Plumbing RO/DI?

drcrook · May 28, 2018

Hey Folks,

So I've just now discovered about RO/DI water and have a tank running albeit fresh. The few fish and various other life seem happy. The corals don't seem particularly happy. I'm trying to narrow down causes.

It seems as though most folks use the RO/DI machine on tap water and it is plumbed to something separate from their tank.

Is it OK to plumb the RO/DI straight to the tank and just have it constantly purifying the water? Has anybody just hooked one up to their main tank system to purify that and then do auto-top off?

I'm running low on space under my cabinet. I think I have enough room to control my wiring and maybe add a 5 gallon auto-top off.

Also; Lets just assume I have chlorine and chloromine in the water. What is the actual impact of using that in the tank? I had been mixing in a water purification solution for marine aquariums.

Thanks!

theMeat · May 28, 2018

How bad is using tap?
Depends on what’s in your tap water and how much.

You could plumb your rodi into your tank, some ppl do, but that could end badly.

Better off collecting some and adding it to an auto top off, or adding it to tank yourself

Not sure I understand what you’re saying, or if you don’t understand how rodi works. Rodi doesn’t purify the water in tank. It purifies tap water that you put in the tank to replace what gets evaporated, and for water changes

drcrook · May 28, 2018

Well, so Rodi purifies water; I was thinking I could just plumb it directly to the tank and therefor all water moving through tank would be purified. I'm assuming based on the response this is not really the best idea and it is better to simply use it to purify water coming out of the tap. Perhaps I need to watch some videos on Rodi for a while.

On this note. Are there recommended containers as well where it is easy to do a little bit of everything? Ideally what I would do is run the hose inside into a giant container; put the Rodi on that thing; then use a pump to pump the water from that big recepticle into the display tank.

I'd also use a pump to remove the water from the display tank.

I guess a follow on question would be; would the Rodi system work on garden water?

theMeat · May 28, 2018

Brute trash cans work.
Look at recycle number/symbol on any container, and it tells you if it’s safe.

If storing water, it not only needs to be a safe plastic, but if exposed to light it needs to not be clear, so it can block any light

Rodi will make tap water safe for adding to your aquarium. it does not clean the water in the aquarium itself. Automating any system that works directly off your rodi depends on equipment, which can fail

drcrook · May 28, 2018

So I called the LFS and they have both machines with RO and DI; but also ones with just RO. What does the DI part do and why is that important?

315wall · May 28, 2018

DI takes out the last parts of the impurities, it depends on what is left over from your RO filter i.e your TDS. If its zero all the time then no but that is not very likely. It removes negatively charges particles silcas, nitrates etc.

theMeat · May 28, 2018

315wall said:
DI takes out the last parts of the impurities, it depends on what is left over from your RO filter i.e your TDS. If its zero all the time then no but that is not very likely. It removes negatively charges particles silcas, nitrates etc.

Yup, it takes out the smallest or particles that pass through everything else. Di is the final, “polishing” stage
A di stage is Pretty much a standard for reef tanks

And di water shouldn’t be consumed by people, but ro water is fine

lapin · May 28, 2018

If you try to use it on your tank water its not going to work. It will try to remove salt and anything else your coral needs to grow. I think this is what you are trying to ask.