Using whole house filtered water as RO substitute?

KStatefan

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How is the cation portion of that filter being recharged?

Cation resin removes the positive charged like Ca+ and Mg+ without an Anion section all of the negative particles will pass thru.
 

Shirak

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I think there will be a lot left. Sounds like basically a carbon filter with cation exchange resin.

What is in the alkaline filter? Maybe something like calcium carbonate rocks?

Most use RODI so they can be certain EVERYTHING is out of the water they are using to make saltwater and to use to replace water as it evaporates. Even with a filter that removes all of the 'bad stuff' and the majority of minerals. Over time if you keep adding that water to your tank to replace evaporated water, the chemistry of the whole tank can alter because the remaining minerals etc in your fresh water will build up as they will remain behind as water evaporates.
 

Suohhen

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The basic function of an alkalinity ionizer is to separate alkaline water from acidic. So if you run rodi water through nothing would really happen. However most that I know of also add alkaline minerals to the water which can contain contaminants so it is simply not worth risking. Is there no way to split off before the ionizer?
 

Pistondog

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What are some of the other things I’d be worrying about that RODI removes that TDS doesn’t measure? Or that isn’t removed by the whole house filter?
What jedi said above.
My town uses chloramines, which get removed by the rodi. Maybe by the whole house filter. I'll change the whole house filter when I smell the chlorine in the shower again, without the rodi, it'd be in the tank too.
The house filter is good for 3,000,000 gallons. But who is counting?
 

ZoWhat

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Have you thought about setting it up outside off a hose spigot?
A number of years ago my young daughter was attending a Summer Camp and she told me during lunch the Counselors would fill up all the kids drinking glasses out of a hose.

I did research and about fell out of my chair.

Ever wonder why water out of a hose tastes "funny "?

You're drinking 1) mold and mildew that grows inside a hose, 2) other various forms of bacteria growing in a dark place inside the hose, 3) particulates of broken down pieces of hose sweltering in the blazing sunny.

All very bad for your health

I immediately told the Camp Director who about lost her mind bc they were in major violation of State Health Board regulations.

They could have be shut down immediately if inspected and fined a hefty fine in the 10s of thousands of dollars.

They changed the drinking water source immediately the next day.

Soooooooo. Do you really want the residue crap coming out of a hose in your tank?

Just saying


.
 
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underthereef

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Cation resin removes the positive charged like Ca+ and Mg+ without an Anion section all of the negative particles will pass thru.
I have no idea. Lol I wish I knew. I just don’t know enough about it.
 
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I think there will be a lot left. Sounds like basically a carbon filter with cation exchange resin.

What is in the alkaline filter? Maybe something like calcium carbonate rocks?

Most use RODI so they can be certain EVERYTHING is out of the water they are using to make saltwater and to use to replace water as it evaporates. Even with a filter that removes all of the 'bad stuff' and the majority of minerals. Over time if you keep adding that water to your tank to replace evaporated water, the chemistry of the whole tank can alter because the remaining minerals etc in your fresh water will build up as they will remain behind as water evaporates.
That makes perfect sense. And yea I believe the alkaline filter is just adding minerals after the ro filter. It looks like I could just remove the hose at the alkaline filter, add a hose extension to fill up a big bin of water then re-attach it? How long does it take to fill up say a Brute size can that a lot of people use?
But then again, with no minerals being added ever to the water how does the tank maintain its alkalinity and healthy minerals? Just from the rock inside the tank? Or is this why people dose?
 
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underthereef

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The basic function of an alkalinity ionizer is to separate alkaline water from acidic. So if you run rodi water through nothing would really happen. However most that I know of also add alkaline minerals to the water which can contain contaminants so it is simply not worth risking. Is there no way to split off before the ionizer?
That makes perfect sense. And yea I believe the alkaline filter is just adding minerals after the ro filter. It looks like I could just remove the hose at the alkaline filter, add a hose extension to fill up a big bin of water then re-attach it? How long does it take to fill up say a Brute size can that a lot of people use?
But then again, with no minerals being added ever to the water how does the tank maintain its alkalinity and healthy minerals? Just from the rock inside the tank? Or is this why people dose?
 

fachatga

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One thing to remember is it’s cheaper to be safe and use the heat water you can up front instead vs fixing problems because you didn’t “get lucky” and your water happens to work. If you’re going to use not zero TDS listen to the advise given to have it analyzed to know what it’s picking up at the very least. As for me I just split my washing machine hookup with rodi unit. It’s out of the way. Also in so cal with no room so I know your struggle lol. My kids are confused by this garbage can on wheels full of water I roll around the house. But they’ve gotten used to my crazy.
 

Suohhen

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A rodi would generally take a very long time to fill a brute can but a whole house filter should be fast depending on the system pressure. I would suspect the quality of the water might be an issue since whole house filters are generally not even as good as an RO alone at removing impurities but again it really depends on the system.
If you don't mind risking it as long as their are no harsh chemicals or excessive heavy metals a reef tank can certainly do fine without 0 tds water. Plenty of people have even used tap water, but the quality varies so drastically so it is always a risk.
If you want to take the risk I'd recommend that you take it slow. Only use it for top off for a while and observe closely and even better if you can get a icp test. The ICP Analysis test is only $30 and they will run a sample from both your aquarium and top off water.
I find it silly that people insist on 0 tds and then dump in foods filled with heavy metals but I guess not having one more variable to worry about is the main reasoning.
 
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underthereef

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One thing to remember is it’s cheaper to be safe and use the heat water you can up front instead vs fixing problems because you didn’t “get lucky” and your water happens to work. If you’re going to use not zero TDS listen to the advise given to have it analyzed to know what it’s picking up at the very least. As for me I just split my washing machine hookup with rodi unit. It’s out of the way. Also in so cal with no room so I know your struggle lol. My kids are confused by this garbage can on wheels full of water I roll around the house. But they’ve gotten used to my crazy.
I like it. Lol. That’s a good idea as well splitting it off of laundry.
 

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I would be afraid of that copper/zinc alloy in that filter that reduces bacteria. Whole house filters are not normally great for reef tanks and the main filtering agent is usually just carbon.

But you can try it. :)
 
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underthereef

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I would be afraid of that copper/zinc alloy in that filter that reduces bacteria. Whole house filters are not normally great for reef tanks and the main filtering agent is usually just carbon.

But you can try it. :)
I mean I definitely don't want to be risking safety of the livestock if it's that dangerous. I was just trying to figure out like why exactly could it be bad still. Or what I need to watch for. It sounds like I either need to test my filtered water or just deal with RO. Lol.
 

DaddyFish

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I have a whole house filtration setup that used two carbon block filters. I feed that water to my 5-stage RO/DI systems. That results in extended life of the cartridges and RO Membrane in the RO/DI units because I'm pumping a much lower level of contaminants into the systems from the get-go.

IMO here's the bigger problem... most of the contaminants that are detectable as TDS in the filtered water cannot be filtered out with mechanical or carbon filtration. So Nitrates and other dissolved substances will slowly over time, accumulate in your tank. You then have to boost your biological filtration system(s) to extract them at a microscopic/biological/biochemical level before they get out of whack.

I actually use a percentage of well-filtered water to start a brand new tank, but I stick to RO/DI purified water to avoid adding things that are oh so difficult to extract later on. That being said, I do plan to do more testing with filtered water as a top-off source before I give up on the concept.
 

jurgenph

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do yourself, and your reef tank a favor, and get a rodi system.

whole house filteration systems are not designed to produce 0 tds water. they just make it "safe to drink", and prevent hard water scale on your appliances.

they don't remove a lot of elements that will set you up for failure in a reef tank.

since you'll be filtering pre-treated water, a small basic 4 stage rodi system will get you all the clean and pure water that you need for your tank.


J.
 

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One of the optional filters in that picture says its a copper zinc alloy so I would make sure that you don't have that filter. If your tds is as low as 5ppm as some one mentioned(don't know much about whole house filters) then all you would need is a single canister for some DI resin not sure how much flow you can push though the resin and it still be effective might have to restrict it with a valve but if it come out 0 maybe you could fill a bucket pretty quick.
 
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They sell boosters the up the pressure. They work great to make rodi water much faster. If your pressure is low.
Awesome. Yea cause I know the RO system I have at the kitchen sink has like a 5 gallon holding tank so the flow is faster. If I drain the tank out it starts pouring super slow but I didn't know if that's just how the installers set it up or if all RO systems were that slow.
 

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Awesome. Yea cause I know the RO system I have at the kitchen sink has like a 5 gallon holding tank so the flow is faster. If I drain the tank out it starts pouring super slow but I didn't know if that's just how the installers set it up or if all RO systems were that slow.
RO systems are rated by how much RO water they can produce per day. Small under sink units are pretty tiny. You should also note the rating is at a specific pressure and temperature of the source water. It’s rare for an individual to meet the specific criteria hence the actual amount is usually less. Which is why many people will opt for a larger unit that typically doesn’t cost too much more.
 

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