RO/DI water solutions

[ecyoung]

Hi all,

 

I was fortunate to find a fully functional 14 gallon oceanic biocube on craigslist for $75 and have worked out nearly everything related to my setup except the water. I'm a college student living in an apartment without my own car (though my roommate has one). The way I see it, I have 2 main options for the water situation:

 

1) Use roommate's car 1x per week to pick up RO/DI water from LFS and store it in 5 gallon containers in my room. Pros: cheaper than buying RO/DI system. Cons: pretty big hassle to borrow roommate's car

 

2) Buy a RO/DI system. Pros: convenient, good investment in the long run. Cons: expensive up-front cost, might still be a pain to set up RO/DI system in an apartment shared with 3 other people.

 

I have also considered testing tap water to see just how bad it is (though my city has notoriously good tap water), but even if it is mostly treatable, I understand the risks of using treated tap water over RO/DI.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

EDIT: If I do get an RO/DI, this is the one I was thinking of getting

[Matteo]

I have used the RO/DI unit before definitely good for the money especially if you have a small nano! I say buy it and call it good!

[Clown79]

Apartment living can have some obstacles.

 

I'm in an apartment and putting in an ro/di is not an option. I always say check your lease agreement before doing anything.

 

You certainly can store the water but borrowing the car could be a hassle as you said.

 

 

I definitely see where a concern comes in with room mates because the ro will end up being used for more than your tank which means membranes not lasting as long. Amongst other issues that may arise while sharing a dwelling.

 

Apparently there are ro systems that aren't plumbed in, you can attach it to the faucet-that may be a better option for you.

 

 

What you could also do is use distilled water. You can buy it at a grocery store which may be easier. The little jugs are easy to carry if you're taking transit or if you do groceries with the car, grab the water on grocery day.

 

Start up is a pain as you need a lot of water but after its not too bad

 

 

Distilled is far better than tap.

 

 

Btw good score on the tank!

[ecyoung]

Clown79, the one I linked in my original post is listed for use in apartments and can attach to the sink. My only concern is I'll need it to be hooked up to the sink far more than I think (unintentional rhyme) and I'll piss off my roommates. Another thing I'm not so sure of is how often you need to replace the RO/DI system filters.

[seabass]

Use a 1/4" John Guest angle stop valve: http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/john-guest-angle-stop-valve.html instead of a faucet adapter. It connect just above the cold water shut off valve under the sink, so it won't bother anybody and doesn't permanently alter the plumbing.

 

The SpectraPure refurbished 90gpd unit is a better buy over time: http://spectrapure.com/Refurbished-90-GPD-RODI-System Prefilters last 6 months and the RO membrane will last a few years. You'll save money on filters and DI resin with a unit like this.

[Bldgengineer]

I think your best bet is to head to your local Safeway or other grocery store and stock 2 or 3 of their vending machine 5 gallon drinking water bottles. If you read them they state water purified by reverse osmosis. This way you don't have to borrow your roommate's car too often and you have a good source of ro water

[seabass]

I think your best bet is to head to your local Safeway or other grocery store and stock 2 or 3 of their vending machine 5 gallon drinking water bottles. If you read them they state water purified by reverse osmosis. This way you don't have to borrow your roommate's car too often and you have a good source of ro water

While RO water is typically much better than tap, it doesn't compare favorably with RO/DI water. Plus the grocery store machines aren't always properly maintained. When I first started out I used one of these RO vending machines. I couldn't figure out why my tank had 40 ppm of nitrate (despite how much water I changed). Turned out that the RO water that I was buying had 40 ppm of nitrate in it. After that, I switched to distilled water. However, now that I have a RO/DI unit, I wish I would have gotten it a lot sooner. It would have saved me a lot of money and time.

[Bldgengineer]

Interesting. I have not experienced something like that with the vending machine at my Safeway. It has always come back 0ppm across the board. I usually test it when I bring it home. Maybe it depends on the store's maintenance of the machine?

[seabass]

Yeah, there are a lot of potential factors, including: water pressure and temperature, the TDS of the unfiltered tap water, whether it's hard or soft water, the efficiency of the RO membrane, as well as maintenance of the equipment and filters. I'm glad that you are at least testing the water before you use it.

[steste1122]

If you go with the Spectra Pure they are currently running a promo for 10% off. I got lucky, last week they were doing 15% off, but still 10% is a good deal. The Spectra Pure seems to be very popular around here.

 

edit: you may still be able to get 15% off with the coupon code SPRING.

[ecyoung]

Thanks for the advice everybody, I purchased the RO/DI linked in my original post and will get the connector required to install it under the sink. I'll post updates once I have everything up and running - I am eventually going to get a pair of ocellaris clowns (for free!) from a research group in the same building as my lab that studies and breeds them.

[Matteo]

Thanks for the advice everybody, I purchased the RO/DI linked in my original post and will get the connector required to install it under the sink. I'll post updates once I have everything up and running - I am eventually going to get a pair of ocellaris clowns (for free!) from a research group in the same building as my lab that studies and breeds them.

perfect. Like I said I have used this one before. It is on the slower side being smaller but it gets the job done! Super easy to install.