Reverse Osmosis system

[jimmyg]

I am looking at putting in a Reverse Osmosis system just before my holding / Aging Tank. It has 2 filters.

I am stuck on what I should put in them. (1 Carbon and 1 1 Micron Sediment Filter.

Is this correct.

[rex82]

don't understand what you are asking? are you putting r/o unit or hma?

[norto]

Jimmy,
That is what my RO system has mate, so that should be fine, depending on the quality of your water you can grade the sediment filters down from say 5 micron and then your 1 micron this way the membrane should last that little bit longer as all it will be pulling out of the water is impurities and not sediment.
Regards,
Norto.

[jimmyg]

Thanks for the info, I have been told by my LFS that it is a waste of money as we have the cleanest water around.

Is this true or is he full of it.

Thanks
jimmy

[Hollowman]

Full of it I'm afraid.

Mains water is not a constant, the water authorities are always messing with it. So what is 'clean' ? Ask the lfs exactly what that means!! :evil:

H

[dexxl]

'clean' means that it has been treated to Australian Standards. which in comparison to other countries are very high. TDS ranges anywhere between 300 and 500 and has reached up to 800 during times of drought.

unfortunately, the water treatment plants are unable to control the amount of salts and nutrience from the water source so water quality will differ from day to day. best way to gauge it, is to drink it... if it taste salty / too metallic / fishy or earthy, wait til another day to collect water for aging.

i would bother using a RO filter, they are typically a 1.7:1 litre ratio which will nearly double your cost of water without much added benefit. plus you're going to have to spend more money in remineralisation.

most shops that specialise in under sink filters, will sell 0.5 micron cartidges. i think it's closer to .8 micro then .5 micron but you'll definately taste the difference and see the crap blocked in your filter after 10 months or so.

plus cheap RO units are like cheap UV units which is like buying cheap shocks for your mountain bike and going downhill riding. there is a verrryyy big difference.

Edit: if you have a cannister filter, there should be a carbon filtration chamber in it already. two doesn't make it better (can someone confirm this please..). i would go for two sediment filters, maybe 1 mS at suction and 0.5 mS at the discharge end.

[norto]

Yes they do produce a lot of waste water but you just have to be smart and use the waste water for something , personally the waste water from my unit keeps the garden around my shed very green and produces heaps of worms to go fishing with. As far as remineralising I just use a ratio between the water that comes from the tap and the RO water, you will just have to play with the ratio to get what you want. RO units can make a huge difference to a discus tank it just depends how you use them and and whether you are a keeper or a keeper and breeder.
Regards,
Norto.

[Hollowman]

dexxl wrote:

'clean' means that it has been treated to Australian Standards. which in comparison to other countries are very high. TDS ranges anywhere between 300 and 500 and has reached up to 800 during times of drought.

Depending on which type of fish you keep, a high TDS is fine

dexxl wrote:

RO filter, they are typically a 1.7:1 litre ratio which will nearly double your cost of water without much added benefit. plus you're going to have to spend more money in remineralisation.

You can make an RO system far more cost effective by piggy backing more than one membrane in the line, I use 3 membranes and waste water is very low.
Remineralising is just a case of putting a 'tee' in the system after the sediment and carbon blocks but before the membrane. This gives you all the minerals without the harmful heavy metals or chlorine. Costs nothing!!

dexxl wrote:

see the crap blocked in your filter after 10 months or so

Easy, all filters have a lifespan, ( 'x' amount of gallons) Just change them more often!

dexxl wrote:

if you have a cannister filter, there should be a carbon filtration chamber in it already. two doesn't make it better (can someone confirm this please..). i would go for two sediment filters, maybe 1 mS at suction and 0.5 mS at the discharge end.

The only reason to use carbon in a cannister filter is to remove meds. Carbon should not be used just because you can.

RO systems are good to have for many reasons Jimmy, if you intend to keep Asian fish then I would recommend using one, depending on what your tap water is, can you test your TDS or conductivity? Post up results. Asian fish are normally kept and bred in soft water so you need to match your water to your supplier's conditions. German Stenker fish are kept and raised in hard water, so you could get away with a HMA filter, which is basically a 2 or 3 pod system that hold sediment and carbon filters. No waste water with this one.

hth

Hollowman :wink: