Anyone know about RO units???

[yardboy]

Let's see. Connect the house tap water supply to an RO that direct feeds into the tank. Some kind of float switch to cut RO water on and off as needed by tank. Float switch fails while you're at work and tank not only overflows into your house but the salinity goes to zero and kills all your fish and corals.

The only thing I have to lift is the salt buckets (and I finally talked the LFS into buying bags; cheaper and lighter.) I run my RO/DI into a reservoir from which I fill my topoff container. IF (rather when) float switch sticks worst that can happen is entire topoff container pumps into tank (5 gallon topoff into 150 tank, not much dilution)
Second container is for mixing salt water, salt dumped in and RO/DI water pumped from fresh water container.
Easy and safe.

[rachyl756]

Originally Posted by yardboy

Let's see. Connect the house tap water supply to an RO that direct feeds into the tank. Some kind of float switch to cut RO water on and off as needed by tank. Float switch fails while you're at work and tank not only overflows into your house but the salinity goes to zero and kills all your fish and corals.

The only thing I have to lift is the salt buckets (and I finally talked the LFS into buying bags; cheaper and lighter.) I run my RO/DI into a reservoir from which I fill my topoff container. IF (rather when) float switch sticks worst that can happen is entire topoff container pumps into tank (5 gallon topoff into 150 tank, not much dilution)
Second container is for mixing salt water, salt dumped in and RO/DI water pumped from fresh water container.
Easy and safe.

I don't use a float switch or leave it on when I'm not home and checking on it. Normally every half hour or so.

Rachel

[yardboy]

So when you're not home you don't top off? And when you are home you topoff every thirty minutes or continuously?

[rachyl756]

I top off each tank every few days, They're big so a few gallons isnt a biggie. Get up, throw a load of laundry in the wash, go throw it in the dryer and start the RO, head back down when after like 30 to make sure everything is good, head back down when the dryer signals and turn off the water before dragging clean clothes up

30 minutes of water is all I can carry in a bucket to carry upstairs too so it works good for the upstairs tank. Filling the rubermaid for salt water making is more of an all day affair so having the baby's video monitor on that would save alot of trips up and down the stairs.


Rachel

[yardboy]

I only expressed concern because some have hooked their topoff directly to the RO/DI and have had disasters. It is tempting, after all, so you don't have to haul water. But hauling is certainly safer than overflows!

How big is your tank that a few gallons doesn't matter?
In a 90 gallon tank, evaporating two gallons of water jacks the salinity up from 1.025 to 1.048, too high for my taste. Someone correct me if they think I'm wrong in that calculation or that that salinity is not too high.

[rachyl756]

I honestly dont know how the math works but in my upstairs tank that flucuates by about 10 gallons on a bad week (90 + sump - rock and sand probbaly 100 gals of water) it only goes between 1.020 and 1.025 if I fill the sump too high vs sucking air from the sump normal adding 10 pounds of water at a time is too close for me to notice a differance. I believe when my friend left her husband in charge of 'his' tank it was a 1.026 due to evaporation over an entire week and thats a corner 55.

My small tank is my 90

Rachel