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Top Rated RO/DI Units

mynd

mynd

Supposedly these units are the best of the best. Top Rated even on about.com. What's your water worth? Hmmmmm.. Considering some of us don't want fish in our reef tanks do we really need a tds of 0? What is wrong with the extra calcium levels? Why do we always strive for laboratory grade water?

Kent Marine Maxxima RO/DI Units

I think I might prefer to get something of this nature if I was going to do it right.

Advantapure
Water Filtration System

What's your take?
 
A

Absinthe

The only place where you need lab grade water is in a lab...and not even there most of the time.

I think we all get carried away with purity of our water (Im guilty as well), but in reality we would probably be OK with clean water...a notch above tap.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
It isn't the fish (IME) that you need the clean water for. It is the corals. That's where the nitrates and the phosphates, even in nominal quantities cause you algae and poor coral health.

Of course, that depends largely on the corals. Some are FAR more tolerant of sewer style water conditions than others (shrooms, some zoos, etc).
 
P

pgordemer

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I have the Kent Maxima HI-S unit and I love it. I also own one of the AIR WATER and ICE units. They all work fine, BUT and this is a big BUT, the Membrane of the HI-S is superior in performace. All the other cartridges are the same for everyone (as well as the DI).
 
mynd

mynd

I guess what bothers me is the following ( regardless, I do use Kold Ster-il with DI ) We all want to have ultra pure water, which really is somewhat unnecessary, but we do it so we can say to ourselves " My water is not the problem " but the ocean in all its glory and size contains 30000 to 40000 ppm TDS. Yet we are concerned about 100, 200, 300? or 2ppm? Seems a bit strange.

In any case here is a really great article that might explain things a bit better.

Reverse Osmosis/Deionization Systems to Purify Tap Water for Reef Aquaria

Good Reading.. :)
 
A

Absinthe

mynd said:
I guess what bothers me is the following ( regardless, I do use Kold Ster-il with DI ) We all want to have ultra pure water, which really is somewhat unnecessary, but we do it so we can say to ourselves " My water is not the problem " but the ocean in all its glory and size contains 30000 to 40000 ppm TDS. Yet we are concerned about 100, 200, 300? or 2ppm? Seems a bit strange.

In any case here is a really great article that might explain things a bit better.

Reverse Osmosis/Deionization Systems to Purify Tap Water for Reef Aquaria

Good Reading.. :)
Click to expand...

Well, the ocean TDS is high not because of that lovely copper in our pipes or the wonderful flora of the city water system, but because of the abundance of microoganisms and such.

You cant really use ocean water as an example because of the diluting ability.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
And salt and calcium and magnesium, strontium, ... the list goes on. But it isn't loaded down with 200ppm of phosphates and nitrates. There's more flow and circulation than you can recreate in a 2x4 box of water as well. The turnover the ...

As much as we like to think that these are mini versions of the ocean, they are vastly different!
 
mynd

mynd

So essentially what is happening here is this:

We are removing the good and the bad dissolved solids in the water. Then with a tds of 0 we add back in the elements we want like ph buffer and kalk bringing the tds up to like 350ppm ( which is still good ) and then add salt on top of that to bring the tds up to like 455ppm, but its ok, cause it all good things.

PS.. the reason for this post was to easily allow new people to understand the purpose of RO/DI and how the removal of the bad replenished with the good works. I thank all who responded to this. It basically went exactly how I intended it too.

Thanks!
 
A

Absinthe

mynd said:
So essentially what is happening here is this:

We are removing the good and the bad dissolved solids in the water. Then with a tds of 0 we add back in the elements we want like ph buffer and kalk bringing the tds up to like 350ppm ( which is still good ) and then add salt on top of that to bring the tds up to like 455ppm, but its ok, cause it all good things.
Click to expand...

Exactly. We are starting from 0 in order to create our own controlled environment.
 
P

pgordemer

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
But you are assuming the TDS of 0 means that water has 0 of anything.

You can have a TDS of 0, and still Phosphates and other things in the water.
 
mynd

mynd

uuhhhhhhhhhhhh.. what?? lol ok, before we start a panic with the new people let's delve into that... If your tds reading is 0 then there are 0 dissolved solids in the water. That means the water is pure and more then adequate for your tank. However, if you would like to take your 0 tds water to a chemist and have it tested for phosphates or silica to find any trace and I mean trace existence of anything you are most welcome. I am not saying there is NOT anything in there, but for our application you can just as easily say.. There is NOT anything in there to worry about.

Just want to clarify that statement. Don't want anyone thinking they need to worry.
 
AngelPete

AngelPete

Spectra pure also makes very good RO/DI units. Water filters is all they make so they are very good. they're not like those companies who make a little of everything. they told me they're coming out with a unit later in the year that will have a 1 to 1 waste ratio but will be very expensive!
 
E

erid

De ionization removes all phosphates (cause unwanted algae to grow).
You don't want that in your water.

Erik
 
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