RODI Advice

[Tabasco1]

Looking to pick up an RODI filter, but know very little about what I need to be looking for. Would love to hear feedback from reefers about key features to look for and make my life easier. Not sure if I am going to go the drinking water route and have a small storage under my sink, but that is something that is appealing to me. If anybody has pro/cons for that system, that is what I am looking for.

Right now I am thinking one of the options offered by BRS. If anyone has those systems in particular would love to hear feedback.

Thank you!

 

[dougers31]

I would make sure to get at least a 5 stage. I have one from brs and love it. Replacement filters and di are very reasonable as well.

 

[boehm742]

I have a 5 stage from the filter guys. Never had a problem with it, works like a charm. I just bought replacement filters from BRS for a decent price. I also purchase my DI resin from BRS.

 

[Tabasco1]

One of the things that I am concerned about is availability and cost of replacement filters. That is one of the reasons I am kindof leaning toward BRS, they seem like they are not going out of business any time soon. Are filters replacments for the most part interchangeable?

What is opinion of difference between a 5 & 6 stage filter? Worth the extra coin?

 

[AZDesertRat]

Forget the word "stages" exists. Its a sales gimmick from the ebay vendors to make a chep system sound like the best thing since sliced bread. They tack three or four useless filters on and call it 5 or 7 or whatever "stages".

For a good reef quality RO/DI you want and need 4 good stages. One low micron prefilter say 1 micron or less, one 0.5 or 0.6 micron 20,000 gallon carbon block, one RO membrane and one full size vertical refillable DI filter, thats it.
There is absoluitely no need for dual carbons with todays technology. two carbons goes back to the days when carbon and prefilters were not as efficient as they are today. Many who use two carbons are also using a high micron prefilter which forces the more expensive carbon to act as a secondary sediment or prefilter which is a waste of money nad detrimental to the membrane since it also leads to lower entrance pressures.

Look at something like the CSP-DI on sale here:
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You get a 0.5 micron absolute rated (much better than nominal rated), a 0.5 micron 20,000 gallon carbon block, a treated and tested high rejection rate 90 GPD RO membrane, a ful size vertical 20 oz refillable DI filled with custom hand blended reef specific DI resin, an inline pressure gauge, a dual inline TDS meter and a capillary tube type flow restrictor.

Or the 75 GPD Premium here:
http://www.buckeyefieldsupply.com/showproducts.asp?Category=168&Sub=166
With this one you get a 1 micron prefilter, a 0.5 micron 20,000 gallon carbon block, a 75 GPD Dow membrane, a full size vertical refillable DI, an inline pressure gauge, a handheld TDS meter, a thermometer, a DI bypass valve and a capillary tube flow restrictor.

Both are excellent systems and will perform up to reef quality standards. They both use higher quality standard size replacement filters available most places.

Again more stages are not better, in fact in many cases its worse. Its what is contained in the stages that counts not how many.

 

[Captain Nemo]

I have a 4 stage ro/di unit, and love it, I have no problems at all. just make sure you keep the filters changed, especially if you have hard water or treated water......

 

[Tabasco1]

Thank you so much for the info! Can I ask why a verticle DI is better than a horizontal one?

 

[youngtimothy]

Air, Water and Ice typhoon extreme thats what I have works great, love it!

 

[AZDesertRat]

A couple reasons. For one most horizontals do not contain as much DI resin so even under ultimate conditions would not last as long. The biggest reason though is vertical canisters fill from the bottom and exit the the top so all the resin comes into contact with all the water it is treating. Horizontals lay flat so the water takes the path of least resistance and travels along the bottom of the cartridge since they have no backpressure meaning only the resin on the bottom comes into contact with the water. Very inefficient and poorly thought out and usually only found on very low end systems.

The Typhoon Extreme is not even close to the Spectrapure units. It does not use a treated and tested RO membrane which is much more efficient nor does it use fresh custom blended reef specific DI resins. It also uses a higher micron nominal rated prefilter so the carbon must act as a prefilter fouling its billions of tiny microscopic pores rendering it useless for chlorine adsorption. The CSPDI is a much better value and the MaxCap blows it away, I know from firsthand experience. When I sold my Typhoon III and bought a MaxCap my DI resin life went from 150 gallons to over 1000 gallosn per cartridge immediately. The cost of ownership over time is not even close. We all plan to keep a RO/DI for a period of time, just like a fine tool so the cost of operation is important.

 

[Tabasco1]

Does the resin From spectra color change when exhausted and is the cartridge transparent? The replacement cost is not cheap and a definite consideration as well as ease of getting replacement filters/media. Is the only place to get replacements for those filters through spectra?

Thanks!

 

[AZDesertRat]

They do offer color changing resins but I highly recommend non color changing since it does not contain the dyes color changing has and besides color change is historically unreliable, its usually way pas texhaustion before it changes completely. A good TDS meter is the only way to judge resin condition reliably.
You can get Spectrapure products directly from them, at many higher end LFS or from online vendors like Premium Aquatics or Marine Depot among others.
Their resin is not really expensive when you get it on sale and is worth the retail price when not since it is guaranteed to outperform any other on the market. They have a test lab where they have tens of thousands of hours of resin testing going 24/7/365 so they make sure they only offer the best. This is why they blend all their own resins, nothing is prepackaged and most are mixed fresh to order the day they are shipped out, no sitting on a warehouse shelf somewhere for months. Resin has a short shelf life so its important it be fresh and packaged correctly in vacuum sealed mylar bags.
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