Is RO/DI water necessary? Can I use the same system for drinking water?

[BamaCoastPyrat]

I am setting up a 40 gallon fish only tank. Is RO/DI water necessary? I am guessing so.

The closest place to me that sells RO/DI water is just under an hour away. With my schedule that isn't going to happen often and I don't have much room to store just-in-case water. So sooner than later I will end up getting an RO/DI system. We have also talked about getting a kitchen water filtration system for drinking and cooking water. Can I get an RO/DI system for the aquarium that I can also drink from?

 

[blaxsun]

Yes and yes. Just stock up on a few of the 5-gallon water drums and you should be good for a month of evaporation. There are lots of relatively cheap RODI kits that are very easily to install.

 

[Hermie]

RODI is one of those things that if you don't have it then you are going to never know for sure if the problems your tank experiences is caused by your water

 

[Forty-Two]

I wouldnt suggest you buy it from a store. Just buy the filter. They arent that expensive. If you're choking on that expense, I would suggest a re-evaluation of the hobby.

 

[TheDuude]

There are many system on the market that are dual purpose. You will want RODI water for the tank and RO only water for drinking / cooking. The best place to start IMO is a water test to find out what is in your water.

 

[BZOFIQ]

It really depends on what's in your water and what you intend to keep. If you want to keep easy softies with few non demanding fish in an area with low TDS water then yes you can and easily.

For everything else, just get the RODI system.

 

[scottj6]

I wouldnt have a tank without RO/DI. I feel its a fundamental piece of equipment to have your own RO/DI system

 

[Jekyl]

Yes get an RODI system. I would not use it for drinking water. The amount wasted and the filters you'd go through wouldn't be worth it.

 

[Woodyman]

Yes and yes.

Just grab yourself a storage tank for RO water. Plumb it correctly and you can have a storage tank of RO water for drinking and RO/DI for the tank.

 

[tharbin]

First, welcome to R2R!

You can definitely use one system for both. A good place to look at the options is SpectraPure.com. They even have diagrams for typical setups and will be happy to work with you to get you what you need.

They both start out as an RO system. Basically the differences between a drinking water system and an aquarium water system comes down to a drinking water system has a pressure bladder (storage tank) and air gap faucet to deliver the drinking water under pressure and an aquarium system has a DI unit for final polishing of the water that is not used in a drinking water system. It is not hard to plumb an arrangement that provides both. Some drinking water systems also provide a re-mineralization cartridge to put a little hardness back into the water for flavor but that is optional. Almost any basic 4-stage RODI unit can be converted to provide both types of water.

It is common here in Arizona to buy a house pre-plumbed for an under sink RO unit to hook to the refrigerator water line because our water is so hard.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

You wouldn't want to drink rodi water, its flavorless and very unsatisfying.

But, the flavorlessness works perfectly in a latte machine.

 

[Woodyman]

You wouldn't want to drink rodi water, its flavorless and very unsatisfying.

But, the flavorlessness works perfectly in a latte machine.

RODI will also dehydrate you if you choose to drink it.

 

[BZOFIQ]

RODI will also dehydrate you if you choose to drink it.

water that would remove water from you body, please elaborate.

 

[Woodyman]

water that would remove water from you body, please elaborate.

It will strip electrons from your extracellular fluid which dehydrates you because it is devoid of all electrons when you drink it it strips the electrons to maintain homeostasis.

A little isn't going to do any harm, but if you drink enough of it it will lead to dehydration.

 

[Woodyman]

For the same reason you don't use metal piping with RODI is why it is not advised to drink it. RODI is corrosive in nature because of it's purity. It strips and leaches out anything it can.

 

[Greybeard]

Confusing advise here.

A Reverse Osmosis filter makes perfectly acceptable drinking water. Boats with a watermaker use this method to generate drinking water from salt water. Many small island populations rely entirely on this technology.

I've been drinking RO filtered water for many years. It's fine.

If you put in a dual purpose water filtration system, like mine, you'll get clean, filtered RO water for drinking, cooking, crystal clear ice, etc... and you'll have a good source of RO water that can be passed through a DI filter for your tank.

Deionization, or DI, is a separate stage (sometimes several), that the water passes through before entering your tank. Think of it as a final polish, getting rid of the last few contaminates that the RO filter missed.

You can drink RO/DI water, but it's a waste of money. Your own body is quite capable of dealing with whatever the RO filter might have left behind, and DI resins are expensive.

So... RO for drinking water, generally, I use a pressure tank to store RO water for kitchen use. Tee off a line from there to pass through a DI setup (mine is a three stage DI), and from there to your ATO system, mixing station, whatever.

Try AirWaterIce.com, their Dual Home/Reef system is what mine is based on, though I've upgraded it from what it was originally.

 

[tharbin]

RODI will also dehydrate you if you choose to drink it.

Also... the DI filters used in a typical aquarium RODI unit are not food grade.

 

[BZOFIQ]

It will strip electrons from your extracellular fluid which dehydrates you because it is devoid of all electrons when you drink it it strips the electrons to maintain homeostasis.

A little isn't going to do any harm, but if you drink enough of it it will lead to dehydration.

I understand that it will strip minerals as in its pure form is very reactive but to dehydrate, not sure.

There was a thread about this a while back

Is RODI water safe to drink?

We too have well water here in Montana. A 400 ft well at that. Our water has tons of calcium in it so I thought my corals would love it, and they did. Sorry about your fish. Our well water is loaded with CO2 so I’ve not used it for my Reef tanks. Just run it through the RO into a brute so it...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[tharbin]

Confusing advise here.

A Reverse Osmosis filter makes perfectly acceptable drinking water. Boats with a watermaker use this method to generate drinking water from salt water. Many small island populations rely entirely on this technology.

I've been drinking RO filtered water for many years. It's fine.

If you put in a dual purpose water filtration system, like mine, you'll get clean, filtered RO water for drinking, cooking, crystal clear ice, etc... and you'll have a good source of RO water that can be passed through a DI filter for your tank.

Deionization, or DI, is a separate stage (sometimes several), that the water passes through before entering your tank. Think of it as a final polish, getting rid of the last few contaminates that the RO filter missed.

You can drink RO/DI water, but it's a waste of money. Your own body is quite capable of dealing with whatever the RO filter might have left behind, and DI resins are expensive.

So... RO for drinking water, generally, I use a pressure tank to store RO water for kitchen use. Tee off a line from there to pass through a DI setup (mine is a three stage DI), and from there to your ATO system, mixing station, whatever.

Try AirWaterIce.com, their Dual Home/Reef system is what mine is based on, though I've upgraded it from what it was originally.

Thanks, that was what I was trying to say but guess I didn't say it very well.

 

[Woodyman]

Confusing advise here.

A Reverse Osmosis filter makes perfectly acceptable drinking water. Boats with a watermaker use this method to generate drinking water from salt water. Many small island populations rely entirely on this technology.

I've been drinking RO filtered water for many years. It's fine.

If you put in a dual purpose water filtration system, like mine, you'll get clean, filtered RO water for drinking, cooking, crystal clear ice, etc... and you'll have a good source of RO water that can be passed through a DI filter for your tank.

Deionization, or DI, is a separate stage (sometimes several), that the water passes through before entering your tank. Think of it as a final polish, getting rid of the last few contaminates that the RO filter missed.

You can drink RO/DI water, but it's a waste of money. Your own body is quite capable of dealing with whatever the RO filter might have left behind, and DI resins are expensive.

So... RO for drinking water, generally, I use a pressure tank to store RO water for kitchen use. Tee off a line from there to pass through a DI setup (mine is a three stage DI), and from there to your ATO system, mixing station, whatever.

Try AirWaterIce.com, their Dual Home/Reef system is what mine is based on, though I've upgraded it from what it was originally.

RO water is perfectly fine to drink. It was never said that it wasn't.