RO system

ive been mixing the "good" and "bad" water from my RO system in my tank. In other words, i dont put the red "waste" tube down the drain. i dont see why there's even a 'waste' tube at all, because all the water is being filtered through the entire unit anyway? i see it as a waste of water and money but my friend said not to mix the 'good' and 'bad' water together because the 'bad' water has more(??) chlorine when it leaves the tube than it even did to start out with.? i have no idea what hes talking about is this true?

 

You should put the waste tube back the drain. mixing good and bad is no better then getting water out of the tap. If you mix good and bad your getting no better then the tap. waste water contains nitrates, chemicals ,etc. Also, I would add a DI at the end. It will get your TDS to 0.

 

heheh.

The waste line is not filtered, well not completely. I'ts only filtered through the first 3 stages of your ro unit. It does not go through your ro membrane or your di canister.

Although that waste water should be chlorine free, there's still a lot of unwanted material in it. Your first three stages are most likely a 10 5 and 1 micron filter and there are a lot of things under that 1 micron mark.

Personally, for low light fish only systems, I run my water just through a 10,5, and 1 micron filter and them use it after that. But for our reef systems we only use RODI.

 

Please trust your friend. If you think that it is "a waste of water and money" you will find out that it costs a lot more money to try to remove those contaminants AFTER they are introduced to the tank. Good luck.

 

The waste contains all the TDS or contaminants that were removed from the treated water. By mixing it back you have acomplished absolutely nothing.
The prefilter and carbon are there to protect the RO membrane, they do little as far as treatment except remove chlorine and large sediment.