Is it cheaper to make your own RODI water or buy 5G at the LFS?

[Zeal]

Title.

Recently purchased my first property (yay) and now I have to pay for water...

So the question is... what's cheaper? My wife says its cheaper to buy it but I don't think it is...

I live in South Florida (Davie) not sure if that matters

 

[Kryptonian]

I don't have the actual math in front of me but a $60-70 RODI and then a new DI sleeve every 6-8 months (depending on the amount of water your filtering each week) is definitely going to beat the sheer frustration of buying and dragging around 5G of water once a week or two weeks depending on water change frequency. That's my opinion.

 

[Brad_95]

I live in Maryland and I make my own RODI. I’ve only seen an uptick of about $18-$25 on my water bill, and our bills are quarterly instead of monthly. It is absolutely cheaper to make your own instead of purchasing it.

 

[Brad_95]

I should also mention, I make about 40 gallons of RODI per week.

 

[Zeal]

I live in Maryland and I make my own RODI. I’ve only seen an uptick of about $18-$25 on my water bill, and our bills are quarterly instead of monthly. It is absolutely cheaper to make your own instead of purchasing it.

18-25 monthly or yearly?

 

[Zeal]

I should also mention, I make about 40 gallons of RODI per week.

oooooff I need less than 20G a month

 

[Brad_95]

oooooff I need less than 20G a month

Yea it’d be a safe bet to say you wouldn’t even notice a change in your bill.

 

[Zeal]

Yea it’d be a safe bet to say you wouldn’t even notice a change in your bill.

You use a water saver or anything

 

[Brad_95]

18-25 monthly or yearly?

Every 3 months it’s extra $18-$25.

 

[Zeal]

Every 3 months it’s extra $18-$25.

Wow that's nothing...

 

[FishGeist]

A filter system is worthwhile here in cfl the water is quite horrible, I’d imagine probabl less so in sf, I’d still convince the wife to buy an ro/di system as it will pay for itself over time, as pre processed salt water is expensive in time/effort when compared to making it yourself.

 

[Brad_95]

You use a water saver or anything

I bought an RO Buddy 4 stage RODI filter, and hook it up to the mess sink in my laundry room and store the water into two brute trash cans, one for saltwater and another for freshwater. I then hook up a float switch for the freshwater can do it doesn’t overflow. Easy as can be and extremely cost effective. I run my tank very old fashioned (I don’t dose) and do decent water changes every week to replenish trace elements and nutrients.

 

[Zeal]

A filter system is worthwhile here in cfl the water is quite horrible, I’d imagine probabl less so in sf, I’d still convince the wife to buy an ro/di system as it will pay for itself over time, as pre processed salt water is expensive in time/effort when compared to making it yourself.

Can I do anything with the waste water? I live in a condo so sadly I don't have any plants

 

[Zeal]

I bought an RO Buddy 4 stage RODI filter, and hook it up to the mess sink in my laundry room and store the water into two brute trash cans, one for saltwater and another for freshwater. I then hook up a float switch for the freshwater can do it doesn’t overflow. Easy as can be and extremely cost effective. I run my tank very old fashioned (I don’t dose) and do decent water changes every week to replenish trace elements and nutrients.

Mine would have to go under the guest sink, I have a RO Buddy as well but that man thing produces so much waste water

 

[Brad_95]

Mine would have to go under the guest sink, I have a RO Buddy as well but that man thing produces so much waste water

You can collect the waste water and just run it through a Brita and just use that for regular drinking water, at least that’s what we do so we don’t waste too much.

 

[Brad_95]

Mine would have to go under the guest sink, I have a RO Buddy as well but that man thing produces so much waste water

If you’re only doing 20g a month, just get yourself a Home Depot or Lowe’s bucket and run the RODI to there, it only takes and hour to fill it up to what you need.

 

[Brad_95]

Mine would have to go under the guest sink, I have a RO Buddy as well but that man thing produces so much waste water

If you’re only doing 20g a month, just get yourself a Home Depot or Lowe’s bucket and run the RODI to there, it only takes and hour to fill it up to what you need.

 

[FishGeist]

Look on brs “bulk reef supply” for the roDi water saver kit. There is nothing you can do except water your plants with that waste water. Get the pressure pump and you will save water and a bunch of time.

 

[Alenya]

It’s cheaper to make it, every time I go to my LFS to buy RO there’s more frags to buy and bring home

 

[Kryptonian]

I wanted to try and figure it out. I know not everyone is going to agree on the math. If the cost of tap is really on average $0.0015 per gallon, this math probably pans out correctly. Again, if true, making your own is less that half the cost of buying.

You also have the $70 buy-in with the RODI unit but that'll push the purchase of additional replacements back at least 5 months.