon water change. It is a pain in case of an emergency

 

[jarviz]

yea this sounds about right.. mine takes a little longer as i don't have my faucet on full blast, since that will cause the faucet connection to leak. i make 3 gallons every weeks and this gets the job done fine. Highly recommend for smaller tanks and smaller living spaces.

 

[DDenny]

Broke down and ordered this RO/DI. Friend of mine had one that works awesome. Along with a new TDS meter HM Com-100

 

[MaxTremors]

I use this RODI system. My only complaint is that it’s too slow. Realistically it will make 1 gallon of water every 35-45 min. It’s not a big deal for a 10 gallon tank.

I have this same filter and I get around 5 gallons in a little less than 2 hours. Do you have a pressure gauge? I run mine at around 40-50psi (I think 65 is the max for this filter). The temperature that you run it at also determines how fast it is (they recommend 77° F). I’ve consistently found that I can run it for 1.5 hours (I set a timer), check to see how full the bucket is, and then usually run it for another 10-30min and end up with 5 gallons of 0 tds water. So that works out to around 20-25min per gallon.