Questions about top off freshwater purity..

[New2Reefing]

So im picking up 5 gallons of Purified by RO water from my local convenient store and as im leaving I notice a glacier bay water machine. The machine says it purified by Reverse Osmosis and Ultraviolet rays and some other sort of carbon filtration. It made me think at $1.35 for 5 gallons as compared to $.89 for each. The machine is tested by the state (at least they have an up to date tested sticker) Have any of you used this water? Im using about a gallon a day and im not sure if its worth an RO system.

Im shopping around for a TDS water tester what feature should I consider.

Im also shopping for a Refractometer what feature should I look for or stay away from. currently using a swing arm.

Thanx.

 

[condor]

tds meters are a dime a dozen. buy one that comes with calibration fluid. and for me milwalkee makes the best refract.

 

[RBursek]

At .89 a a gallon a day you can buy a RODI unit in 5.5 months, that is what you need to do!!!

 

[AZDesertRat]

Vending machines are hit and miss. I am not aware of any state that tests or monitors water quality from vending machines, in AZ the Dept or Weights and Measures makes sure you get a full gallon for your quarter and puts an inspection sticker on the machine but thats it.

If you have a TDS meter its worth a shot but make sure you use the meter each and every time, maintenance and water quality will vary. Its also RO only and not RO/DI so is only partially treated, the DI does the final polishing most reefkeepers prefer.

The HM Digital TDS-3 and TDS-4 are temperature compensated, have 2% accuracy and best of all have a digital temp read out too, they would be my minimum choice with a COM-100 my actual preferred choice but at increased cost.

 

[gparr]

At .89 a a gallon a day you can buy a RODI unit in 5.5 months, that is what you need to do!!!

Also factor in your time and gas and you'll buy your own RODI unit faster. Water quality will vary widely out of those machines. What are you going to do if you go to your favorite machine, really need water, and the filters haven't been changed and it's producing dirty water? You'll find yourself chasing around town looking for clean water. Buy an RODI unit and you'll be assured of consistent, clean water, every time. It's worth the initial expenditure.
Gary

 

[New2Reefing]

I appreciate all of your responce. It's great to have experienced inputs. My concern is the amount of waste water created during the RO process. I believe I read it's about 8 gallons wasted for every 1 filtered.

 

[TheLivingReef]

Well first of $.89 a gallon is high, but be careful with any bottled water. Alot of times its just tap water. Go get one, take it to you LFS and ask them to test it to "see if your RO needs to be changed" then you don't haft to buy a TDS

 

[AZDesertRat]

The normal RO waste ratio is 4:1 or 4 gallons of brine or waste for every 1 gallon of permeate or treated water. It sounds like a lot but say you use 100 gallons a month, that means you waste 400 gallons. You can use that waste for other uses like watering landscape, washing clothes, doing the dishes in the sink etc. Plus figure out your water and sewer rates and its probably about $2.50 worth of water. Thats a lot of water compared to .89 a gallon for bottled water.

 

[New2Reefing]

Thanx guys I'm looking into a system.

 

[AZDesertRat]

There are a lot of good reef quality systems out there and a lot of less then desireable ones too. don't shop strictly by price, look at the companies history, the quality and brand of the components and filters and the configuration.
A few suggestions might be:
SpectraPure Customer Appreciation SALE! 20% - 50% off

www.buckeyefieldsupply.com

www.purelyh2o.com

www.airwaterice.com

www.melevsreef.com

All sell reef quality systems starting at about $130. make sure you get the TDS meter and inline pressure gauge and a full size refillable DI filter. Most use the 75 GPD Dow Filmtec RO membrane except Melev who uses the 100 GPD GE membrane which is almost identical in quality and performance. Spectrapure starts with the Dow 75 then treats it with a proprietary process and hand bench tests it for performance.

 

[RBursek]

Thefilterguys.biz is another great system and customer service. I prefer a good 5 stage even though the Rat will disagree and say a good 4 stage is just as good, I just like having 2 carbon filters instead of one. Where do you get your house hold water from and what pressure and temp? Most units are rated at 60psi and 77* water, anything less slows down performance. Also if you get water from a public source check with them to see if they use cholrine or chloramines since that will make a difference on the quality of carbon filters you need.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Stages is a game the ebay vendors use to make a cheap system sound like the best thing since sliced bread. Its not how many but what they contain that matters. Two carbons are an old old method of dealing with low quality carbon back before it was refined to the point it is today. A single 0.5 or 0.6 micron KX+1 Chlorine Guzzler series is way more than sufficient for our uses. It is also perfectly fine for chloramines at normal residual levels in drinking water. Two carbons lead to additional pressure drops and just plain are not necessary unless you have high flow rates in the 20 GPM not GPH range where contact or residence time is an issue.

The key to carbon life is having a good prefilter in front of the carbon block to trap the particulates and colloidal materials so they do not foul or plug the billions of tiny microscopic pores in the carbon. This is another reason many vendors use two carbons, they use way to large a micron range for the prefilter so force the two carbons to act as secondary prefilters.

If you have chloramines again the Chlorine Guzzler is fine for the chlorine portion, its the easy part contrary to what some lead you to believe. What they fail to realize or tell you is the DI is extremely important to catch the ammonia that passes through the membrane. RO is only about 90% efficient at all forms of ammonia so a good 20 oz vertical DI is critical.

I can talk on this subject for hours but there are reasons why I recommend the manufacturers and vendors I do and why I do not mention others. Those I recommend are progressive in their thinking and do lots or resarch and development before bringing a product to market. Others fall in the same old trap and hastily assemble a few off the shelf parts with little thought about how it performs or why you do certain things the way you do. A good RO/DI is a complete system from the prefilter to the DI and flow restrictor, the better the components and filters the better it will work and longer it last. Use a high micron prefilter and your carbon suffers. Bad or exhausted carbon makes the membrane work harder and fail sooner, A bad membrane makes the DI work harder and wear out faster. Too little waste and the membrane fouls and fails. Too much waste and your pressure to the membrane drops leading to lower GPD and water quality. The wrong or old DI resin does not produce 18.2 megaohm water.

Its a complete system and with RO/DI you really do get what you pay for.

I would not buy from Filter Guys if they were the last place in town, they burned me and I will not forget it.

 

[New2Reefing]

You guys have really stepped up to give me great info and i appreciate it very much. I was suprised by how many kits are available. I'm looking around and checking out the different systems. Currently at a need of about 30 gallons per week give or take water changes etc. I'm doing Lots of reading and am sure I will have questions.

Stay tuned.