sparkyweasel
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- Joined
- 30 Jun 2011
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Why do you need RO water?
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Water softeners and aquariums..?
- Thread starter Iain Sutherland
- Start date
naz
Member
Just had better results with ro water over the years ...
sparkyweasel
Member
- Joined
- 30 Jun 2011
- Messages
- 3,011
Fair enough. 🙂
Near you @naz , Spotless Water:
https://www.spotlesswater.co.uk/news/story/orpington-filling-station
Unit pumps at 100l per minute so you’ll be done in no time flat if you park up and fill up 25l Jerry Cans.
Downside you’re still hauling water, upside you’re not having to maintain any equipment and can just store enough for the month or whatnot.
Prefill a barrel to the desired TDS with RO and tap next to the tank then do a water change with a pump. Then get on with the rest of your week.
Whatever way you cut it RO is gonna be a pain but this has been the least painful option for British winter for me.
https://www.spotlesswater.co.uk/news/story/orpington-filling-station
Unit pumps at 100l per minute so you’ll be done in no time flat if you park up and fill up 25l Jerry Cans.
Downside you’re still hauling water, upside you’re not having to maintain any equipment and can just store enough for the month or whatnot.
Prefill a barrel to the desired TDS with RO and tap next to the tank then do a water change with a pump. Then get on with the rest of your week.
Whatever way you cut it RO is gonna be a pain but this has been the least painful option for British winter for me.
Andrew Butler
Member
Hi Lee, maybe write them down and put them in an order of priority as I just don't think you can have all of them, the water meter has already dictated that.
I mentioned the vertex as I've used it and knew the advertised 1:1 Product:waste along with other features. There is a system in the UK that advertises 1:1 and 450 GPD which you can configure to include a pump along with an auto flush bypass which I think is a good addition as it can make things last longer, this system also advertises as slightly quicker than unit you linked to. Just remember you're never going to get the 1:1 without the ideal water parameters and if your linked unit is anything to base things on then 25°C mains pressure water is not happening! Also remember bigger systems cost more to change cartridges.
Another way to look at things if the water cost with a new unit's not such a problem (and you can get permission) is to set up a storage container somewhere in the house where you can produce the RO/DI throughout the week then either using gravity or a pump use a hose to fill your aquarium. The container can have a float valve, overflow to stop any disasters, be put somewhere warm - there's all sorts of things you can do if this is a route you want to look at? I had my system like this, hidden away in a cupboard and it worked just fine.
+1 on this. I have an account but no stations near me so just stick with my very hard tap water. I've done the technical RO storage system with my marine and it's just too much hassle and space to set up again.
Do you really need RO/DI? - Have you thought about changing your aquarium so that it just doesn't require the use of RO/DI and do away with the problem?
With the simple use of a TMV (Thermostatic mixing valve) I just connect a hose to the TMV, put the hose in the aquarium and turn it on which then gives me the water at the set temperature from my hot water system - simple, easy, no waste.
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
Could you use rain-water? I've used it <"since the 1970's"> without any problems.
cheers Darrel
These systems from RO-Man are the way forward, especially if you are on a water meter. They use 3 RO membrane units, so they feed the waste water from the first RO membrane through another RO membrane and the waste water from that through a further membrane. For most RO membranes you will only typically get optimal efficiency (4:1 maybe per membrane) with 8bar (120psi) pressure and water at 25'C. Thus a pump is a must really for most of UK water pressure (might not be true for you as my water pressure is 8 bar, rising to 10 during the night !!).
Washing of the 3 membrane units is now really essential as the you are effectively feeding "dirty" water to the last two membranes and if not careful can clog/degrade quite quickly.
Remember also that you will now have to replace 3 membranes instead of 1 used on smaller RO units.
Remember also if you do not keep you dechlor pre-filters optimal you will now wreck 3 RO membranes.
Remember to always either test or dechlorinate or let stand your RO water as RO units are not 100% guaranteed to remove chlorine/chloramine, especially if your prefilter is non optimal. This is the one case a hobby grade test kit may be used to test for chlorine/ammonia, before using the RO water as you are only testing for 1 ion in the water and will not get interference from other ions.
Andrew Butler
Member
Blooming heck, we don't get much over 1 bar on a good day!
In my house dishwasher, water softener, washing machine are all behind a 5 bar pressure reducer as most appliances are rated only to 5 bar (some rated to 8 bar) and I have had issues with leaking valves.
You will need an RO unit with booster pump if your water is only one bar, I bet you will be lucky the efficiency of the RO is better than 10:1 with 1 bar water.
Andrew Butler
Member