seachem ro/di good??

hi,

i know i've asked about ro/di units before, but that resulted in me wanting a spectrapure and i havent seen them anywhere in australia (could be an oportunity there lol)

anyway, i've come across a used seachem ro/di for a good price which, being seachem, i would imagine would be a good quality.
has anyone got experience with these particular brand of ro/di or heard anything about them?

i can get a new unit from a guy that seems to have a good reputation, (lack of competition:-/), but i dont recognizable the brand and that usually puts me off ('boss' possibly?)

i'm not to worried about having to get new filters for the used one if seachem is a good one to have.

this would also be my first ro/di so thanks for any help

 

There is nothing to a RO/DI... they are all basically the same... a canister to hold the filters, and plumbing to connect them together. What name is on it does not really matter.

What does matter is what filters they have, how can you get more, and how much are they? If they use quality filters that are readily available, then no problem no matter who it is. If they use special, proprietary (read expensive and hard to get) with questionable performance or crappy quality... then it isn't worth the plastic holding it together.

I don't know which the Seachem is, they do have a good name. But try to find info on the filters themselves... the RO membrane, carbon block, sediment filters... ect.

 

The Seachems are not a bad unit, much better than most other mass produced units like Coralife and probably Kent.

Always ask questions when buying a used system. As powerman pointed out the housings will be similar but you need to know how old the system is, the condition of the membrane as evidenced by a TDS meter, how often the prefilter and carbon block have been changed, how old the DI resin or cartridge is and how well it is performing (TDS) and if its not in use how long it has been out of service and if it has been allowed to dry out. Drying out kills a RO membrane and DI resin.

What does it come with like a TDS meter, pressure gauge, extra filters etc?

Why is the former owner selling it? You don't want to inherit someone elses problem and often people sell a RO or RO/DI when they are having trouble with it. Sometimes its a simple inexpensive fix, other times it can be expensive as in all new filters, membrane and DI which cost almost as much as a new unit.

If its in good shape, the owner seems to know what they are talking about and its priced right go for it but make sure you ask the questions.

By the way, Seachems use standard 10" replacements so is worth looking at. Do you have ebay or something similar there? Have you looked to see if they list any sold or built in Australia?

 

thanks for the replys

i have asked the seller about the age of the filters, wheather they need replacing and if they're still wet. and also any other info he has.

i think my LFS sells seachem units new for about 3 times the price so i will call them and ask how much the replacement filters are.
looking at some online prices of standard size filters it does seem that if they arent in a very good condition i may be better off just buying the new.

i have looked on ebay quite a few times but unfortunately it doesnt compare to the american ebay for seemingly niche things like this.

thanks again for the info guys, will wait and see what the owner replies with.