How to achieve zero TDS...responsibly

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Weasel1960

Weasel1960

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Greetings to all. Newbie getting back into the hobby, it’s been 30+ years since I had a salt water aquarium and a lot has changed since then. So I am doing my homework on all fronts before jumping right in. My ultimate goal will be a 2 tank display on a DIY stand. The main display will be reef with an assortment of fish and corals the second will be separated only because I would like to have some seahorses pipe fish and a star.

So here is my first dilemma and question and am looking for what others may have done. I live in rural southern Wisconsin on a 365 foot deep well. The water is hard and have not yet measured it for TDS. My concern is the amount of waste going into my septic system making RODI. Most units waste 4 gallons for every one in the tank, not to mention it’s been filtered and softened. I also have concerns pulling that much out of a deep aquifer that took Mother Nature 1000s of years to put there and I am wasting most of it.

Has any body successfully done other methods of reducing TDS as a DIY? Other thoughts? Am considering a double bed DI system, not cheap, pay as you go but at least little to no waste.

Thanks in advance.
 
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My spectrapure does a 1 to 1 waste water to rodi, so you can def get a better unit. You can fill a bucket with the waste water and use it to water plants, dump it in your washing machine if you have a top loader to wash clothes, wash the dog with it, etc if you want. IMO the heightened ammount of tds in the waste water going into your septic system will not register in comparison to the amount of human waste that goes into it. Lets say you are getting 2 55gal tanks- if you do water changes of 20% once every 2 weeks- the water expendature would be like adding in one extra shower a week for yourself.
 
There are definitely some units that run it a 4:1, but there's also a few units that run at 1.5:1 :
@LesPoissons (les poissons hee hee hee hon hon hon?) what type of spectrapure do you have? I'd love to add it to my spreadsheet!

I've been tinkering with the idea of a DIY distilled water setup myself just for the fun of it, but like LesPoissons said, there's not really going to be a lot of water that you're outputting as waste, and you can also use it for a lot of things like watering. Further piggybacking off of the 20% every two weeks:

(2x(20%x55)) = 22 gallons, but let's round that up an extra 3 gallons to account for evaporation, which is 25 gallons total. In a 4:1 system like you're worried about, that amounts to about 125 gallons that you go through, or about 250 gallons per month.

I'm going to push back on the "one extra shower a week" metric though. The average shower (which I hope you take one at least once a day!) is around 17 gallons. Around every month, that's around (17x30 = ) 510 gallons. So that's like one extra shower every other day. Still not too shabby really, especially considering that once again, you can use the extra 100 gallons of waste water for watering plants and such. That's an entire day where you don't have to water the lawn!

Edit: oh and I forgot: you can run a dual RO membrane kit which can cut your waste water in half as well.
 
Last edited:
Weasel1960 said:
Greetings to all. Newbie getting back into the hobby, it’s been 30+ years since I had a salt water aquarium and a lot has changed since then. So I am doing my homework on all fronts before jumping right in. My ultimate goal will be a 2 tank display on a DIY stand. The main display will be reef with an assortment of fish and corals the second will be separated only because I would like to have some seahorses pipe fish and a star.

So here is my first dilemma and question and am looking for what others may have done. I live in rural southern Wisconsin on a 365 foot deep well. The water is hard and have not yet measured it for TDS. My concern is the amount of waste going into my septic system making RODI. Most units waste 4 gallons for every one in the tank, not to mention it’s been filtered and softened. I also have concerns pulling that much out of a deep aquifer that took Mother Nature 1000s of years to put there and I am wasting most of it.

Has any body successfully done other methods of reducing TDS as a DIY? Other thoughts? Am considering a double bed DI system, not cheap, pay as you go but at least little to no waste.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

It really depends on your state and local laws on how it is drawn. Your wast water can also be re-routed back through the system to reduce waste. It can also be collected for other uses. And you may also need a booster pump since you're using a well.
 
There are only a few good RO membranes out there that all the RO filters companies use. DOW RO membrane has been the best of the few and if you use it the the proper pressure you will get mush better results and less waste. under standard conditions the waste to product ratio is 4:1 or 3:1 but if you increase the pressure with a booster pump to 80psi the ratio will be more in the range of 2:1 to 1:1
I believe there are other means of treating the well water which other reefers here have experience with
 
If you are looking into a quality unit . Call Doug at Aqua FX in Florida
I purchased a unit from them a year ago , quality all the way including the carbon and di resin that they use .
 
AS
Definitely route the waste line out to your garden, tree, etc. I make ~50 gallons a week, so that's 100 gallons of waste water using my BRS system. I run the waste water to a huge 95-year oak tree in our backyard that needs it, and let me tell you that tree LOVES the extra slow drip water.
 
My tank is also 220gallons w a 55 gal sump so my water changes are a lot. if you are looking at a more averaged size tank, you probably dont need the expense of 90 gal per day unit. I dont know if they make smaller units at 2:1 or 1:1 though.
 
I live in CA where we are constantly in and out of drought situations so I completely agree about the wasting water situation. I have even considered not having a tank just for that reason. Luckily we have a pool (with a pool cover to reduce evaporation) that I route it to. The waste and pool evaporation rate has actually worked out nicely. During the winter, I use the waste water to water plants (i reduce my irrigation system) and sometimes use it for toilet water. The toilet is a bit for of a pain but you'd be surprised how much a flush uses.
 
Thanks to all the recommendations so far and will certainly look into some of those better units and recycling options. When I was doing tanks 30 years ago I was renting a in home water distiller. more to come as I continue to do my homework. Hoping to land on tank and sump sizes so I can start designing my stand and canopy.
 
ichthyogeek said:
There are definitely some units that run it a 4:1, but there's also a few units that run at 1.5:1 :
@LesPoissons (les poissons hee hee hee hon hon hon?) what type of spectrapure do you have? I'd love to add it to my spreadsheet!

I've been tinkering with the idea of a DIY distilled water setup myself just for the fun of it, but like LesPoissons said, there's not really going to be a lot of water that you're outputting as waste, and you can also use it for a lot of things like watering. Further piggybacking off of the 20% every two weeks:

(2x(20%x55)) = 22 gallons, but let's round that up an extra 3 gallons to account for evaporation, which is 25 gallons total. In a 4:1 system like you're worried about, that amounts to about 125 gallons that you go through, or about 250 gallons per month.

I'm going to push back on the "one extra shower a week" metric though. The average shower (which I hope you take one at least once a day!) is around 17 gallons. Around every month, that's around (17x30 = ) 510 gallons. So that's like one extra shower every other day. Still not too shabby really, especially considering that once again, you can use the extra 100 gallons of waste water for watering plants and such. That's an entire day where you don't have to water the lawn!

Edit: oh and I forgot: you can run a dual RO membrane kit which can cut your waste water in half as well.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the detailed list and will certainly be looking at some of those suggestions. LOL on the shower...prior service army. Get in, lather, rinse, get out, next... :)
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
Weasel1960 said:
Thanks for the detailed list and will certainly be looking at some of those suggestions. LOL on the shower...prior service army. Get in, lather, rinse, get out, next... :)
Click to expand...

giphy.gif
 
I would put the water in a sump discharging outside, which puts it back to the aquifer. We don’t have that problem up north but have to abide by a lot of water stipulations because of some of the southern areas. Bottom line either try to use it, or be careful how much you put into the septic it can harm your bacteria but it still goes into the aquifer. I install septics in WI which is one of the most stringent states in the us for water quality
 
Find out your actual TDS of the water wherever you want to feed the RODI unit from. If it's under about 200 you can use a dual membrane system with a booster pump. Up around 90 psi with two membranes you'll probably only have about 1.5 : 1 ratio, maybe even less.
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
Hello also on a 350 ft Plus well on the Niagara escartment. My raw water is 1100 ppm. I can get to zero with a 4 stage RO and a 2 stage DI but I do burn through DI frequently.. I just suck it up nd replace it about every 3 months.
 
LegendaryCG said:
Hello also on a 350 ft Plus well on the Niagara escartment. My raw water is 1100 ppm. I can get to zero with a 4 stage RO and a 2 stage DI but I do burn through DI frequently.. I just suck it up nd replace it about every 3 months.
Click to expand...
You should have a softener it would probably take it down to a manageable tds level, but that’s just my opinion I don’t know your water conditions
 
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