good RO/DI?

[singlefintj]

im sick of buying gallons of di from the store so i figured i would set up a unit. anyone have any suggestions? i saw one at Costco for like 170 it was a 5 stage with a container or whatever. thanks
TJ

[Dannyboy]

I'll tag along on this one. I always see that one at Costco too and wondered if it was a good setup. BTW how's the Copperband doing?

[pk-sd]

There is a place on miramar road that sell DI water for $0.05 per gallon.

Also you can get a DI not RO unit for $100 from ebay. You should be able to find reviews on RC and nano-reef on that.

[jrjuiliano]

This is what I bought directly from the link on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20756&item=4383254841&rd=1)

It's a water general 110 GPD unit that has RO and DI and cost me $140, including tax and shipping.

The company is Filter Direct in Anaheim. I passed up the ebay auction and just bought directly with a credit card.

Pretty good unit. Comes with a tank and everything.

J.R.

[pk-sd]

Originally posted by jrjuiliano
This is what I bought directly from the link on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20756&item=4383254841&rd=1)

It's a water general 110 GPD unit that has RO and DI and cost me $140, including tax and shipping.

The company is Filter Direct in Anaheim. I passed up the ebay auction and just bought directly with a credit card.

Pretty good unit. Comes with a tank and everything.

J.R.

Have you done any tests on the water ?

[jrjuiliano]

You know, I haven't. But I'll do what I can and post here (just phostphate, nitrate, etc). I don't have a TDS meter but I can get one here soon.

I CAN tell you that the regular RO water tastes about 900% better than the Oceanside tap water, and there are no lime deposits building around the faucet! :D

edit, takes --> tastes. damn fingers.

[colindoug3]

Originally posted by jrjuiliano

I CAN tell you that the regular RO water takes about 900% better than the Oceanside tap water, and there are no lime deposits building around the faucet! :D
did you mean tastes?
i was getting tired of driving to the LFS for ro/di. ive been using tap and didnt see too much change algae wise. i use conditioner and bubble it with an airstone. my corals get a little skiddish if i put in a significant amount. ive decided to try one of those 'water stores.' one at the end of my street, not nearly as far as the LFS. is that what you were using tj?

[MrKrispy]

I just ordered a unit off ebay also, but from Aquasafe. I went with them because they offer the larger DI cartridge: 16oz vs. 6oz from Filterdirect. Our water in central SD is pretty bad as far as TDS readings go.

I paid $69 + 20something shipping.

Just do a ebay search (with description) for Aquasafe. The prices for the two companies come out about the same. Both get good marks from ReefCentral.

[singlefintj]

colin, i wish i have been buying actual vons or ralphs and now rite aid brand di. costs me so much i figure i could have bought 2 di units by now.
btw, for aiptasia nothing beats a good copper band!

[socalcreations]

FWIW, my filterdirect unit from ebay works great. Have been filling up the 225 gallon for the last few days and the TDS reads 001. Also filles up about 2+ 44 gallon cans in 24hrs., it is the 100GPD unit. Can't beat the price!

[mojoreason]

My filter direct is a beaut as well ... showed up quickly and it was fairly easy to set up - - bought it several months ago for just over a Franklin off of eBay ...

Anyway - - it works nicely. No adverse readings ever on the RO/DI unit.

[colindoug3]

more and more people getting these units. how do you guys have these set up? under your sink? in garage set up and drag the new water to your tank? it would be ideal to have a water outlet behind your tank, but most of us dont have this.

[socalcreations]

Garage setup, with a heavy duty Brute trash can on wheels so we can just wheel it into the house. Yes a water line by the tank would be awesome.

[shmitr]

I've got mine hooked up to a regular hose outlet outside and just attached a longer tube to the output so it'll reach my top off reservior in the house (I got sick of lugging buckets and trash cans around).

[MrKrispy]

I am installing mine with a Y- splitter from the water line to my clothes washer which is in my garage. I had a frag tank down there so I will run the outlet line to a big container. I might get a peristaltic pump to push water upstairs to my main tank.

[jrjuiliano]

I put mine under the sink, especially since it came with the RO faucet.

The beauty of it is that I can pull RO water from the sink-mounted faucet and DI water from a small hoseline. If my tank or sump were closer I'd T off something and use that, but for now I have to drag my buckets.

Since I'm in a condo, and everything is close, no big deal.

[singlefintj]

Btw, does anyone pay for water that uses one of these things? I know they waste a lot of water, and I'm worried about my bill

[shmitr]

I don't pay the water bill here but also don't waste the water either. I use the waste water for watering plants, they love it.

[singlefintj]

shmitr does the waste flow out by way of a T or Y or something? so you just catch it in a trash can or something? i wonder if i can use it for my washing machine etc...

[socalcreations]

Well I pay the water bill and I haven't nocticed much of a change. I guess I'll have to see on this next bill as we have been filling up our 225. I haven't used the waste water for anything, it has just been going down the drain. Oh and there is a seperate drain line for the waste water, so you can use it to fill just about anything.

[jrjuiliano]

I can't remember entirely but doesn't it also have a shutoff valve when the tank is full so it doesn't just throw waste water away?

My water is paid through homeowner's assoc. fees, so I never see a bill.

Probably why I'm never going to get a tank above 100 gallons if I get my own place with my own water bill!

[socalcreations]

Originally posted by jrjuiliano
I can't remember entirely but doesn't it also have a shutoff valve when the tank is full so it doesn't just throw waste water away?

My water is paid through homeowner's assoc. fees, so I never see a bill.

Probably why I'm never going to get a tank above 100 gallons if I get my own place with my own water bill!

I don't use a tank, but mine has a valve to turn off the DI water and then there is a selenoid that shuts off the waste water along with it, so I'm sure if you get the one with the tank it has the same thing.

[colindoug3]

do both RO and DI have waste water? one or the other, both?
what is the ration of useable water and waste water? or does it matter on how good your unit is?