I hope I didn't get ripped off..

[NMdesertReefer]

Hi Everybody! I'm really excited about starting my own reef tank, I recently joined this amazing group of people that we enjoy the same hobby. I'm still buying stuff for my reef tank, I recently bought a used RoDi system at least thats what I was told it was, the guy that sold it to me said it measured 0 tds when he took it out, I now got it delivered and this is what I got, I have an idea of how a RoDi unit works but I'm not sure about this one I don't think it has the Di stage. Can somebody out there tell me what I'm looking at. It also came with a blue canister that has a very strong magnet outside of it and it has really smooth rocks inside of it do I need that. Can you guys let me know what Its worth keeping for the set up...and the filters that it has I'm not sure what they are it seem the one in the middle is carbon filter but the rest I don't know, should I replace all of them. And wich ones do I buy. Thank you any input would be appreciated. The reason my title says that I hope I didn't get ripped off its because I paid $140 for this and now I don't know if it was worth it.

 

[sbash]

This looks like what you need to get started, but you are right, it does not look like you have the DI stage.

You do have a particle and carbon filter, the RO membrane. It also looks like a small pressure tank as well...

Not sure what the deal is with the blue one with the rocks, but I am sure they are to pull something specific out. You also do not need to use the UV, unless I suppose you have contaminates in your water. I have one on my main house line and would never want one on my aquarium, way too much maintenance for me...

Here is a good diagram I randomly found (the faucet being your water reservoir). It also looks like you may have the auto shutoff, however it may or may not be needed (depending on what you are doing exactly). Your pressure tank (if that is what the silver canister is) is probably to regulate the flow going into the system, not going out (which probably will not be needed if your water pressure is consistent in your house):

Dr Foster and Smith should sell the DI cartridge and canister. I also recommend a pressure gauge; I have one right before my RO membrane and it helps to let me know when the filters start to get clogged up. My system also only has one activated carbon, so you might be able to re-purpose the canister and just get a DI cartridge?

 

[NMdesertReefer]

This looks like what you need to get started, but you are right, it does not look like you have the DI stage.

You do have a particle and carbon filter, the RO membrane. It also looks like a small pressure tank as well...

Not sure what the deal is with the blue one with the rocks, but I am sure they are to pull something specific out. You also do not need to use the UV, unless I suppose you have contaminates in your water. I have one on my main house line and would never want one on my aquarium, way too much maintenance for me...

Here is a good diagram I randomly found (the faucet being your water reservoir). It also looks like you may have the auto shutoff, however it may or may not be needed (depending on what you are doing exactly). Your pressure tank (if that is what the silver canister is) is probably to regulate the flow going into the system, not going out (which probably will not be needed if your water pressure is consistent in your house):

Dr Foster and Smith should sell the DI cartridge and canister. I also recommend a pressure gauge; I have one right before my RO membrane and it helps to let me know when the filters start to get clogged up. My system also only has one activated carbon, so you might be able to re-purpose the canister and just get a DI cartridge?

Thank you it makes a little more sense now. The small canister is a booster pump ,I don't know if I need it I'll buy a pressure gauge and see what my pressure is in my house.

 

[DSC reef]

If you end up having trouble with the unit look up spectra pure 90gpd refurbished. Great product. 140 dollars seems a bit steep for what you got.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

You can get a pretty good DI only canister from BRS. I have a 4 stage RO and a 2 stage DI from BRS. I always have 1TDS out the RO and 0TDS out the DI. It's been running for 8 months now. I think it's the same thing if you buy the 6 stage at one time, but I bought mine separately as I had an older RO unit that was in my house until one of the housings broke. I decided to replace the whole thing rather than try and get one part.

 

[Whipples]

Welcome! I would get a handheld TDS checker, a new DI stage (either Spectrapure or BRS), and a pressure gauge at a minimum as those tools are essential to maintaining excellent RODI water quality.

You will want the pressure guage on the inlet of the membrane to get an idea of how much PSI your source water has and can make adjustments from there. 50psi is considered the minimum, but 60-90 is ideal. Make sure to take a water sample from the source, and after the RO membrane before running DI media to make sure you are maintaining 96+% rejection rate 1-(output tds/input tds). If you are not running in that ballpark and you've got at least 50psi at the membrane, you will likely need to replace the carbon, sediment, and potentially the membrane itself. The lower the rejection rate the more DI media you will consume which can add up dollar-wise quickly!

If your source water is above 300TDS i would mark your calendar for every 6-8months for replacing the carbon/sediment medias, which seems crazy, but is cheaper than the RO membrane and will help it last significantly longer. Feel free to post more pictures as you set it up, happy to help!

 

[NMdesertReefer]

Thanks everybody really helpful info I think I'm going to replace all of the filters and just add the Di canister. I guess because of the booster pump its probably worth it.