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RO/DI Question


fluidimagery

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fluidimagery

I have a RO/DI unit that I purchased off of ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...4390700907&rd=1). It took me about 2 months to figure out that it came to me with 2 hoses reversed, so I've actually been using the waste water in my fish tanks instead of the RO/DI water. X)

 

So I have it hooked up correctly now. I have to use a Faucet adapter (http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp...O1317&ast=&key=) but the water just comes out Drip Drip Drip out of the RO unit which I suppose could amount to 125gpd which is what the unit is rated at.

 

Anyway, what do you do with the waste water? Isn't it a tremendous misuse of water to put the waste hose down the drain? Am I doing something wrong. I obviously have no idea what I'm doing with this RO unit so any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

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Some people toss the waste water (a tremendous waste indeed), but many put it to good use: washing machine, garden, etc. Use it for any household reason that you'd use regular tap water.

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fluidimagery

I don't have a pressure guage on the unit, but how high do you run the faucet? The more pressure the better, or how does it work? The way it is now... my guess is about 150 gallons waste to 1 good, I can't bring myself to waste that much water.

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That I wouldn't know... I use tap water. (Shh! Don't tell anyone! ;) )

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But there will be lots of waste water. I'd recommend getting a new trash can or two from Home Depot or Target--holds 50 gallons, costs $8-20.

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fluidimagery

I was just playing around with the ball valve on the waste end... Obviously when I start to close it, the water comes out faster from the Purified side. But I have no idea how closed it should be etc. Should I mathematically figure it out so that whatever I have it set to would be ~125gpd?

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Hopefully someone else will know. Try doing a search here or over at reefcentral.

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fluidimagery

Ya, I've been using Tap water obviously too. Everything is fine on this end too. The only way I figured it out was the Diatom boom in a new 46gal I'm setting up, and a small phosphate problem in my nano.

 

Below is my tank @ 4 months

 

26.jpg

 

I guess it can't be too bad! But since I have it, I might as well use it.

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Yeah.. Tap water is bad, creates algae. The RO thing is a good purchase if you want a clean look in your tank, which I assume you do!

 

Nice tank, btw. LOVE the green rhodactis....and the candy canes (I have both those, too)...and the orange plate...and the rics....

 

The bubble wants more light, and I'll bet food. :)

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fluidimagery

Ya, I was wondering about the bubble, it comes out but the bubbles are small. Where should it be in the tank? and what should I be feeding it? I typically feed phytoplankton, frozen brine, and cyclopeeze

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the rate isn't that bad. it's more like 10:1 ratio of waste:good water.

 

it's hard to say. you might want to get a pressure gauge. if the pressure is to low, you wont maximize your water production. If it is too high, you can actually ruin your membranes.

 

it to hard to say though because peoples water pressures vary too much. you could probably get a pressure gauge in the sprinkler department at a hardware store fairly cheap though and just test your faucet/or where ever your attaching the unit.

 

i'm not sure if this is how it is for all units, but spectrapure recommends 4-5 bars of pressure.

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fluidimagery

So hook the pressure guage up to my faucet while I'm running the RO? and keep the pressure around 4-5 bars?

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or use the presure gage to determine how far you need to turn your faucet on, and then maybe just use the gage to confirm that everyonce in a while

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fluidimagery

There's also a ball valve on the waste hose. Do I keep that open full, partially or closed?

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fluidimagery

Just an update. I emailed the manufacturer after I still had the problem. Basically... the waste water valve needs to be closed when creating pure water and open when flushing or cleaning. Full email below:

 

This system could start to generate the pure water at 35PSI, and the best

situation is 65PSI.

The "Ball Valve Restrictor & Quick Membrane Wash" is the valve for both washing RO membrane and flowing through the waste water.

The position "close" to force the water to go through the membrane.(vertically)

The position "open" to allow all water to pass over the membrane and washes it off.(parallel)

Please place the valve at the "close" position to generate the pure water.

And it will stop flowing the waste water, as the water tank is full.

If you don't have the tank or ice maker, you have to turn off the tap incoming water manually and it will not turn off automatically.

But, if the pressure of the incoming tap water is too high, the waste water will not stop flowing either.

If so, please turn down the tap a bit.

By the way, this system will generate 4~5 gallons waste water per gallon pure water.

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