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Ro water remineralization to make it safe to drink ?

eminor

Member
Joined
5 Feb 2021
Messages
784
Location
France
Hello, i don't know where to post that topic, it seems a good spot here, any idea how could i make RO water suitable to drink, my tap is awfull and plastic bottle are not cheap, so is it possible with the following salt ?

  • Baking soda
  • Epsom salt
  • Potassium Chloride
  • Potassium Sulfate ( I think this is not good for us ? )
  • Potassium Nitrate
  • Calcium Chloride (not sure if 99% pure for this one, 84 i think, i might be wrong but this one seems not good for human ?)
  • Sodium Chloride

I also found a bottle water that i love, is it possible de make a copy with such salt ? thx

I was thinking working with 20l jerrycan to make it easier to dose salt

Calcium (Ca2+)
11,5​
Magnésium (Mg2+)
8​
Sodium (Na+)
11,6​
Potassium (K+)
6,2​
Sulfates (SO42−)
8,1​
Bicarbonates (HCO3−)
71​
Nitrates (NO3−)
6,3​
Chlorures
13,5​
Silice
31,7​
Fluor
0,22​
 
You don't need to remineralize RO water for drinking purposes. I've never seen anyone do this. Reverse Osmosis water IS suitable for drinking despite what some might say. It would not be if it was the only source of minerals in your life but reality is that you take all kind of minerals when you eat (vegetables, fruits, meats, herbs etc etc). Here in Thailand and many other Asian countries we drink plain RO water (unless you buy some fancy Evian or whatnot) since there is no "Mineral water" mountain sources as you have in Europe where virtually nearly all commercial waters are sourced from mineral sources.

If for some weird reason you were to remineralize drinking water, you would need to use food grade salts. DO NOT use anything other than that. This would cost you quite some money at the end of the day though.
 
There are last stage in-line filters that do just that. See remineralizer filters. I have a tee on my drinking RO system just before these filters and feed my tanks from there.

Do not drink pure RO/DI water, its not healthy.
 
There are last stage in-line filters that do just that. See remineralizer filters. I have a tee on my drinking RO system just before these filters and feed my tanks from there.

Do not drink pure RO/DI water, its not healthy.
Sure i know they exist but i would like to avoid because i mainly use the ro for the tanks, so adding minerals filter will be hard to manage, and using salt i can do custom water. I would like a basic recipe, i tried KCL + Cacl2, it's really not good. MgSo4 + NahCO3 taste better but i doubt it will cover the needs

RO water taste so flat, don't look healthy yes
 
Hi all,

Could you just mix a small amount of tap back into RO water before you drink it?

cheers Darrel
I could, but how much ?

tap parameters are as follow:

  • Calcium 121.2
  • Magnesium 3.78
  • Bicarbonates 310.734
  • Hardness 30.17°F = around dGH 17
  • Potassium 1.5
  • Fluor 0.08344
  • Chloride 29.24
  • Sodium 14.46
Looks like a bad water, such low amount of magnesium, bicarbonates are insane ? taste awfull maybe because of the amount of calcium ? which minerals have the most impact on the taste ?
 
Hi all,
I could, but how much ?
tap parameters are as follow:
taste awfull maybe because of the amount of calcium ?
  • Calcium 121.2
  • Magnesium 3.78
  • Bicarbonates 310.734
  • Hardness 30.17°F = around dGH 17
  • Potassium 1.5
  • Fluor 0.08344
  • Chloride 29.24
  • Sodium 14.46
10% tap would give you enough remineralising salts. As I said I really like the <"taste of our hard water"> (and <"proper beer">) and dislike the soapy stuff (both water and beer) you get in the North of the UK.

cheers Darrel
 
You say "my tap is awfull " but not exactly whats wrong with it, just cloudy or you know that it has excessive levels of some compound eg phosphate ?
If just cloudy / dirt then your pre and carbon filter will probably be all you need and they will not remove most key elements etc.
Its just like using those water filter jugs you keep in the fridge; have you tried them ?

If you do need to run though the RO then as @palcente says using a remineralizer filter cartridge seems a very simple and effective answer, if used as said via a Tee and two taps so you direct the output to either the fish tank or your drinking water tank could not be easier.

Either way, be very cautious about keeping everything , the RO equipment and your drinking water storage , cool and clean to avoid any problems with bacteria.
 
You say "my tap is awfull " but not exactly whats wrong with it, just cloudy or you know that it has excessive levels of some compound eg phosphate ?
If just cloudy / dirt then your pre and carbon filter will probably be all you need and they will not remove most key elements etc.
Its just like using those water filter jugs you keep in the fridge; have you tried them ?

If you do need to run though the RO then as @palcente says using a remineralizer filter cartridge seems a very simple and effective answer, if used as said via a Tee and two taps so you direct the output to either the fish tank or your drinking water tank could not be easier.

Either way, be very cautious about keeping everything , the RO equipment and your drinking water storage , cool and clean to avoid any problems with bacteria.
The water is crystal clear, when it go out i can see some salt in it. the taste is hard to describe, but it's strong, like something in it take all the "taste" when i drink the bottled water in my first post, i have not that taste, it's much softer.

with 10-20% tap and 80% RO, the taste i try to describe is still there :/ maybe chlorine ?
 
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Hi all,
with 10-20% tap and 80% RO, the taste i try to describe is still there :/ maybe chlorine ?
If its chlorine (Cl2) or chlorine dioxide (ClO2) the taste should go away, if you leave it stand for a bit? The other options would be either <"manganese (Mn)"> or <"sulphates (SO4--)">, both of these are more likely to occur in harder water.
The water is crystal clear,
That makes manganese (Mn) much less likely.

cheers Darrel
 
If its Chlorine then Carbon easily removes it.
Worth trying one of these simple water filters you store in the fridge.

If you disconnect your pipe line from the input to the RO pod you should get a similar effect from the Pre and Carbon filters which you could use if larger volumes are needed.

Be aware the flow from that pipe before the RO pod is very high!

When fitting a new carbon filter, its best to disconnect that same line and run it steadily for a while so the dust from the new carbon does not affect the ro membrane.


001676.jpg
 
Thanks guy, i still have one carbon thing, will try it in case it dont work i have a last question

The best water i ever tasted is RO + Epsom salt + baking soda (Mgso4/NahCO3 1/8 tsp : 1/24 tsp for 1l), what are the essentiel minerals for water to be safe to drink ?

It seems like we take nutrients way more in food than in water, but i've read that RO water pH can cause thooth problems, if i'm right baking soda will rise the pH, so nothing to worry ? if i remember, sugar lower mouth pH and some bacteria love those conditions and make cavities
 
Sure i know they exist but i would like to avoid because i mainly use the ro for the tanks, so adding minerals filter will be hard to manage, and using salt i can do custom water. I would like a basic recipe, i tried KCL + Cacl2, it's really not good. MgSo4 + NahCO3 taste better but i doubt it will cover the needs

RO water taste so flat, don't look healthy yes
Bro, you can just get a £9 inline filter if you want to drink it.. This stuff is regulated to make sure it does not hurt you...

Like this one on ebay

Don't be the clown that adds a teaspoon of salts to every glass of water to save £8... Are you sure salts you bought online are legit and food grade? Not cut with nasty stuff in it? Do you have kids/family? Are they going to drink it with you? £8 bro.
 
Here in Thailand and many other Asian countries we drink plain RO water (unless you buy some fancy Evian or whatnot) since there is no "Mineral water" mountain sources as you have in Europe where virtually nearly all commercial waters are sourced from mineral sources.
Similar to Saudi, where most water is from a desalination plant.
 
I use one of these on my tap water for the last 10 years at least:


I replace the filter every 6 months! Water tastes great! Even my dogs started drinking the tap water, used to buy bottle for them!
Bottled water used to leave a residue in their bowls, with the filter always clean!
 
If I told my wife that she’d start giving the dog Evian. 😂
I did lol but since I got the filter no more, I actually found that the tap water with the filter tastes better than bottled water!

The kit is very easy to install, comes with an adapter that pierces the copper pipe and you just need to drill a hole in the worktop for the little tap. :)
 
In what way?
There was a couple of frequently cited studies on the potential long term health hazards of consuming a lot of depleted water (eg water without Ca/Mg and trace minerals we get from regular tab water)... Here and another one by the same author btw.(!)
I think if your diet is otherwise varied and healthy you probably wont be in deficit on anything regardless of the mineral content of your water - by far the significant minerals we need we should get from the food. Many households have very low levels of minerals in their straight unprocessed tap water anyway.

Cheers,
Michael
 
Do not drink pure RO/DI water, its not healthy.
RO water taste so flat, don't look healthy yes
🧐 It is flat. Yet perfectly safe to drink AS LONG AS you have a balanced diet and ingest sufficient minerals with food. There are hundreds of millions if not billions of people drinking RO water at any given moment. Does mineral water taste better? Sure, but reality is that not all humanity has access to fancy mountain mineral water.
Similar to Saudi, where most water is from a desalination plant.
Exactly.
In what way?
There was a couple of frequently cited studies on the potential long term health hazards of consuming a lot of depleted water (eg water without Ca/Mg and trace minerals we get from regular tab water)... Here and another one by the same author btw.(!)
I think if your diet is otherwise varied and healthy you probably wont be in deficit on anything regardless of the mineral content of your water - by far the significant minerals we need we should get from the food. Many households have very low levels of minerals in their straight unprocessed tap water anyway.

Cheers,
Michael
The first study in Czech Republic is often used by the WHO to point out the issues with RO water. But then I also read this type of weird comments:
Drinking reverse osmosis water is scientifically confirmed to cause more bodily harm than most contaminants found in tap water. As a result, the World Health Organization issued an RO water warning.
Right... Go and tell that to countries which don't have access to highly purified water from the mountains... anyway, for all I know, I don't believe we have issues drinking RO water in Thailand. Perhaps because it's a tropical country and we have access to a lot of fruits and vegetables year round allowing good intake of minerals. For most people that's the only source of clean water, whether you produce it with a filter at home or buy it in small or larger 20L bottles. I would NEVER EVER drink water from the tap unless I wanted to end up in the ER in a few weeks time. That for sure will cause more bodily harm than RO. WHO should get their fact straight...it wouldn't be the first time they would have to anyway....
 
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