water quality....

serankko · 03-14-2005, 07:38 PM

Have you guys used the water from Wal-Mart, the one that you have to fill the bottles by yourself ???

jlscrug · 03-14-2005, 07:52 PM

Yes, that is all that I use. It is carbon filtered and reverse osmosis. Not quite as good as deionized but really cheap clean water. I bought 2 of those white 5 gallon 'square' dispensing jugs. If you go that route be SURE you get the little black screw on caps for the air vent, which by the way you will have to drill the air vents out. It only cost $2.50 to fill two of those up (10 gals).

john

autochek · 03-15-2005, 06:58 PM

I have a 110 gpd ro/di unit. My question is, can i run the ro and di filters in series to get a better quality water. Right now they have an outlet coming from each filter seperately.

jlscrug · 03-15-2005, 09:03 PM

I'm certainly no expert here but I believe you will have better luck running RO first then after all of the fine particulates are removed your DI unit will be more efficient/thorough in performing its job. My 2 cents...anyone else?

autochek · 03-16-2005, 05:20 AM

Thats what I was wanting to know. This unit has a DI filter and a Ro filter at the top but they are seperated after the membrane with different outlets. I am considering having the water run through the ro and then the di before I use it.
I have been having some hair algae and diatom blooms lately. My system is a 124 aga with a 30 gal refugium. 3 250w 14000k halides 6hrs per day and 2 96w pc actinics 10 hrs per day. I have used this ro unit for the past year. The phosphates appear to be 0 but I'm worried about silicates.

Loverotties · 03-16-2005, 06:14 AM

Were in the store do you fill it?Maybe mine doesn't have that?I buy there disstill water @.58 a gal. I tested it and it's good all test come back ok but the drinking water they sell has trates.As with RO/DI you run it thru RO 1st(it takes 95% out) then the DI(takes out the last 5%).

jlscrug · 03-16-2005, 06:46 AM

Autochek,

If your tank is relatively new the blooms may be going through their 'cycle' but if the tank is established and no more than you are running your lights sound like you have a nutrient problem. You may be feeding too much or have too much bioload. Do you use a skimmer? That would probably be of great benefit to you.

jlscrug · 03-16-2005, 06:49 AM

Loverotties,

The water system at the Wal-Mart I visit is just past the buggy corral on the grocery side of the store. Sometimes, depending on the floorplan of the store they are in the back of the store close to the canned/bottled drinks and the dairy cooler. Maybe they have a different contract with the water people in New Jersey which would explain why yours is more expensive.

Loverotties · 03-16-2005, 07:51 AM

Well it's pre bottled on the selves in the same row as the sodas.Also the buggies are as soon as you come in the store and I've been to the ones with a grocery in it but the ones by me don't have the fruits and Vegies.I bet we don't have the fill your own.

jlscrug · 03-16-2005, 08:17 AM

Maybe not, mine definately is not prebottled. It usually takes several minutes to fill two, five gallon containers...oh well

serankko · 03-16-2005, 09:20 AM

Well I found another one at Publix, is call Glacier or something like that... Took me 40 minutes to fill 42 gallons and is a 0.25 cents per gallon...

ASpec · 03-16-2005, 01:48 PM

If you wanted really pure water from your home RO/DI unit, and wanted to save on waste water you would need to run the "waste" out of your first membrane into another (second) membrane. Both membrane outputs would then feed into the DI canister and finally out to holding (storage container). The only waste water output would now come from the 2nd membrane.

Sending your water though the DI canister twice is not going to help.

What I suggest saves the 5:1 or 3:1 (depending on what unit you run) waste vs. pure water (should drop this down to 1:1, maybe 2:1 depending on your membrane quality)

Also, not all WalMart stores have the RO (fill your own) systems. If they don't have the unit, the distilled water mentioned above (@ 58 cents per gallon) outputs a TDS of 0. The only thing I would question about the fill your own RO systems they use is how well are they maintained. I would check the TDS in store (while filing) to make sure the comapny in charge of maintenance on these machines is chaging the membranes and filters as promised.

Just my 2 cents...

jlovell · 03-16-2005, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by autochek

I have a 110 gpd ro/di unit. My question is, can i run the ro and di filters in series to get a better quality water. Right now they have an outlet coming from each filter seperately.

More than likely you have the 1/4 inch threaded connectors out of each cannister and the DI unit is the "quick disconnect" for use with food grade tubing. You can get the parts that convert the 1/4 inch thread to quick disconnect as well as extra food grade tubing from home depot. It should be easy at that point to route the output of the RO unit into your DI unit and the output of the DI then goes into your fill container. Parts should run you no more than $5 to $10.

Additionally, I have seen threads on running the RO first then the DI as well as the DI first and then into the RO. The overall viewpoint seems to be to do the RO first and then the DI.

Jay

autochek · 03-16-2005, 07:55 PM

Thanks Jay i didn't need to buy anything to do it. All I had to do was a little reorganizing of the unit. I had the idea in my head, but wanted a little reassurance before I did it. I have it running thru the ro first and then the di. I will see how it works.