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R.O. Suggestions?

NatchGreyes

NatchGreyes

Hey All -

My landlord recently upgraded our water system to include a water softener. As a consequence, I'm now getting kind of salty water out of my taps. I'm sure this will be death to my plants, unless I can come up with a way to cleanse the salt. I figured a R.O. system should work and figured I'd ask the community for suggestions on a brand/unit/things-to-look-for since I know many of you use R.O. systems. I'd really prefer one that won't require a whole lot of plumbing work as I'm definitely not going to leave it behind when I move and will have to fix whatever I change.

Thanks,
-N
 
www.airwaterice.com

www.bulkreefsupply

Two vendors with exceptional reputations in the reef keeping community. Any unit can be attached to a faucet or hose bib with the proper adapter.
 
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Can't really give you any brands given where I am, but here're some tips from my use of one:

* The housings are fairly standardised, so replacement filters/membranes are quite easy to come by. The main difference will be how good the filters and membranes are.
* While you're getting set up buy teflon tape and spare o-rings for the filter housings and other fittings.
* More an issue when you're replacing the RO membrane, but note that the membrane rating (50/75/100 GPD) determines what kind of flow restrictor you need after the waste water outlet.
* Check your water pressure, you may want a reducer between your supply and the RO unit. Flip side is that if your water pressure is too low you may have other issues regarding the RO unit working at all.
* The units generally have fittings for 1/4" tubing and enough of the stuff to get it installed, but I would recommend buying more. That's dependent on how you set it up and use it though.
* From memory it's not good to let the RO membrane dry out. Doesn't happen with my setup but if you're taking it out and hooking it up only when you need water then some valves might not be a bad idea, just to be sure everything inside is full of water. They're quite cheap, as is the tubing. As before though, this might be setup dependent.
* The amount of waste water can be rather substantial. I like using it for my non-carnivorous plants and have a container just for collecting it.
* Some units come with bladder tanks, they're nicer for storage than a bucket but for me the real advantage is that I can run my automated misting/watering system using that pressure. On the other hand if I just had a bucket I'd need to get a pump of some kind as well. If you're just hooking up the unit when you need water I'd recommend skipping it and save some money.
 
+1 for bulkreefsupply. Great company with decent prices and awesome customer service. They also ship extremely fast.
 
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