RO/DI filter and a water softner

[meldu512]

I have been purchasing RO water at my local Walmart but my LFS has advised purchasing RO/DI filter to remove silica and phosphates. Our house is on a whole house water softner and at this time cannot be bypassed. Will it be OK to hook up the filter to the house supply, or should I get a plumber to put a T fitting and cut off on the line prior to the softner? Will I need to do additional testing if I use the softened water? I currently do basic tests for PH, Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, and Calicum on a weekly basis. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Absolutely. All RO membrane manufacturers actually recommend softened water and most will not honor a warranty claim if it is not softened.
A softener acts as pre-treatment for the RO membrane so it will work better and last longer saving you a lot of money over the life of the membrane.
If you have not already purchased a RO/DI I would recommend Spectrapure, they are the best in the business and at only $125 you can't go wrong with their basic reef system. Add a handheld TDS meter for another $20-$25 and you have everything you need. They come with a hose thread adapter so can easily be hooked to a hose bib, many laundry sink faucets or I added a brass Wye on my washing machine cold wate rsupply with one side feeeding the RO/DI and the other the washer. Quick connect faucet adapters can also be purchased from them or any Lowes or HD for around $10-$15

 

[meldu512]

Thanks for the reply, I finally feel I'm going in the right direction with the aquarium. Who sells spectrapure if you can say in this fourm?

 

[AZDesertRat]

You can buy directly from them:
SpectraPure Water Purification Products

Or both Marine Depot and Premium Aquatics sell their products.