RO Units

[scar_11]

Hey Guys
I am looking into RO units but don't know much about them can you guys give me some advice on what I should be looking for?

Also where is a cheap place to buy them from?

[TheKid]

Hey Guys
I am looking into RO units but don't know much about them can you guys give me some advice on what I should be looking for?

Also where is a cheap place to buy them from?

There is no such thing as "cheap" in this hobby, only less expensive:mrgreen:

[Triggz]

I really like my Purley H2O- Optima Chloramine advanced. I purchased it from www.reefperfection.com (a canreef sponser). It has a few extra's that I really like. Dual inline digital TDS meter, built in TDS percent monitor that tells you when the RO is producing higher than normal TDS, auto shutoff with float, flush kit.

here is a link

http://www.reefperfection.com/purelyh20-optimachloramineadvanced.aspx

[BWI]

whatever it is you are after we can put together something for you.. When you buy one of our units you are in the Filter Loyalty Program.. which is 20% off replacement filters for life!

[trilinearmipmap]

A lot of people on this board used to use the Aquasafe RO/DI units which you could buy off EBay, 2 or 3 years ago they seemed to disappear and were presumably out of business, but I noticed OA has them on sale right now. I used one for about 5 years and I was quite happy with it.

[burrows14]

A lot of people on this board used to use the Aquasafe RO/DI units which you could buy off EBay, 2 or 3 years ago they seemed to disappear and were presumably out of business, but I noticed OA has thesh t.

The old aquasafe RO units were great but the new ones I would stay away from. Ive had mine 8 months and had nothing but problems. Ive had my unit switched out a few times and the same thing everytime. I even had a rep come to my house to help me set it up and had the same resaults. I ended up keeping the unit at a discount and plan on up grading when I can. aquasafe said there was a problem with their manufacturing in china that had to do with their problem.

[Scythanith]

My aqua safe (~2 1/2 years old) has been great. I added a generic DI chamber to it and get consistent low TDS. I haven't changed the resin/cartridges once and I'm still getting <5 TDS from the unit. I will be ordering some new cartridges from OA though. I was also looking at aquafx's units, as they have one that has a 1/1 waste water ratio (the octopus)!

[scar_11]

I got a guy coming to my house this week to take a look at my water and recommend a product for me

[Madreefer]

If you buy a Vertex just be aware that the customer support sucks. Good units, but I have a problem with mine and the "rep" informed me that my unit was not intended to be sold to the public and was meant for a store demo so no warranty. What a cop out!

[mike31154]

It would be helpful for those who report problems with their particular units to describe the problem in more detail. Do they leak? Something broken like a housing, etc? Performance of the membrane? Customer support problems can be a major issue after purchase for sure, that's why eBay may not be a good choice if you have problems down the road. Units shipped from the US will have brokerage fees, duty, taxes, US$/Can$ exchange rate to deal with, so while the initial price may look more attractive than one from a Canadian vendor, the end result in most cases will be little difference in final cost. Expect to pay between Can $200 to $240 for a good quality unit that will meet the needs of most applications. The market for these systems is relatively small and most vendors expect the buyers to have more than the average knowledge about setting them up, so instructions may be somewhat brief and not as detailed as some folks would like them to be. That's where customer support comes in.

RO/DI systems are not rocket science, most of them use standard 10" cartridge housings and plastic tubing/fittings. I'd guess the majority of the components these days are manufactured in the far east and are assembled by the vendors who stamp their label on the filter mounting bracket. So in the end I reckon it largely depends on the quality of the membrane, pre filters, carbon filters, and DI media. The quality RO membranes are apparently made by DOW and the best fittings are John Guest, although there are other manufacturers of the quick disconnect fittings of equal quality, as well as some cheap knock offs.

Ok, enough of my 'rant', now for my personal experience.... I purchased a BWI (before they became a sponsor here) 75gpd system almost a year ago and it has performed well. The only issue I have is that the auto shut off does not work properly. I can deal with that since I'd be hesitant to leave the house with any RO/DI system running. I run the system only when I'm home to keep an eye on things since I also collect the waste water for use around the house & yard. I've retrofitted a couple of pressure guages to help determine performance of the pre filters and RO membrane. I've pushed close to 750 gal through the system and am still running with all the original filters. My source TDS is between 210 & 220. The system came with a 1 micron poly pre-filter and a 0.5 micron chlorine guzzler carbon filter which is reportedly good for up to 20,000 gals. It also has an additional 1 micron carbon block filter so I reckon I can probably go another year or so with those. I purchased a chlorine test strip kit for swimming pools to check for chlorine just in case. Think it might be almost time to change out the poly filter since it's looking a little funky now, although with the cold winter water, my TDS out of the RO stage was 0 during the last run, so the DI media is not having to work hard at all.

Seems to me the vendor I've purchased from is eager to provide support and the price was right for a good quality unit with clear housings. Clear housings are a bit more expensive, but it's nice to be able to see what's going on with the filters.

[DiverDude]

A few things to consider:

-RO or RO/DI ?

Reverse Osmosis water is pretty much what you get from bottled water and is usually good enough. You can also drink the output of the system so that's a bonus. Adding a DeIonization (DI) stage will further remove 'impurities' (mostly salts). This is a better choice for reef setups as you have the most control over water purity. DI water isn't nice to drink though.

-Waste Ratio

Many RO units will 'waste' 2.5 Gal or more for every gallon of pure water. Of course you can collect this 'waste' and use it for whatever. Better units have booster pumps and run water through the filters at higher pressures reducing the waste considerably. A good unit will produce 1:1 good to waste ratio. All these figures will vary with the temperature of the incoming water and gets worse (more waste) when the water is colder.

-Bells & Whistles

Higher end units often include a TDS meter on the final stage. This is really handy ! You can monitor the performance of the system and know when to change filters. Some also have auto back-flush functions that are intended to keep the membrane filter clean and extend it's life. With a membrane cartridge running around $80 or so, you'd like to get as much out of it as possible.

[Chod]

I am on the lookout for a RO/DI filter too.

Any changes to opinions? Any new products out worth looking at? The Aquasafe from OA looks good. I'd really like TDS readings before and after, might have to retrofit something if i decided to get that one..


Any other recommendations?

Thanks,
Chod.