ro di diy upgrade

Here is what I have under my kitchen sink.









Now for the rest of the story. This filtration system is setup for dinking water and ice machine. I have been using it for over a year for my reef tank without any addverce reactions. Now that I started a 55gal build I want to use ro di. My hopes are to get a ro membrain unit and a di canister and tap into what I have which is a sediment and a gac to give myself a 4 stage ro di system. I have been doing a lot of research and beleave this is possible but want to get fellow reefers info on my idea. Please dont hold back I sure I could learn more from all you guy and gals here.



Thanks Rick

 

Definitely seems possible. Look into putting tees after the membrane and di cartridges so you can test your TDS level. This will allow you to figure out when each needs to be replaced. I suggest also comparing prices versus a new filter to see if you are saving much.

 

One problem I see is that all the plumbing is 1/4" copper. I would switch everything after the self peircing valve to plastic line as you can unintentionally introduce trace amounts of copper to your system, which can be a bad thing depending on your stock.

It isn't hard to change over, you still use compression fittings. You will just have to make sure to buy plastic ferrules instead of the copper ones the fittings come with. And to find plastic fittings it should be easy enough to find john guest fittings for 1/4" plastic lines. I got mine from Bulk Reef Supply.

 

bump

 

I agree with coylee look into some of the economy ro di set ups might save you some money and greif

 

Copper is not an issue on the tap water side, its the treated side that can pose a problem for metals since the treated water is very agressive and trying to get back to its normal "dirty" state.

GAC is not a good idea in front of an RO membrane since it degrades into dust over time plus most 10" GAC cartridges have a useful life of about 300 total gallons, thats only 60 treated gallons and 240 waste gallons with a normal 4:1 waste ratio RO or RO/DI system. Solid carbon blocks in a 1 micron or less size are prefered and a 0.5 or 0.6 micron block can last up to 20,000 gallons.

You will probably find its cheaper to purchase something like the $120 complete RO/DI unit in this sale flyer than trying to piece something together.
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Individually you will spend $35-$50 on a membrane, $5-$10 on a flow restrictor, $20-$35 on a RO membrane housing, $35-$50 for an add on DI full of good DI resin, $15-$20 for a bracket to mount it all on, $10-$15 for an inline pressure gauge and another $10-$20 for all the required fittings to put it all together.