Buying an Ro/DI unit. Which one is best?

[airwaterice]

At Air water & ice I know that they try to get their customers 0 TDS for Less. I know that everyone at air water ice looks up customers water quality report before they prescribe a filter array and the filter they prescribe is based on the WQA's recommendations...for example...half of you reading this should have a catalytic activated carbon stage in your rodi because you have chloramines in your water...at least this is what SHOULD be prescribed according to the WQA...but it probably never came up or if it did they sold you a expensive carbon block....now thats BAD customer service!

 

[BfishLpond78]

I have the Vertex Puratek with the Spectrapure Double Max Cap DI and Silicabuster add on. Makes great water, true 1:1 waste to pure water and I make about 5 gallons in under an hour. Very happy with my unit.

Just a note, I get zero TDS straight from the unit, just added the Max Cap DI/Silica Buster cause some bald headed weirdo told me to, he always needs to add in his Tweaks.

 

[GobyApparatus]

AQUA FX has great customer service.

 

[airwaterice]

How often do you replace your membrane? I throw any membrane out when the rejection is less than 90%...for my Dow filmtec series membranes, they typically don't get down to 90% rejection for 3-5 years....cutting a Dow's 4:1 waste/pure ratio to a 1:1 ratio will QUICKLY exhaust your membrane to only get 90% rejection...around 1 maybe 2 years. I recommend sending the drain water to a garden outside....

 

[AZDesertRat]

I'm over 8 years on my current Spectrapure Select series 99% guaranteed membrane and it's still at 99.4% rejection rate with 550-860 TDS going in. The RO only TDS is between 2 and 3 and the MaxCap lasts just over a year and SilicaBuster DI 3 years. That's with a 100g mixed reef with 30g sump and a 16g nano.

There really truly is a difference.

 

[Suicideissleep]

Love spectrapure have had mine for 6 years now

 

[120reefkeeper]

+1 spectrapure

 

[Gomery12]

I have had my brs one for 6 years and have had no issues with it at all.

 

[AZDesertRat]

I have found the catalytic carbons or so called Chloramine removal carbons to be a waste of money. Those were developed for special situations like commercial or industrial cooling towers and things with extremely high levels of chloramines. The EPA limits the amount of chlorine or chloramines in drinking water to 4 ppm or mg/L which is easily taken care of by a good 1 micron or smaller extruded carbon block. Carbon does not remove chloramines, it removes the chlorine and breaks the bond with the ammonia which is then removed mostly by the RO membrane then polished off by the DI resin. I would much rather have a high quality RO membrane and DI with plenty of contact time for the DI like provided by a full size 20oz vertical canister and cartridge.
Everyone sells them but your really don't need anything more than a single 0.5 or 0.6 micron carbon block as long as that carbon is protected by an equal size or smaller sediment filter so the pores do not become plugged or fouled.
I agree with Air Water & Ice above, cutting the waste ratio is not something you want to do with your RO membrane, all membranes must be flushed via the waste or they do not last. Those who claim dual membranes are water savers are mistaken. It is not that simple or everyone would have been doing it decades ago. Companies like AWI and Spectrapure have known this for years, like over 30 years for each of them.

 

[airwaterice]

Chloramines do pose a risk for fish. Chloramines easily enter the bloodstream through the gills of fish. Once in the blood stream, chloramines denature hemoglobin and cause hemolytic anemia.

THE treatment method the Water Quality Association recommends for chloramines is Catalytic Activated Carbon.

https://www.wqa.org/Portals/0/Technical/Technical Fact Sheets/2014_Chloramine.pdf

 

[ZoaReefer]

I have a Air, Water, and Ice unit with a RO only diversion for my house drinking water, and then the DI goes to my reefing reservoir. I'm very happy with it, and it came mostly assembled, so all I had to do was cut and insert some hoses, hang it, and turn the water on. All the threaded fittings already had teflon. I have the catalytic chloramine filter.
Very inexpensive replacement filters, too. These guys are great.

 

[AZDesertRat]

The WQA is a trade group made up of manufacturers who have a vested interest. While I do read some of their articles I take much of their recommendations with a grain of salt. I get WQA publications through the environmental engineering firm I work for but it's mostly a lot of product promotions.

 

[DurocShark]

I started with an RO Buddy when I only had a 9 gallon tank. When I went bigger, I was replacing the cartridges on that little rig way too often, so I went bigger. Here's a comparison of the two:

I got mine from Marine Depot because they had a killer sale. If BRS had a killer sale when I was ready to buy, I'd have gone there.

The cartridges are what do the work. So don't worry about who you get your rig from as long as they take the standard carts.

 

[Cyclist]

spectrapure! End of story.

 

[Bob Escher]

I have the BRS 6 stage and 120 GPD love it now all I need is a booster pump.
Had another company that I wrong mention CS was really bad

 

[Cyclist]

I went with BRS, it's great, but then I needed more. I upgraded to the ULTRA-HIGH-EFFICIENCY 5 stage from Spectrapure. True 1:1 ratio!

 

[airwaterice]

General things know before buying a RODI...

Q1.) What is your house pressure in psi? Lower than 50 psi you will want a booster pump, higher than 75psi at your house - get a PRV.

Q2.) How fast do you need to make water? Example: I need to make 35 gallons in 12 hours...a 75 gpd membrane rated at 50 psi would be able to accomplish this if you have at least 50 psi at your house.

Q3.) Do you have chloramines in your water? 40% or more of you reafing this do have chloramines. If so the WQA recommends a catalytic activated carbon stage.
(Note: You can easily find you municipalities "water quality report" by a simple google search)... If on a private well system most colleges with a lab will test you water for a fee.

Q4.) If on a well water system can you supply your RODI with softened water?

Important items in a RODI...
●You want a high quality membrane (98-99% rejection rate). Go cheap on the membrane and you will pay more in the long run on DI resin every time.
●You want a filter array that properly addresses your specific situation - especially if you want to save money.
●When purchasing a RODI ask if it is going to be built or if they are going to pull it off the shelf in a warehouse. If off the shelf just how FRESH is the di resin?

Why settle? Talk to a rodi expert at a company that specializes in RODI and has lots of reviews of EXCELLENT customer service.

Fun fact: A 75 gpd rated membrane rated @ 50psi will produce 90 gpd @60 psi...the Exact same as a 90 gpd membrane rated @60 psi.

 

[s2nhle]

I have AWI. great information here to learn.

 

[airwaterice]

Bump

 

[fab]

Spectrapure wins hands down with its combination of substantially lowest life cycle cost coupled with great customer service. After the up front purchase cost has been shelled out comes the real expense of producing RODI purified water, the forever on-going recurring operational and maintenance costs. Plus, Spectrapure RO and RODI systems are made in America by American workers.

Spectrapure has the lowest recurring costs for media replacement and the highest ratio of RODI water output to waste water output. These dominate the cost picture for me as an aquarist.

The bottom line on media cost is determined by two objective metrics:
1. How many gallons of processed water you can produce per $$ of media cost, the more the better. Spectra is not only better in this objective metric, it is best.

2. How many gallons of water goes down the waste drain for each gallon of 0 ppm TDS RODI water is produced. We have to pay for all of the water that goes into our RODI units regardless of which output it ends up going to.

Spectrapure is the highest performer in its industry in both of these cost metrics by a long shot...and these costs go on and an and on for you as long as you produce RO or RODI water for whatever reason.

One other nicety for me with Spectrapure, my units have the fully automated self flushing feature built in for maximizing RO membrane longevity. TDS metering is standard, dual metering on RODI units.

Second fiddle on these cost metrics is all that is left after Spectrapure and it is a much more expensive seat than first.

I use Spectrapure for reasons based purely on hardnosed, fact-based discriminators that anyone can verify independently.

P.S., I have no affilliation with Spectrapure beyond being a satisfied user of their RO and RODI systems in my home and for my aquarium system