aquatic life RO buddie VS. BRS 5 stage RODI

[Grimreefer89]

i currently have a Aquatic Life RO Buddie Four Stage Osmosis System, 50-gal ( with the di filter) should i upgrade this to a the brs 5 stage filter? the amount and speed of water it produces is fine but the filters just dont last long. has anyone swapped from the aquatic life to brs that could share some feedback?

 

[Funston07]

I have the RO buddy and don't go through filters that fast. How big is the tank your maintaining and what is your incoming TDS?

 

[ichthyogeek]

I did some research, but here's a spreadsheet on the 4 stage filters (Sediment, Carbon, RO, DI). I haven't had the time to get on the 5+ stage filters yet... Red indicates I haven't been able to verify it, Green indicates the best pricing I can find, and Yellow/Orange indicate more expensive options (that may/may not be better).

 

[Funston07]

I did some research, but here's a spreadsheet on the 4 stage filters (Sediment, Carbon, RO, DI). I haven't had the time to get on the 5+ stage filters yet... Red indicates I haven't been able to verify it, Green indicates the best pricing I can find, and Yellow/Orange indicate more expensive options (that may/may not be better).

Why is the DI replacement cost vary so much between brands? I paid $13 for DI resin which was enough to replace the cartridge twice so essentially $6.50 per replacement on the RO buddy and you have it as $24. Im just curious of what exactly factors into your pricing. Is that for an entire cartridge instead of refilling it yourself?

 

[ichthyogeek]

So the prices I listed are based off of the websites I got them from (if it's blue, then that's a hyperlink that you can click to take you to where I referenced the site). In the case of the DI resin for $24, that's based off of the price that the website sells one cartridge for. Buying bulk does decrease costs though, but the spreadsheet's already large enough as is....

I can't exactly tell you why the DI replacement costs varies between brands, since I don't know what's behind the scenes with the different brands (higher quality resin? Packaging? Desire to maximize profit? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). I also need to update the sheet as prices change...I'm going to have to up it to monthly checks....

And of course, you can probably find it cheaper somewhere else...

 

[Funston07]

So the prices I listed are based off of the websites I got them from (if it's blue, then that's a hyperlink that you can click to take you to where I referenced the site). In the case of the DI resin for $24, that's based off of the price that the website sells one cartridge for. Buying bulk does decrease costs though, but the spreadsheet's already large enough as is....

I can't exactly tell you why the DI replacement costs varies between brands, since I don't know what's behind the scenes with the different brands (higher quality resin? Packaging? Desire to maximize profit? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). I also need to update the sheet as prices change...I'm going to have to up it to monthly checks....

And of course, you can probably find it cheaper somewhere else...

That makes total sense if your buying the entire cartridge. Like I said I was just curious cause just for the resin itself it definitely does not cost that. Thats a pretty big spreadsheet to keep up with lol good luck.

 

[Grimreefer89]

Ive got a sumped 40 breeder that i do weekly or biweekly 5 gallon water changes and a 32 gallon gallon bio cube that i do the same for plus obviously about a gallon a day for the ATO. My water has low 200 tds and it does get to 0 tds with the 4 stages. My di canister cant be refilled though its sealed. And it doesn't take long before i go from 0 to 5 tds like less than a month.

 

[Funston07]

Ive got a sumped 40 breeder that i do weekly or biweekly 5 gallon water changes and a 32 gallon gallon bio cube that i do the same for plus obviously about a gallon a day for the ATO. My water has low 200 tds and it does get to 0 tds with the 4 stages. My di canister cant be refilled though its sealed. And it doesn't take long before i go from 0 to 5 tds like less than a month.

200 TDS could be playing a big factor into your filter consumption. My incoming water is like 73-77. Strange your canister can't be refilled though, mine unscrews and then pop the screen with the sponge out and fill it back up.

 

[excell007]

Ive got a sumped 40 breeder that i do weekly or biweekly 5 gallon water changes and a 32 gallon gallon bio cube that i do the same for plus obviously about a gallon a day for the ATO. My water has low 200 tds and it does get to 0 tds with the 4 stages. My di canister cant be refilled though its sealed. And it doesn't take long before i go from 0 to 5 tds like less than a month.

I laso have a 4 stage 50gpd RO buddie that I got for $59 from amazon. I do 25-35 gallons WC the first 4 months I have it, now I do 12 gallons WC per week. It took about 200 gallons to exhaust the DI resin. I repacked the DI resin and it's back to 0 TDS. The membrane, carbon and sediment have about 600 gallons on them already. The TDS after the membrane is 4, I'll replace it when the rejection rate goes lower than 98%. The DI cannister only has half the capacity of the 10inch cartridge, but it's refillable.

 

[KStatefan]

You could just replace the DI with one that uses canisters

 

[Water Dog]

One of the reasons I’m not a fan of the Aquaticlife RODI systems like the RO Buddy and the Twist In units is the relatively high replacement cost of the non standard proprietary prefilters and DI cartridges. As far as your DI consumption goes, there are a couple of things you can do to make this more efficient. As stated above by @KStatefan, replace the DI cartridge with a standard refillable DI canister. In fact, because of your relatively high incoming TDS, it may be a good idea to look into a dual DI canister.

Search results for: '' - Bulk Reef Supply

Bulk Reef Supply - Saltwater Aquarium Supplies for Reef Tanks

www.marinedepot.com

Another add on that greatly improves DI resin life is adding a DI bypass valve. Here is a little write up I did in a thread awhile back to explain what a DI bypass valve is.

RO/DI - Are all equal?

Quite frankly, the only thing you need is the vertical DI kit. You already have everything else. Based on your numbers though, I do think you need a new RO membrane.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Faccia di Pesce]

I just bought an RO Buddie today and started making RO for the first time. I have a 40 Gallon tank that is still cycling. Reading through the comments and as a newbie all i know is that I am making RO water LOL. I guess I will learn as I go and then be able to comment on the RO Buddie. Hopefully I didn't waste 60 bucks. But it wouldn't be the first time since I began to build a reef tank for the first time

 

[Waynerock]

I got the aquatic life twist 100 GPD and my tap TDS is only 22 it takes me 6-8 months to run through the DI cartridge! I make about 15 gallons every week and a half. Good value for me it was cheap and marine depot gave me 25% off of all replacement carts no matter what one for life. If I used it more or my water was worse It would definitely not be as good a value. It’s a nice clean set up

 

[dtrick]

I just bought an RO Buddie today and started making RO for the first time. I have a 40 Gallon tank that is still cycling. Reading through the comments and as a newbie all i know is that I am making RO water LOL. I guess I will learn as I go and then be able to comment on the RO Buddie. Hopefully I didn't waste 60 bucks. But it wouldn't be the first time since I began to build a reef tank for the first time

I bought an aquatic life RO buddy to setup my 65G. It worked perfect for my initial setup and top off water for first couple of months. I have recently replaced it with a BRS 100 gpd system. My thinking was buying RODI water from LFS was $1 per gallon, so if I got my initial setup water + a few months out of the RO buddy it paid for itself. Initial setup of a tank is COSTLY and RO buddy worked perfectly for what I needed for first few months.

 

[Grimreefer89]

i guess i should give an update... i bought a BRS 100 gpd it fits under my sink and sits up on its own. filters should last longer ( just because of the size) so less pulling it in and out.