Converting from tap to RO procedure

[darren636]

You need to remineralise the ro with something. What ever you use will move the pH .

 

[alto]

If I ignore the ph,

You're not intending to run tank on pure RO - the SS should give you target pH information

 

[•Cai•]

Yep definately one of those days. It's been a long day. I knew that damn.

 

[darren636]

Yep definately one of those days. It's been a long day. I knew that damn.

Haha!

Have a nice cup of tea, put your feet up

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Cai, Too remineralise your RO Seachem Equilibrium remineralise restores & maintains mineral balance & GH -- Alkaline buffer rases ph increases Alikalinity KH

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Equilibrium.html

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/AlkalineBuffer.html

 

[•Cai•]

Cheers for all the replies, advice and info everyone. Much appreciated. Changed my first 5ltrs not long ago.

 

[•Cai•]

I've got some saltyshrimp Roy which raises my gh/kh in the one mix.

 

[•Cai•]

Following altos recommended way to change water over:

, I'm going to assume a water volume of 50 litre (assuming tank total capacity of 60l)

At present, tank is tap water with ~25GH
so if you were to do ~10% daily water changes
Day 1 remove 5l tank water & replace with RO, so 25GH x 45l/50l ~ 22.5GH
Day 2 same 5l change, so 22.5GH x 45/50 ~ 20.25 GH
Day 3 ~18.2 GH
Day 4 ~16.4 GH
Day 5 ~14.8GH
& so on, each time you are just removing 5litre tank water & replacing with 5litre RO
Day 7 ~ 12GH so easy to perform a 50% water change, refilling with a 50:50 mix of tap & RO ... or a 40:60 mix of tap & RO
At this point you can move to 20% water changes, replacing 10litre tank water with 10litre RO
At this rate, after 3 more small water changes, tank will be ~ 5GH
If this is a reasonable "target", you can now just carry on with usual water change schedule, but now refilling with your SS remineralized RO (rather than straight RO)

Everything going well I believe. As he projected my water is following nicely down wit gh/kh
I'm getting on day 4:
KH- 6
GH-16
That's a drop of approx 2units with gh and my kh has halved.

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Cai, Good to hear all going well

 

[•Cai•]

I'm definately going to need a booster pump I fear Roy. Taking forever from my outside tap at minute.

 

[Andy D]

My main pressure is not great either. I produce 25 litres in about 6 hours on a warm day and anything up to 10 on a really cold day.

(My RO unit is inside)

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Quick, Q Does the RO unit have to be attached to the water supply all the time ???? Only I have read somewhere that they should be.Or it can damage the membranes and become less effective at filtering.

 

[•Cai•]

Mine is rigged up to be portable, I just followed the guys direction on his vid I posted. You need to flush the system for 5mins a day to keep from clogging etc. That's all I've been doing up to now.

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Cai, Ok thanks only thinking about getting a system later on Undecided at the moment. London tap water is very hard And I would I like to grow some soft water. plants.

 

[•Cai•]

I like the idea of it being portable as I only need it once a week. I don't suppose it matters though as you don't need it on 24-7 unless you want it like that. Best finding out what your water pressure is too first as like me you may need a booster pump which are around 100quid I believe. Especially with all your tanks mate lol

 

[Andrew Butler]

Have a look into the vertex ro/di units, you're not just paying for the brand. It's all in one, meaning booster pump, in line tds, auto shut off so you can connect it to a tank with a float valve and just leave it on
Also very good if you're on a water meter and need to have one as the waste produce ratio is very good.

 

[mort]

Hi Quick, Q Does the RO unit have to be attached to the water supply all the time ???? Only I have read somewhere that they should be.Or it can damage the membranes and become less effective at filtering.

If your worried about your membrane drying out when not connected or running, you can add a shut off valve before and after it. I do this and that way you can disconnect and move the unit whenever you need to and have no worries about it.

 

[Greenfinger2]

If your worried about your membrane drying out when not connected or running, you can add a shut off valve before and after it. I do this and that way you can disconnect and move the unit whenever you need to and have no worries about it.

Hi Mort,Fantastic idea Thank you. Simple Solution to the problem