reverse osmosis

how can i pick a reverse osmosis machine, what do i need to prepare water for my reef tank

 

I suggest getting a Spectrapure MaxCap unit. It will have everything you need for great water for your reef. Just add salt mix to 1.025 SG.

 

oh

well how many stages an i looking for in a RO/DI'

 

+1

I just bought a SpectraPure refurbished system for $120 and have been extremely pleased with it.

SpectraPure Water Purification Products

 

A Reverse Osmosis (RO) filter with a Deionization (DI) cartridge added (RO/DI) will give you excellent reef quality water either for top offs or to mix your salt with for a new system and water changes.

RO by itself does 90 to 98% of the treatment but still leaves some contaminants that are not desireable in a reef system. The DI filter gets the remaining elements or contaminants the RO misses for ultra pure water.

Things to look for are a company that deals in water treatment as their main source of income and not one that dabbles in RO as a sideline. You might also watch out of ebay type vendors that sell out of shipping containers or from overseas without a brick and mortar storefront. Many companies see $$ in RO and RO/DI so dump a bunch of inferior products on the market then run away with the money leaving the end user with a substandard product that requires significant modifications or upgrades to work properly. Look for a company that has been selling to reef hobbyist for decades and has eared a good reputation based on quality and dependability.

A couple vendors I suuggest looking at are SpectraPure Water Purification Products , www.buckeyefieldsupply.com , RO DI | Saltwater Aquarium Water Filters | Reverse Osmosis Booster Pump and Melevsreef.com - Welcome! .

Look for things like low micron rated sediment and carbon block filters, a name brand RO membrane in the 75, 90 or 100 GPD rating, a full size 20 oz vertical refillable DI canister and cartridge and preferrably a capillary tube flow restrictor. Other almost manditory features are an inline pressure gauge to monitor filter condition and a TDS meter.

Things that really really don't add value are flush valves or kits, high micron or granular activated carbons, multiple carbon filters and horizontal DI filters no matter how many they satck on. Be very cautious when vendors promote things like " 6 Stages" or "7 Stages", a good reef quality RO/DI system only needs 4 stages to be effective, they tack a bunch of low quality filters on to make it sound impressive when in fact it could have the opposite effect andcause you problems with excess head loss through the filters. Many carbons on the market are exhausted in as little as 300 total gallons where a good carbon lasts 20,000 gallons but they still sell a ton of them to uninformed users.