Reverse Osmosis

[Nick]

So I have some pretty hard well water and I am playing with the idea of either a planted tank or maybe try breeding some killifish. Is there a way to reliably get around spend a few hundred bucks on a system that only allows me to get a 50gallons a day of usable water? Or is that simply that way it is so I have to deal with it.
Seems ridiculous to me to only have 50g a day available for water changes. I know one guy who keeps a 500g rubermaid container filled with cycled water that he also runs an airstone in it to get rid of traces of chlorine from city water. That is a fine Idea but I don't have the space to do that...nor the want. Ill keep researching but it I just can't seem to wrap my head around it.

[mightieskeeper]

Hey Nick they make much larger RO units that could produce 100's of gallons of water.  Try googleing buckeye company.  They have lots of RO stuff.  I produce 5 gallons of RO water at a time for my 55 gallon reef tank.

[Joefish]

http://buckeyefieldsupply.com/  Is a great source for RO systems and parts.  Ive been a happy customer of thiers for about 5 years, never an issue. 

Several things need to be considered when buying an RO unit. 

How much water do you need and how often?  It is better for an RO membrane to run more often than it is for a few hours and then sit for a week in auto shut off.  I have a 75gpd unit and use a 55g drum for storage.  Between top off and water change I use about 55g a week of RO/DI for the reef.  I was never able to get more than 6 months out of a membrane before it wasnt testing low enough in total dissolved solids for SW use.  Now that im using about the same amount for top off my freshwater tanks that are low enough for the gravity feed to work I am getting close to a year from a membrane.  Why?  When a membrane sits idle it all the things it traps become more solid and cause blockage.  Remember you are forcing water through a resin/rubber to make it work. 

Just how pure are you looking to get consistently?  Municipal tap water is between 200-400ppm TDS.  Ive seen well water over 1k ppm.  RO/DI should be ripping water to 99.5% pure H2O.  None of the good things FW fish need (calcium and trace minerals)are even left. For SW I replace my membrane when the TDS reaches 5ppm before the DI and change the DI at 3ppm out.  Yes I have meters on both sides and calibration fluid.  My salt mix puts back in what I need.  If your just looking to strip the water so its softer you can go a lot longer and testing the output Ph might be a better test as too when your membrane is done.  Good chance you will need to  buy an additive to put back in trace elements and such for the health of your fish.  Nothing can thrive in 100% pure water, organic life needs more.

What are you going to do with the waste water?  For every 1g of good RO you get 3g of "waste water".  Just the way it works.  This water has gone through all the prefilters and is good chlorine/chlorimide free water.  During the summer I run a 1/4in pex line out to the garden.  Winter it sadlly winds up down the drain for now.  I have plans for auto top off of a couple sumps using float switches and the waste but in dragging ass on that.  No way around wasting water with a RO.

Hope this helps.
Joe

[dbosman]

I found the videos at    http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/brs-tv
to be very instructive.
After watching some, you can probably figure out how to rig what you want.

As for your water changes, I expect you'll find you prefer mixing some of your tap water back to the RO water. It's cheaper than using bottled powders to put some minerals back in.