ro/di units, help me decide?!?! there are so many!!!

I don't have a TDS meter yet. I need to get one soon. I have never had algae issues while using this RO unit. I've gone a little over a year without changing any filters. My first attempt at using a reeftank without using RO was a disaster. I had nothing but hair algae.

 

Just remember that cheaper is not always better.

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We just got the Typhoon III from air, water, ice & love it! Shipping was fast - 2 days. TDS of tap water >275, TDS of RO/DI - 0!

 

With a 60 gallon tank, and I suspect a sump and maybe a refug., the advice someone gave above re getting a 75 gpd system was good.

We recommend against people thinking "more stages means a better system." With ordinary city water, one sediment filter, one carbon block, a membrane, and one full size, vertical DI stage will work fine for you.

If you have specific issues with your tap water, it might make sense to add additional stages. For instance: Are you on well water that has lots of sediment? Iron? Hydogen sulfide? Manganese? Are you on city water that has chloramines?

Some other things to look for in a system that will work well for this hobby:
Standard-sized prefilters, membrane, and DI cartridge
Brand name, high-rejection membrane
Specifications provided for each stage
Pressure gauge after the prefilters and before the membrane
Thermometer
DI bypass
Vertical DI stage
Refillable DI cartridge
Aluminum bracket
Quick connect fittings
Flush valve
Clear housings
High-quality instructions
Customer support before, during, and after your purchase
Customer support from a company with staff who have English as their first language

If cheap is what you are after, ebay is the place to go. If that's the way you think you want to go, do a lot of homework ahead of time so that you understand what it is you are buying - what you are going to get and not get. Lowest price is typically not best value. We do a steady flow of work rehab'ing ebay units for folks once they understand what it is they bought.

A good rule of thumb is to replace your sediment filter and carbon block after six months. A more precise way to maximize the useable life of these two filters is to use a pressure gauge to identify when pressure reaching the membrane starts to decline. This is your indication one or both of the filters is beginning to clog.

Also be cognizant of the chlorine capacity of the carbon block. The Matrikx+1 (“Chlorine Guzzler”) for example will remove 99% of chlorine from 20,000 gallons of tap water presented at 1 gpm. Original equipment suppliers commonly provide carbon cartridges rated at 2,000 to 6,000 gallons.

Regarding your RO membrane and DI resin, use your TDS meter to measure, record, and track the TDS (expressed in parts per million) in three places:
1. Tap water
2. After the RO but before the DI
3. After the DI.

The TDS in your tap water will likely range from about 50 ppm to upwards of 1000 parts per million (ppm). Common readings are 100 to 400 ppm. So for sake of discussion, let's say your tap water reads 400 ppm. That means that for every million parts of water, you have 400 parts of dissolved solids. How do we go about getting that TDS reading down to somewhere near zero?

If you do some experimenting with your TDS meter, you'll note that your sediment filter and carbon block filter (collectively called “prefilters”) do very little to remove dissolved solids. So with your tap water at 400 ppm, you can measure the water at the “in” port on your RO housing and you'll see it is still approximately 400 ppm.

The RO membrane is really the workhorse of the system. It removes most of the TDS, some membranes to a greater extent than others. For instance, 100 gpd Filmtec membranes have a rejection rate of 90% (i.e., they reject 90% of the dissolved solids in feed water). So the purified water coming from your 100 gpd membrane would be about 40 ppm (a 90% reduction). Filmtec 75 gpd (and below) membranes produce less purified water (aka “permeate”), but have a higher rejection rate (96 to 98%). The life span of a RO membrane is dependant upon how much water you run through it, and how dirty the water is. Membranes can function well for a year, two years, or more. To test the membrane, measure the total dissolved solids (TDS) in the water coming in to the membrane, and in the purified water (permeate) produced by the membrane. Compare that to the membrane’s advertised rejection rate, and to the same reading you recorded when the membrane was new. Membranes also commonly produce less water as their function declines.

After the RO membrane, water will flow to your DI housing. DI resin in good condition will reduce the 40 ppm water down to 0 or 1 ppm. When the DI output starts creeping up from 0 or 1 ppm to 3 ppm, 5 ppm, and higher, you know that your resin needs to be replaced. Sometimes people complain that their DI resin didn't last very long. Often the culprit is a malfunctioning RO membrane sending the DI resin “dirty” water. This will exhaust the resin quicker then would otherwise have been the case. Sometimes the problem is poor quality resin – remember that all resins are not created equal!

Sorry for the long post!
Russ @ BFS

 

wow thank you,...

so you obviously you are a spokes person for buckeyes what buckeye ro/di would you recommend for me, a person on a budget.
and yes 60 gal display sump fuge..ect..

also if i buy say the premium ro/di with the 75 gpd membrane, and i feel i want a 5th stage or more. is it upgradeable in the future?.

 

Our value line series is less expensive, but... The added features on the Premium Series systems are those we thought nearly anyone would wish they had bought on a system originally once they learned how to operate an RODI.

You can always add stages (to any system - not just ours) after the fact. Generally, it is more expensive to do it that way compared to buying it that way originally.

Russ

 

just one more question does that 75gpd premium package come with a faucet adapter or do i have to order that.

and anything else id need to get with that to start making water.

id like to put out my order today, so thanks for the help.

 

ok im sorry but i had to go with the bulk reef, after shipping and the the faucet adapter, it was only 13$ more to get the bulk reef. and i got a inline dual tds meter, pressure gauge, mutiple adapters, plus a 5th stage micron filter, and free float valve and replacement filters, for only 13$$ i had too! and the same filmtec 75 gpd membrane.

im sry you had do all that writing for me.:-/