This RO any good?
- Thread starter i<3fish
- Start date
degbowl
New Member
I purchased one and I haven't used it yet. I purchased a RO DI system on ---- so now I want to sell the tap water filter. It is just a DI filter. If you are in the NY area I would sell you mine for $20. I haven't even opened the box yet. It looks like the filter would be good, but I wanted to go for something better. I am setting up FOWLR tank in a couple of weeks.
scsinet
Active Member
Originally Posted by acrylic51
IMO waste of money....Save your cash and get a real RO/DI unit
Absolutely. Water quality is the foundation of a successful aquarium. Why skimp here? In this hobby, you can be thrifty, but not stingy.
Buy a 4 stage unit. Carbon, Sediment, RO, and DI.
Oh, and even though it's FO, you still need pure water. If any chlorine were to get into your system, you'd start to lose your bacterial colony, which could lead to a tank crash...
Plus, with LR, you can't have any metals, like disolved copper, lead, etc getting in. It will kill the life on your rock, which is probably worth a heck of a lot more than a good RO unit would have cost you in the first place.
IMO waste of money....Save your cash and get a real RO/DI unit
Absolutely. Water quality is the foundation of a successful aquarium. Why skimp here? In this hobby, you can be thrifty, but not stingy.
Buy a 4 stage unit. Carbon, Sediment, RO, and DI.
Oh, and even though it's FO, you still need pure water. If any chlorine were to get into your system, you'd start to lose your bacterial colony, which could lead to a tank crash...
Plus, with LR, you can't have any metals, like disolved copper, lead, etc getting in. It will kill the life on your rock, which is probably worth a heck of a lot more than a good RO unit would have cost you in the first place.
scsinet
Active Member
Originally Posted by acrylic51
It's not really about how many stages the unit has....You have to check what the rejection rate is on the membrane and the quality of the membranes being used in the units itself
This is true about the membrane, but the unit actually has to have an RO membrane in order to have any of these ratings. I didn't see an RO membrane at all in the pictures.
The number of stages don't matter, but the stages themselves do, and 4 stage units generally have the required stages required for good quality water.
If you don't have a sediment prefilter, your RO membrane will fail prematurely as it will get clogged very quickly.
If you don't have the carbon filter, you don't remove chlorine, etc. The RO membrane might, but it's far cheaper to replace the carbon filter more frequently than the RO membrane.
If all it is is a DI filter (which is what it looks like from the picture), you'll be replacing filters all the time.
Fish, to answer your question, there are as many choices out there as you can handle. I prefer the Kent Maxxima units. The Hi-S (High Silicate) models are my favorite becuase they can help reduce diatom blooms in new setups. They are surely not the cheapest, but are definitely one of the lower priced units. I'd find a supplier online, choose a model based on the pricing scale, then shop around for it. There is also that famous online auction site...
It's not really about how many stages the unit has....You have to check what the rejection rate is on the membrane and the quality of the membranes being used in the units itself
This is true about the membrane, but the unit actually has to have an RO membrane in order to have any of these ratings. I didn't see an RO membrane at all in the pictures.
The number of stages don't matter, but the stages themselves do, and 4 stage units generally have the required stages required for good quality water.
If you don't have a sediment prefilter, your RO membrane will fail prematurely as it will get clogged very quickly.
If you don't have the carbon filter, you don't remove chlorine, etc. The RO membrane might, but it's far cheaper to replace the carbon filter more frequently than the RO membrane.
If all it is is a DI filter (which is what it looks like from the picture), you'll be replacing filters all the time.
Fish, to answer your question, there are as many choices out there as you can handle. I prefer the Kent Maxxima units. The Hi-S (High Silicate) models are my favorite becuase they can help reduce diatom blooms in new setups. They are surely not the cheapest, but are definitely one of the lower priced units. I'd find a supplier online, choose a model based on the pricing scale, then shop around for it. There is also that famous online auction site...
uberlink
Active Member
The tapwater filter you're talking about works just fine. It's a true DI filter, and there is nothing wrong with the quality of the water it produces. The problem is that it's actually expensive in the long run, because you have to buy a new filter about every 50-75 gallons, because it's only DI, not RO. The multistage filters you can get for $100+ are both RO and DI, and the RO filters out 98% of the particles, leaving the DI part to catch only the last bits. As a result, the filters are good for hundreds of gallons, and they're much cheaper over the long haul. Get the tapwater filter if you're really short on cash and need something now, but if buy a proper RO/DI unit if you want to save in the long term.
acrylic51
Active Member
Your still better off get a real unit.....You'll see the filter doesn't last a good time and replacement isn't cheap and within a year your even less you'll have spent more money on filter replacements than buying a RO/DI unit......My friend went through the same deal couldn't see parting with his cash, but about 8 months down the road he finally saw the "light"
degbowl
New Member
Originally Posted by I<3Fish
Sorry beth. I will get the name up. degbowl, why havent you used it? Do you think it is worth it or no? Plus mine is a FOWRL, so I dont need to have 100% the purest water.
I thought that this filter would be good enough, but the more research I do, the more I see that I needed an RO DI system. I haven't opened it yet. I will either try to resell it or keep it as a back up. If I were you I would get the better filter.
Sorry beth. I will get the name up. degbowl, why havent you used it? Do you think it is worth it or no? Plus mine is a FOWRL, so I dont need to have 100% the purest water.
I thought that this filter would be good enough, but the more research I do, the more I see that I needed an RO DI system. I haven't opened it yet. I will either try to resell it or keep it as a back up. If I were you I would get the better filter.
watertite
Member
Bought one of the Dionizers at ***** and low and behold surfing the web I found a nice touch there are company's that actully make Real Ocean Water for aquariums and phosphate free and Ph balanced at 8.3 My prayers were answered. So I have changing out the water at 10 Gals. at a time and 3 more times and my 55 tank will be done and I will do maintenace about every 2 weeks. You should see my problem bottom algae is gone and the fish seem happier. My Diatom filter arrives pretty soon and I can't wait to use that.
purple lobster
Member
and is Kent Maxxima the way to go? which model? I have a 46 and 36 gal tank.