Water Questions

[RobertsKitty]

I was wondering, I know it is suggested to purchase an RO/DI system for saltwater. I have several questions.

 

Firstly, most are rated for 50+ gallons per day. I need about 10 a WEEK Are there any that make so much less? Also, I don't want to be hooking this thing up into the piping in my house but I heard it was needed? Can someone clear up how they are used?

 

Also, can distilled water from the store be used? I know money wise its not as great but for now it will probably be my best option. Is it possible to just distill your own water?

 

Also, I am doing FOWLR so no reef. That being said does that change anything?

 

Thanks!

[seabass]

The GPD rating is a max (with optimal temperature and pressure), consider that being cut almost in half during the winter. There are cutoff switches that will allow you to make a certain amount. Also, there are faucet adapters as well as under the sink adapters which will allow either temporary or reversible hookups.

 

Distilled water works great. I'd still use pure water with a FOWLR, as certain inverts are as sensitive as coral.

[cdr5y7]

you can get some with 25gpd or so i think. also they make ones you can just hook up to the sink faucet-get the water you need then be done.

 

i have never used one like that so couldnt tell you price or if they work well.

 

yes you can use distilled water. i dont know the prices of that but you might have a LFS who sells or gives RO/DI water away free(but likes donations)

 

with my NC i only need about 3g for WC and maybe another gallon for top off. so i know the situation your in. but we love drinking the ro water so we got one with a storage tank and faucet.

[OClownsandNanos]

You've got to think about what 50GPD actually means and how it will work for you logistically. I've got a Spectrapure RO/DI unit which does 75GPD. I also have a dedicated bathroom I can use downstairs to make water. I do not have it plumbed into my faucet - I just attach and detach using the faucet adapter as necessary. But I have a 20G+ rubbermaid trashcan I use to make RO/DI water and to fill up 15 gals it takes about 5 hours (a little over 3 gal an hour) if working at full throttle. If you don't have a dedicated faucet for this, doing 10 gal is going to occupy your faucet for 5 hours at minimum. I like to only make R/O water once a week if I can then store it, because I want to make sure I'm at home while I'm doing it and I've got it on a timer. Otherwise it'll potentially flood and be a big problem (that's happened a few times for me when I was filling smaller buckets). If you ever get a larger tank or have an emergency situation, you will be much happier to go with the higher GPD. I would never get something that only does 25GPD or even 50GPD. It's just way too slow IMO.