Costco RO system

[Midnightsun]

Well I should get my tank in a couple of weeks so I sarted looking up my options for RO. Came across this which seems pretty darn cheap. Is there something wrong with this for aquarium use or is it just a good buy? http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?...topnav=&s=1

[AZDesertRat]

The Costco RO system is a typical drinking water quality system built by Watts Premier here in Phoenix AZ. The price is OK for what you get but it is not considered a reef quality system by any means. For a reef system I would add another 10" vertical canister for DI, an inline pressure gauge to monitor filter conditions and get an nice TDS meter. You would also want to upgrade the filters to 1 micron size or smaller and end up replacing the 18 to 24 GPD RO membrane with a 75 GPD membrane.

As you can see the costs add up quickly when converting a drinking water system to a reef system. I owned a Costco system for years myself but this was back in the 1990's when reef quality systems were prohibitively expensive unlike today. I can list all the mods I made and the cost and it was not cheap.

If I might suggest take a look at the Pro Plus from Spectrapure. Its on sale for $100 off at $149 complete and includes a 90 GPD RO membrane, 1 micron prefilter and carbon block, dual inline TDS meter, inline pressuer gauge, full size 10" 20oz refillable vertical DI with SilicaBuster DI resin specifically designed for aquarium use and many more things including a capillary tube flow restrictor for an exact 4:1 waste ratio.

http://www.spectrapure.com/email/customer-...eciation.html#1

 

You can always add a drinking water kit so you can use it for drinking water too and it will be less investment to go this route than convert the Costco system plus you will have better water quality.

[Midnightsun]

Wow, nice informative answer. I will most likely go with your recommendation. I already have a filter hooked up for my fresh water tank but it is strictly Carbon based and pretty sure the same type as most RO systems use. Instead of removing this, I will leave in place and hook up the RO downstream from it. This way I would assume the RO system will not work as hard as it would be pre-filtered. Does that make sense? .

 

FYI, this system will never be used for drinking water. Dedicated aquarium use only.

[AZDesertRat]

The extra carbon probably won't do much for you if anything. Many carbon filters use granular media which has a few problems. One is granular carbons have a very short lifespan (often as little as 300 total gallons) since they don't have the same amount of tiny pores to adsorb chlorine and VOC's as good carbon blocks do. To go along with that, if the carbon is not protected by a low micron prefilter those pores become fouled or plugged and have very limited adsorption capacity. And finally granular carbons are usually fragile and break down into dust and fines which can plug downstream filters and membranes, this is one reason reef systems use solid carbon blocks and not GAC.

It may also cause a pressure drop which is not wanted, more filters are not necessarily better especially in front of a membrane where each filter can have an associated pressure drop or restriction which reduces GPD output and even water quality since higher pressures produce higher quality final effluent.

[majtek862]

If I might suggest take a look at the Pro Plus from Spectrapure.

 

Excellent suggestion! I have this unit and it works like a champ! Great unit for the money.