RO's ?????

[ajwaters]

My new 90g tank should be here wednesday.. I have decided to get some kind of water filter for my tap water. I would like to see if there is any good water filters that I can use instead of buying an RO made for the aquarium.. has anyone used other purifiers that you would buy to make your water taste better cleaner ect.. and if so where can u buy those at my husband and I were goin to check out a couple retail places. any IMO's would be great..
thank you in advance

 

[stacy]

I picked up a RO unit from costco that is designed for tap water filtration. It does 24 gallons per day, and has a 3 gallon reserve tank. I paid 150 for the unit. I then purchased seperately the DI unit from kent and hooked that up as well. In looking at all the specs I couldn't find any differences in the unit other than kent had an optional hookup for a water hose. I also use this for my drinking water and was fairly easy to install.

 

[stacy]

I purchased the RO unit at costco, but I did order the replacement cartridges from kent. I beleive that the units themselves are no different just different quality membranes.

 

[wamp]

Stacy,
That is correct. The RO unit is only as good as the membrane. You can buy a cheaper unit and add the better membranes. Stay away from units that do not allow you to install the aftermarket membranes. Lowes has one that you can only add their brand membrane to it.. Kinda defeats the purpose...

 

[stacy]

The only reason I even went this route was because I wanted to have the 3 gallon reserve tank. Kent has an add on reserve tank, but they wanted over a $130 for it. So I just figured I would go the route that I did so I could get the whole setup then just replace the membranes. That ran around $300 compared to the kent setup that would have total about $360. You know we spend to much time on the board when we can debate RO units.
I should add that I used tap for a long time before switching. I never really tested for phos or anything, but since I have switched to RO/DI I have very little algae growth. I used to clean the glass 1-2 times per week. Know I clean the glass 2 times per month. The water clarity has also greatly increased.

 

[wisconsin reef]

I would not use anything but ro water because the fact you would be all the heavy metels that are in your area and you can get a good one for your hole house that will do 20 gal a day for around 600 install thru rainsoft dealer i have use it on my 125 gal reef with greet results and you sould not get all bad alge you get with the cheeper ones and you can ues it for your shelf when you dont need the water for the tank and you will never go back to tap
tank inhabits are
colt coral <a href="http://www.spotlife.com/users2/wisconsinreef/" target="_blank">http://www.spotlife.com/users2/wisconsinreef/</a>
pipe orgen
devil fingers
lettes coral
toad stool
frog spawn
yellow popls
button popls
clams
mushrooms
flower pot
elegent coral
gorgand
baby stars
plants
tangs yellow, sailfin,acheliss,hipho
dasking angel
flame angel
keyhole angel & comet also the betta
scooter
assorted crabs
aommenos with clowns
neubrach black
cleaner shimp
peppermint shimp
assored sails
with 4 vho and wet dry system & skimmer
<img src="graemlins//urrr.gif" border="0" alt="[urrr]" />

 

[nyy fan]

This is very interesting considering I just went with a MH on my 37G and the H20 has been dissappearing alot quicker than with 36W of NO and the enclosed Eclipse top.
What would you guys recommend for someone like me? I currently buy all of my water from a LFS.

 

[wamp]

You deffinetly need an ro.. It gets expensive to buy the water. As far as brand name. I hae a Kent. It is alot more expensive than the ones at a home improvment store but comes with the right membrane from the get go so you don't have to add it in. Also you can get them with a DI so you won't have to add that later eithier...

 

[ajwaters]

I know that RO is probably the best way to go.. But just a question are any of the water conditioner treatements any good that say they neutralize cholrine and precipitate heavy metals. Ex... AquaSafe, Pro-Tech coat, Geneise tap ect...

 

[stacy]

I was using those chemicals to remove the chlorine before. In the long run it will be cheaper, as well as better for your tank, to get an RO/DI unit. I think those water conditioners do not remove all the metals in the water. It may break them down, but there must be some trace of them left in the water.