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Ro Water issue with North NJ Aquarium store

G

gtxscirocco

Just looking for some feedback/ ideas on what's going on...

So this is my 3rd time going to a very reputable aquarium store in North NJ... Came home and tested the RO water for Nitrates and get readings of 2.

Tested the RO water from another shop and it was Zero.

How can they sell this water to their customers?
 
saltkreep88

saltkreep88

2 tds can come from any dirt or dust in the container. Might not be perfect but 2 tds is far from terrible from a store. Do yourself a favor and buy your own rodi
 
G

gtxscirocco

I have a new RODI unit but I have well water and my TDS readings going into the system are 650ppm. With that level of TDS I'm burning through the RO resins and that = $$
 
art13

art13

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
You have well water and your tds is that high? when was it last serviced? My well water before the ro is between 80-120 tds and 0-2 tds before it hits the di
 
kschweer

kschweer

Administrator
Staff member
Officer Emeritus
Moderator
The high tds may not be your issue running through di. It's likely high co2. If you look on spactra pures website they have a way to test for it. If this is the case the solution is to run water through all stages but the di. You the aerate the water with an air pump and air stone for 24 hrs and then use a small pump to run the aerated water through the di.
 
Mark_C

Mark_C

Staff member
Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
Moderator
Just a thought, and as I'm snowed in I have time to type.

I've got a small unit called an RO buddy. Base unit is $50-60...
Aquatic Life RO Buddie 3-Stage Reverse Osmosis System: Aquarium Metal Halide Lighting

You can add a resin DI unit on for an additional $25 or so (as shown here)...
AquaticLife RO Buddie 3-Stage Reverse Osmosis System w/ Mixed Bed Resin DI Cartridge

I do 2 10g water changes per week, have an initial TDS of about 160-200, and have been using the unit for the just over a year.
The membrane is still going strong. Even so, it only costs about $35 to replace, I'm going to make it a habit to do this annually.
The carbon and sediment cartridges (the smaller ones on the side) can be replaced separately, I do it once every 6 months, and it costs $12-15.
If you use the resin, instead of replacing the cartridge, you can simply open it up and replace the resin yourself. You can pick up 5 pounds or so of resin (enough for a dozen changes) for under $20 on ebay.

The unit fills a 5g bucket in about 20-30 minutes. Its reliable so far, no leaks, quiet, efficient.
Overall this thing costs me about $60 a year to run, but at $1 per gallon from the shop, and 20g per week, thats approximately $1,000 per year if I buy the stuff.

Might be worth a look.
 
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