Airwaterice RO/DI Home/Reef Owners

[beth]

Anybody know if you are supposed to leave the blue valve connected to the drinking water tank on [or off] while using the DI to get fish tank water?
If I turn this valve off, the water trickles, if I turn it on, it comes out in a pretty strong stream, but since it is supposed to direct water in to the drinking water tank, I though you shut it off so that water would go into the collection container for fish tank water.

 

[seaham358]

E-mail Walter at airwaterice, I have E-mailed him several times and he gets right back to me. My 100gpd ro/di has a steady trickle not a stream. My waste discharge has a stream.

 

[beth]

Yeah, I'll email him, but I've bugged him so much lately
Do you have a Home/Reef system?

 

[seaham358]

No, I just got the reef system. I have it set up in the down stairs family room bath next to the wahsher/dryer for the easy hook up. I have finished ceilings down there so it would be hell to try and run a drinking line up though the floors. Good luck.

 

[dreeves]

It stays on. Off would not allow the tank to fill. While it is open...the water going to and through your DI is coming from the final carbon and the storage tank...that would explain the difference in pressure. With the valve off...you would only be getting water from the final carbon/membrane.

 

[beth]

Hey, dreeves do you have one of these systems? I put an email in to the guy who makes them, but no reply yet.
What you say makes sense, but what's to prevent the water from running from the drinking water tank to the fish tank container if the water tank valve stays open?

 

[rane]

Beth,
I have one of those systems but its only connected for the Tank and my water just trickles there is alot more waste water then anything but I think thats the way its supposed to be and mine is supposed to do 100GPD

 

[beth]

Well the water streams in if I leave the drinking water tank on while filling the fish tank water container. I'm just wondering if I'm actually emptying the drinking water tank into the fish water, or what?
Would be nice if it operated that way....I'd get water a lot faster!

 

[dreeves]

Yes I have one. And yes it is the water from the storage tank going into your DI and onto the fish. There isnt any, well shouldn't be, difference in water quality as they both go through the final carbon filter. then the reef part on through the DI and the drinking to the faucet.
The trickling is the actual pressure from the membrane. The pressurized water with the tank valve opened is stored in the tank under about 7psi of air pressure. That is what gives it its "umph".
I think to get the good pressure direct from a membrane...one would be looking at a 300+gpd RO. Really a slow process...but that is the cost of ultra-pure water.

 

[beth]

So, its better to just go thru the "trickle" process, then. That's ok, just wanted to be sure I was on the right track.
Have you taken any water test reading on your water, before/after? I'm going to do that this weekend, just phosphate as that is all that tested positive pre RO/DI.

 

[patrick g.]

Which would give me better drinking water, the dual home/reef unit from airwaterice, or this unit, which I currently have on my faucet:

 

[beth]

That unit is not a RO/DI at all. Just an attached filter, probably carbon or something, to the water faucet.
I spoke to airwaterice and with this dual unit, if you want full benefit of DI for fish tank water, you need to turn off the valve going to the drinking water tank. You want to get the trickled water. This slow trickling is because the water is seeping slowly thru the DI filter; for the DI do its final stage job, the water needs to go thru slowly.
Here is my set up. 6 stage unit: sediment filter, carbon block, another carbon block, RO membrane, carbon block, DI filter. Obviously the metal tank is going to my refrigerator for drinking and ice water, and the garbage can is storing my fish tank water. My tap water had a good amt of phosphate pre-airwaterice, and now I have a zero reading using my test kit for either the drinking water or the fish tank water. I must say, that I am so far pleased. I still need to get a TDS meter to get a better purity reading.
BTW: IO salts always tested for phosphates as well, using dry tab kits. Which I really didn’t like. I tested the Reef Crystals today, and didn’t get a reading.
Here’s the setup! $200 rather than the $500 for spectrapure. And, the bottom line is, that you can buy whatever filters you want for these set-ups. They all use filtec membranes, or should.

 

[beth]

Full View

 

[patrick g.]

I thought the tank was for my reef water. No?

 

[tangman99]

Beth,
How far away is your refrigerator? I'm thinking about getting one of these, but I can't run it to my fridge without going up through the roof and back down.

 

[dreeves]

Tang...the system uses regular poly, 1/4 tubing which you can buy at any home improvement place for like 3 bucks per 25 feet or something in that area, probably cheaper.

 

[tangman99]

I know the line is real cheap, I'm just concerned about will it work. I would have to run it up from my sink about 8 feet high, run over about 12 feet and back down to my hookup. I'm not sure the tank can handle that much pressuse including what pressure my refrigerator needs to operate.

 

[dreeves]

Get some tubing and test it out with out the drilling and such.

 

[beth]

Originally posted by Patrick G.
I thought the tank was for my reef water. No?
NO! That's for drinking water. The HOME/REEF is designed for just that. The tank provided is to store the RO water that runs to your drinking water source. You can attach the remaining line of the system to a holding container, as I've done with the garbage can, or run it directly to tank/sump for top off.
If you are getting your aquarium water from the supplied holding tank, then you are not getting the DI portion of the filtration. Also, my tank is metal, some are plastic, but I wouldn't want water stored in a metal tank going for my fish tank.

 

[beth]

Tang, my line was connected directly to the water line that was already going to my refridgerator. The system is about 12ft from the refridgerator. It does slow down the water flow coming out of the refridgerator, but I can live with it just to have drinkable water. No more hauling drinking water bottles from the store every wk.
I would not recommend water traveling up. However, why does it need to go up? Its easier to put the RO/DI close to the fridge. Just find a collection spot for tank water. Also, this system comes with a fauset, so that you can rig it at your kitchen sink if you want. In that scenerio, you could fesibly collect tank water from containers at your sink, and then run another line to your refridgerator. The system itself, does not take up much space.