[Garrett]

Hello Everyone,

I have a 55 Gal. Saltwater tank, I am looking into getting a Reverse Osmosis product to do make my own saltwater....i'm new to the hobby and have been using tap water (I know wrong thing to do). I don't believe i'm ready for the cost of an RO/DI unit. Does anyone have any suggestions i know you won't let me down???

Thanks

[jsheffel]

These guys are one of the site sponsors. I have one of their Mako systems and have been very happy with it.

[slittle24]

I use water from a de-humidifier, I bought it just for this reason. Sounds weird but it works. The de-humidifier is in the basement and I fill a spare 30 gal. tank (with canister filter) slowly over a month then use this for water changes. Just a thought.

[PDAJunkie]

Our local Walmart has RO water for 28 cents a gallon. When I had my 55, I was doing a 10 gal change about every 10 days, so wasn't costing much. Just a thought til you can afford a RO/DI unit. Regards.

[Garrett]

Thanks for the info guys. I found this on ebay. Of course i would wait to big on it. Is it safe to get stuff like this or is it like anything else on ebay???? Your thoughts.

eBay: Reverse Osmosis Automated Aquarium RO DI system! NEW!!! (item 250069758107 end time Jan-13-07 22:21:45 PST)

Thanks

[PDAJunkie]

That one seems alittle high in price, but I haven't bought one for about 2 years now. I paid $110.00 for mine then and mine is the 4 stage setup. Ebay is okay as long as the seller is covered under the paypal guarentee. Good luck.

[knoxy]

This might be a silly question but when you have RO equiptment does it have to be permenantly linked up to the main water supply or can you use it on and off just when you need it.

I'm also interested in setting up a system to produce my own water as the wife isnt too keen on transporting all that saltwater in the new car...


Any help greatly appreciated.

Mike

[Garrett]

knoxy,

From what i have seen no it does not. there are some that can be hooked up to you water, but most just generally hook to the faucet and you can take it of if you want.

Yeah, to find out about more on a permanant system you might want to find one you want and ask the company you buy it from what they would suggest.

Have a good one.

[knoxy]

Thats what i was hoping. I dont want to have pipes going all over the place to the taps on the other side of the room. I just want a reservoir near my sump that can be filled with tap water and then via whatever RO equptment fed into the sump to top up the tank.

Thanks for the advise I will ask the manufacturers.

Cheers,
Mike

[Firefish]

I think you'll need the moderate pressure from your tap to push the water through your filters. I don't think just pouring water in a "reservoir " will work.
You'll also need to provide drainage for the waste water from the ro/di unit. I believe about 75% of the water that you put into the ro/di gets dumped as waste.
Just a few things to think about.

[Buckeye Field Supply]

Originally Posted by slittle24

I use water from a de-humidifier, I bought it just for this reason. Sounds weird but it works. The de-humidifier is in the basement and I fill a spare 30 gal. tank (with canister filter) slowly over a month then use this for water changes. Just a thought.

Suggest you be VERY cautious with this approach - most dehumidifiers have copper coils - as you probably know copper is very toxic in a marine environment.

[Buckeye Field Supply]

Originally Posted by knoxy

Thats what i was hoping. I dont want to have pipes going all over the place to the taps on the other side of the room. I just want a reservoir near my sump that can be filled with tap water and then via whatever RO equptment fed into the sump to top up the tank.

Mike - an RO or RO/DI system will require pressurized water.

Russ @ BFS

[Buckeye Field Supply]

[quote=Firefish;148780]I think you'll need the moderate pressure from your tap to push the water through your filters. I don't think just pouring water in a "reservoir " will work.
You'll also need to provide drainage for the waste water from the ro/di unit. I believe about 75% of the water that you put into the ro/di gets dumped as waste.
quote]

You should plan on 4 parts waste to every part purified water. This is the 4:1 ratio you may have heard of.

Russ @ BFS

[Firefish]

some good info there, BFS.
I'm in the middle of setting up an ro/di now. It's not too bad because you don't have to drill large holes to fit the tubing through, it's only about 3/8" in diameter. Plus, the nylon tubing is pretty cheap and can be found at any home depot. All the ballast (halide & PC) are mounted in the basement along with the ro/di unit, and the hole I had to drill to snake all the wires & water line up to the tank was only about 3/4".