Idaho-Tank build... Starting over

I bought the RO/DI you posted about from SpectraPure and its great! Has an inline TDS and pressure gauge, quality parts, and requires little assembly. RO/DI is the most important thing you are doing for your tank watch out on skimping!!!! ALstly, sectrapure has all their parts on one site so you dont have to ebay for replacements.

 

The spectrapure unit is a much better value, the ebay unit will cost you more in replacement filters more often due to the cheap quality filters and the duel DI cartridges are garbage, all they do is use twice as much resin to accomplish the same job as a standard upright 10" canister.

check this from AZDesertRat... http://www.3reef.com/forums/filters-pumps-etc/bout-get-used-ro-di-have-few-questions-93272.html#post949657

 

The replacement filters are GE filters....... Ide bet to say they are the exact same filters that 95% of RO systems use...... That is from filtersdirect anyhow. I cant say for any of the other ebay sellers quality.

 

Thats true, doesn't negate the fact that the spectrapure filters are superior in quality.
I do happen to own both units, I ended up removing the 2 DI cartridges and adding a final carbon filter and a storage tank and installing the filtersdirect unit in the kitchen for drinking water then getting the spectrapure unit for my tanks.
After 8 months of use I can tell you the spectrapure is worth every penny.

 

Thanks for the comments guys.

I am exhausted after a long weekend of working on this project.....

I was looking at the spectrapure unit but couldn't pass up the deal on a nice RO/DI system I bought locally... Is like new - used just a couple times. I am not sure exactly what each chamber does etc.. need to learn about it as I didn't get any paperwork with it.


I mounted the system in my mechanical room which has a floor drain and an easy location to tie into a water line. I started making RO water right away. Slow process I found out.


Back to the stand... Finally everything is about done and ready for stain!!!!



After a coat of stain.


And after 3 coats of polyurethane.


Time to install the doors.

 

I put together the Skimmer. This skimmer (Octopus extreme 160) is supposed to run best between 8 &10 inches of water so I added 3" legs because my skimmer chamber is about 11.5" deep. I used some of my acrylic scraps.


Then I put it together and cleaned and ran it in a utility sink. This is my first experience with this type of skimmer... I am not sure how to adjust anything beyond the water flow... There are not a lot of bubbles put out by this thing so perhaps I am doing something wrong? It came with no instructions/operation manual.... So I don't really know - will need to research what mods if any I should consider etc...


Again there was no paperwork at all with the skimmer... What are these parts?

Some sort of plastic mesh


Some sort of plastic piece...

 

Once the stand was completely dry I moved it into the house along with the tank... Finished all the plumbing.


You can see the check valve I got here, mounted towards the top of the supply line.



Finally moved into place!!!! And even filled with water (only fresh water at this point.. I don't have any salt yet). I put the tank in my entry area... its actually a fairly dark area of the house usually and we had a spot for it here so it seemed to work well.



With the lights on


Sump so far. Still need to zip tie or organize the coords somehow and mount the lights.


The only thing I don't like so far is the noise coming from the sump... the plumbing lines I believe. Will need to try to find ways to make it more quiet.

 

Right in the foyer? Good spot for it. The tank looks awesome. Nice build.

 

wow has come along way,looking good..if you were running the skimmer in fresh water you will not get bubbles like in salt water due to the density difference..im not sure but I do believe the mesh is to create more micro bubbles..

 

Thanks guys... yes foyer..... My next little project is a bench for the foyer as well.. then my wife wants a corner FO tall (like 4'+) tank for our bedroom... So I get to look forward to another tank build this winter.

Good point... Didn't even think about that.. Ive never ran a skimmer in fresh water before so you are probably right. I also assumed that the mesh is to some how make a modification.. just need to find out how and decide if I want to... still wondering what the yellow piece is for.