RO/DI advise?

I am finally sick of going to wal mart for distilled water every week and am upgrading to RO.... Any suggestions on a unit that is good on "not wasting" so much water? Or does the waste all depend on the amount of contaminates in our well water? Also found one at our local fish store but was trying to find a cheaper way out if anyone knows of any good sites for these units. Here is the one I am looking for from our local store.

AquaticLife Reverse Osmosis Systems | Reverse Osmosis Filters and Deionizers | Reverse Osmosis Filters & Deionizers | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com

 

The waste is usually 3-4 times the amount of water being produced, or more. It's a requirement of RO units, as the waste water has to flush out all of the crud that didn't get into the purified water.

3Reef specials for Spectrapure. They come highly recommended.

 

i have the 90GPD as do many other members. you will never hear a bad review of that unit. and 145$ is unbeatable with all the included features.

 

All normal RO or RO/DI systems waste about 4:1 in normal operation. The AquaticLife powered system sounds good in theory but has been tried by all the major manufacturers and vendors and shelved long ago. Like mentioned above, membranes must be flushed in order to last and work correctly.
There is one proven low waste system on the market, the MaxCap UHE, and others such as the one you linked to and Vertex have attempted to copy but they left out the most important detail and that is the UHE uses stored DI to flush the system while the copies use tap water which contains the very TDS you are trying to remove. Doesn't make much sense to flush with dirty water?

The 4:1 waste can alway be used for other purposes so it does not have to go down the drain.

 

+1 on the 90gpd SpectraPure unit, can't beat that price if you tried, quality unit with all the bells & whistles, dual in-line tds meter + pressure guage.

I've had mine since January, was my first RO/DI unit, so easy to use & 0 tds all the way, pull the trigger!

 

Does that SpectraPure unit have auto. shut off or something? This is my first time going RO/DI and I will def. not need 90 gal. a day. Do you just unplug it when not in need of water? The reason I ask is I have a problem with "walking away" and forgetting things at times. My fear is leaving it on and coming back to a water park in my room.... Or do they have storage tanks that are sealed so the RO just shuts off when at max capacity? I am only in need of about 20 gal. a week....

 

no auto shut off but I'm sure you can buy one with it. I normally just hook it up to my faucet and feed the pure water tubing into a 5g bucket, place it into a Brute 35g container and let it go. I've only forgotten it once & the overflow of water just went into the Brute which was the point in case I did forget.

 

Good call.... fortunately I work from home so I will just make water while on my shift and once I get into that routine I'm sure forgetting about it won't be an issue. Also I think I might just set the pure water bucket in the tub (right next to sink) so I don't have to worry about it...

Thanks again!

 

in the tub is a good idea too, yes. I would do that but my kitchen faucet has better psi.

 

Many of us use "The Filter Guys". Here is a unit that beats just about anything out there; $265.00 - OCEAN REEF MISER SIX STAGE RO/DI 150 GPD