Is this a good RO/DI unit?

[likwid]

Hey guys,

Looking to get an RO/DI unit for my 28g nanocube HQI. I found this one on eBay and was wondering if it will do the trick? What do you think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/AQUARIUM-REEF-RO-DI-RE...1742.m153.l1262 (http://cgi.ebay.com/AQUARIUM-REEF-RO-DI-REVERSE-OSMOSIS-WATER-FILTER-SYSTEM_W0QQitemZ130251173867QQihZ003QQcategoryZ207 56QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l12 62)

Thanks!

[RonPeter]

I see they ship with UPS...after you pay the shipping, brokerage fees and other ups fees you can probably buy one in Canada just as cheap from J&L or other on-line vendors.

[likwid]

I see they ship with UPS...after you pay the shipping, brokerage fees and other ups fees you can probably buy one in Canada just as cheap from J&L or other on-line vendors.

Thanks, but is the unit any good?

They go for $300+ through canadian retailers. I have bought items shipped through UPS before and the fees have never equalled the price of the item.

[martym]

This is the one I just got.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/AQUASAFE-MAXIMUS-COMBO-REVERSE-OSMOSIS-WATER-FILTER_W0QQitemZ160276683575QQihZ006QQcategoryZ206 84QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It works well

But as for the one you are looking at it's hard to say. It has everything you would want. 6 stage RO/DI is what you want. Check into shipping and warranty if any.

[likwid]

This is the one I just got.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/AQUASAFE-MAXIMUS-COMBO-REVERSE-OSMOSIS-WATER-FILTER_W0QQitemZ160276683575QQihZ006QQcategoryZ206 84QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It works well

But as for the one you are looking at it's hard to say. It has everything you would want. 6 stage RO/DI is what you want. Check into shipping and warranty if any.

I see they ship UPS as well, were you charged any fees?

[Borderjumper]

I bought mine from ebay but it shipped out of Vancouver, so there were no brokerage fees. If you read the listing it states something about no additiobal fees to Canada.

Im very happy with my Aquasafe unit. Ive had it 2 years now and its been totally trouble free.

[christyf5]

I have an aquasafe one as well, I've had it for about 5 years now and love it :biggrin:

[Myka]

AquaSafe units are just fine. I think 6 stages is way overkill though unless your tap TDS is really high. Go buy yourself a digital TDS meter (you'll need one anyway), and test your tap water first, then you'll have an idea of the size of unit you need.

As far as brokerage fees go, I paid $110 for a used Remora skimmer including shipping that shipped through UPS. I got a brokerage fee invoice in the mail a month later for $48. Not impressed... I will never get anything UPS from the US again unless they have fixed brokerage fees (like Bulk Reef Supply).

[martym]

No I wasn't charged, kind of surprised me.

[mark]

from Aqua-safe a couple of months back ordered some parts and asked them about the brokerage fee as shows UPS (had been burned by other companies), and they said would be no charge as shipped fr Canada (know Cdn but web-site shows Blaine), and there wasn't any extra charges.

[Veng68]

I believe the company is in North or West Van but they do business in the States...... so they ship from Blaine because the shipping is cheaper within the same country.

Also if you ever order anything from the US...... get them to ship USPS because the brokerage fee is only $5.

Cheers,
Vic

[karazy]

does aquasafe have a website because i cannot find one?

[Veng68]

does aquasafe have a website because i cannot find one?

http://www.aquasafecanada.com/

Cheers,
Vic

[karazy]

why thank you vic:biggrin:

lol, ok, another blonde moment question

wheres the online store on that site?

[PoonTang]

Also look at the purely H2O systems that reefperefection.com sells. Excellent units made specifically for the aquarium trade. No duties.

[Veng68]

why thank you vic:biggrin:

lol, ok, another blonde moment question

wheres the online store on that site?

The website is pretty new I think. If you want to order I am sure you can get a phone number off the website or maybe from their e-bay store (they sell "buy now" units)

Cheers,
Vic

[mark]

why thank you vic:biggrin:

lol, ok, another blonde moment question

wheres the online store on that site?

site's a little lacking, when I've dealt with them it's either through their ebay store (link in martym post) or just e-mail directly at aquasafe@uniserve.com

[dreef]

I bought mine a few yrs ago off ebay, with buy it now.Unit had worked perfectly,not too hard to setup,just take your time.Shipping was prompt and they state that there will be no ups brokerage fees,and there wasn't.

[midgetwaiter]

The one you posted the link to and the Aquasafe are of comparable quality and are a decent enough value for the price but are much more expensive to run in the long term.

There is a good reason that other units cost 3 times as much. The Aquasafe unit is about 90% efficient, the ebay one you posted claims about 92.5% Depending on your source water this may be good enough or maybe not, take this for example: Source water is 200ppm on a tds meter, Aquasafe membrane does about 90% removal so your "RO" water still has a tds of 20ppm. This needs to be removed by the DI resin and it will eat it up quickly. Take that same 200ppm source water and put it through something with a Dow Filmtec 75gpd or similar membrane that can do a 98% removal and you only have 4ppm for the DI resin to handle. The resin will last 5 times as long, some people only get 150g out of their DI cartridges in cheaper systems.

This more effective RO membrane is the biggest reason a good unit costs more but other factors come in to play as well. The sediment filter is only a 5 micron, this allows a lot more stuff to pass through than a .5 micron sediment filter would and so the carbon filter gets plugged faster leading to chlorine break through. Also, the carbon prefilters that come with an Aquasafe unit are 5 micron and good for about 5000 gallons at best. Keep in mind though that all of the water that goes through the unit goes through the carbon filter so if you are getting a standard product to waste ratio of 1:4 you need to remember to switch your carbon filter after 1000g of usable water. A good .5 micron carbon block like the ones that come with better units does cost a little over twice as much but it will last 4 times longer. It will also do a much better job at chloramine removal if your water supply is treated with it. This means that the RO membrane will better protected and last longer. The DI cartridge won't have to clean up the ammonia left over from the chloramine either and so it will last longer as well.

Just as an example, I put about 100g a week through my Spectrapure system to get the 20g of product water I need, fairly low usage. I switch my sediment and carbon filters every year or so when I notice chlorine showing up and the DI about every 9 months. I'm just about up to 3 years on the same membrane. That's with 250ppm source water.

I don't know how hard the water is in Lethbridge but if it's anything like Edmonton or Calgary you're going to be swapping filters like mad.