Difference between RO filter and RO/DI???

[Arod0416]

Hello everyone, 

 

I want to buy a equipment to clean out my tap water. But, I am stuck between buying the RO filter or the RO/DI. So any recommendations? 
 

 

I live in New York City. 

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

Depends on what you're trying to keep. If you're just sticking to live rock and fish (and drinking) then RO water. If you're going to end up like us and keep corals and fish, then RODI is your choice (still can drink but it'll be a touch sour). Difference between RO and DI is that RO is filtered out from heavy metals, organics, and chlorines. DI takes it a step further and strips out all ions from the water. For the most part it is H2O only.

 

From what I've heard, this unit is pretty good. I saw a review from CoralFish12g on YouTube about this unit and it appears to be pretty portable:https://www.marinedepot.com/aquatic-life-twist-in-100-gpd-4-stage-ro-di-system

 

My situation I don't have a spigot or a free sink to hook this unit into the apartment I rent out, so I purchase RODI water at 39 cents a gallon from Whole Foods.

 

[Arod0416]

Thank you so much for reaching back to me! 
 

everything you said is very informative. I live in a apartment in New York City. If I was to get the rodi equipment I need a faucet adaptor. I seen a website called air water ice and their typhoon stage 5 rodi equipment comes with a faucet adaptor. I was just stuck on between which system to get. But, since you described each equipment perfectly. I think I am going to get the RO equipment for now and then when I am ready to get corals I am going to get the rodi equipment. ( I know I should buy it right now but, I am not sure when I will get corals or even if I want them). Right now, I am focused on stabilizing my tank and let it cycle. But, I am still a student so, I learned that doing a water change, having a ro or rodi equipment is important unless you are able to go to ur LFS and get water or go to the local market. 
 

 

That being said, do you think aquatic life ro Buddie four stage osmosis system is a good product on chewy.com? 
 

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

2 minutes ago, Arod0416 said:

Thank you so much for reaching back to me! 
 

everything you said is very informative. I live in a apartment in New York City. If I was to get the rodi equipment I need a faucet adaptor. I seen a website called air water ice and their typhoon stage 5 rodi equipment comes with a faucet adaptor. I was just stuck on between which system to get. But, since you described each equipment perfectly. I think I am going to get the RO equipment for now and then when I am ready to get corals I am going to get the rodi equipment. ( I know I should buy it right now but, I am not sure when I will get corals or even if I want them). Right now, I am focused on stabilizing my tank and let it cycle. But, I am still a student so, I learned that doing a water change, having a ro or rodi equipment is important unless you are able to go to ur LFS and get water or go to the local market. 
 

 

That being said, do you think aquatic life ro Buddie four stage osmosis system is a good product on chewy.com? 
 

No problem! I can't sleep tonight.

 

Yeah airwaterice is a reputable seller; I wouldn't think twice on them. The RO Buddie isn't a bad choice either. I remember you can get the 3 stage filtration from Amazon and later buy the 4th DI cartridge housing to give that extra push for water purity.

 

Once you get into corals, you may not ever get out of them. I thought I wouldn't be a coral person because I like so many other things, but I ended up embracing them. I think the only thing aquatic I still can't stand are seabirds. I don't get how my professors back in the day liked them.

 

It sounds like you're in the planning stages. Before you wildly purchase anything I'd look at some of the journals and see which ones you really like. There will be some tanks that are simpler than others and every tank is different because they all represent different build ideas and philosophies. My tank differs a lot because I take a ridiculously empirical and classical approach to a tank backed by a college-level understanding of marine science. I don't expect anyone else to work at the level I'm at since it may not work for others, but the information is out there for anyone to digest. Anyway, check out YouTube, Pinterest, and other forums for ideas and concepts you'd want to do.

 

Knowing that you're a student in an apartment I would actually go into some of CoralFish12g's earlier videos. He graduated from school but for a while he converted his entire room into a fish room. I think there's a video just before he graduated and did a quick tour. He's had to live in dorm and frat house situations all that came with their own nuances. He had the challenge of walking to an LFS with water jugs. I remember he said it was a 3 mile experience. A tiring one if that.

 

[Arod0416]

13 minutes ago, Diamonds x Pearls said:

No problem! I can't sleep tonight.

 

Yeah airwaterice is a reputable seller; I wouldn't think twice on them. The RO Buddie isn't a bad choice either. I remember you can get the 3 stage filtration from Amazon and later buy the 4th DI cartridge housing to give that extra push for water purity.

 

Once you get into corals, you may not ever get out of them. I thought I wouldn't be a coral person because I like so many other things, but I ended up embracing them. I think the only thing aquatic I still can't stand are seabirds. I don't get how my professors back in the day liked them.

 

It sounds like you're in the planning stages. Before you wildly purchase anything I'd look at some of the journals and see which ones you really like. There will be some tanks that are simpler than others and every tank is different because they all represent different build ideas and philosophies. My tank differs a lot because I take a ridiculously empirical and classical approach to a tank backed by a college-level understanding of marine science. I don't expect anyone else to work at the level I'm at since it may not work for others, but the information is out there for anyone to digest. Anyway, check out YouTube, Pinterest, and other forums for ideas and concepts you'd want to do.

 

Knowing that you're a student in an apartment I would actually go into some of CoralFish12g's earlier videos. He graduated from school but for a while he converted his entire room into a fish room. I think there's a video just before he graduated and did a quick tour. He's had to live in dorm and frat house situations all that came with their own nuances. He had the challenge of walking to an LFS with water jugs. I remember he said it was a 3 mile experience. A tiring one if that.

 

 

yeah I actually followed his videos on how to set up my reef tank. My tank is currently cycling with clownfish and chromis in there. Right now it is in the diatom stage. But, one of my female clownfish is breathing fast and her gills are swollen like it looks red inside but my male clownfish is swimming perfectly fine. Do you think this is ammonia poisoning? 
 

 

water parameters are: 

ph: 8.2

api ammonia: 0.25 and salifert testing is: <0.15 

nitrite: 0 ppm

nitrate: 20 ppm

salinity 1.025

 I have been feeding every other day

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by Arod0416

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

Yeah seems like ammonia is bothering her gills. You want to get it to 0, that yellow color. The fast way to address that is add more nitrifying bacteria.

[Arod0416]

I have dr tims one and only, I used it about 2 weeks ago. So I have the remaining bottle, About 10ml left in the bottle. I have a 55 gallon tank. Should I add the remaining dr tims to the tank? 

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

I think so.

[dling]

Heres a link to BRS.   https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/chrome-faucet-diverter-valve.html

They have sink adapters that will allow you to use the sink as normal or direct the water through

the ro/di unit as needed. You could just sit the unit on the sink counter having the waste water drain in the sink and a 5g

bucket collecting clean water for mixing SW.

 

[KCinNC]

On 2/9/2020 at 11:47 PM, Diamonds x Pearls said:

 

 

 I purchase RODI water at 39 cents a gallon from Whole Foods.

 

How do you purchase the RO/DI from whole foods ?  is it in gallon jugs ?  I need to look into this !   Thanks KC

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

21 hours ago, KCinNC said:

How do you purchase the RO/DI from whole foods ?  is it in gallon jugs ?  I need to look into this !   Thanks KC

First I'd call to confirm your local Whole Foods if they have Deionized Water. Specifically say that because it may be a teenager that may not know any better. Whole Foods has a contract with a water company called Fresh Pure offering RO, DI, and ultra alkaline water (for the health people out there).

 

If they say yes, you bring whatever container you want to bring in. I have Seachem Hydrototes and they're a little smaller than the normal jerry cans you get from the LFS, but it'll generally work. It's just as simple as walking up to the machine. Crank a level and out comes DI water. I don't think they mind if you somehow start checking TDS, but they're should be a label or something saying it has been serviced by someone's initials. I literally brought a vial of the Tetra 6 in 1 test strips as I was filling up. I also confirmed later at home using the API kits.

 

I go through self-checkout to avoid any tie ups with the cashiering staff since you may actually know more than the employee. There's no barcode, but tap "item by name" and type in "water refill" at the register and honestly input how many gallons you got from the machine. I've thought about getting 15 and walking out paying for just one, but that's waaaaay too scumbaggy.

 

It's a stock photo but look for something like this at Whole Foods. It should neighbor their bottled water section. I got a ton of weird looks from the people that buy their Evian. I explain to them that I keep imported, maricultured corals.

[KCinNC]

Hey, I appreciate that info !

[mcarroll]

On 2/9/2020 at 11:15 PM, Arod0416 said:

Hello everyone, 

 

I want to buy a equipment to clean out my tap water. But, I am stuck between buying the RO filter or the RO/DI. So any recommendations? 
 

 

I live in New York City. 

New York City has excellent tap water -- very clean and low minerals.  Technically, RO would probably be fine.  (And there are folks that use it.)

 

However, the cost of adding on a deionizing stage to a reverse-osmosis filter is minuscule compared to the overall cost....so RO+DI usually makes perfect sense for us.

 

If you're doing this for drinking water, you'll want to plumb a pressure/service tank in BEFORE the DI stage to serve drinking water.  I would not drink DI water.