Ro/Di system - what's the difference?

[Ewelina]

I have a reverse osmosis system at my house (I believe it's 6 step system, with alkalizing filter) that we use for drinking water. I've been using this water for my fish tank, but it seems like people buy some ro systems just for tank! I was wondering if there is any difference between those systems, or it's just the same thing. does it take the same amount of time to filter and wastes as much as my system? Thanks for all your answers!

 

[Flippers4pups]

Reverse osmosis alone is fine for drinking water. Deionizing resin removes what the RO system can't.

Most hobby RO/DI units use a sediment filter to remove large particals, a carbon blocks to remove organics and some metals, chlorine and chloramine, reverse osmois membrane that removes what the sediment filter and carbon blocks don't and deionizing resin to remove what left. At the end, you should have nearly perfectly clean water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I discuss what the parts of an RO/Di does here:

Reverse Osmosis/Deionization Systems to Purify Tap Water for Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/rhf/index.htm

 

[Ewelina]

Reverse osmosis alone is fine for drinking water. Deionizing resin removes what the RO system can't.

Most hobby RO/DI units use a sediment filter to remove large particals, a carbon blocks to remove organics and some metals, chlorine and chloramine, reverse osmois membrane that removes what the sediment filter and carbon blocks don't and deionizing resin to remove what left. At the end, you should have nearly perfectly clean water.

Do pretty much i have it all without deoinizing part. I have this one here https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00NWZ1RCK?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title . Do you think I should invest in the ro/di system, or that should be enough? So far my tank's been doing great

 

[Mr. Bill]

Without DI, you're playing Russian Roulette with your tank. Unless your water is positively zero TDS before adding salt, your chemistry cannot be perfect. All water contains dissolved minerals that will screw your mix if they're not removed, and while some creatures can tolerate variances for a while, nothing will thrive long-term with persistently elevated or constantly changing levels. Sea life has evolved over millions of years to live in NSW just as it is, and salt mix companies have strived diligently over the past few decades to replicate NSW, but their salt mix demands purified water.

 

[lapin]

Do you think I should invest in the ro/di system, or that should be enough? So far my tank's been doing great

How about a little more info. How old is the tank. Whats in the tank. What sort of filter system are you running on the tank. Where does your water come from, city, well, rainwater?

 

[Ewelina]

How about a little more info. How old is the tank. Whats in the tank. What sort of filter system are you running on the tank. Where does your water come from, city, well, rainwater?

My tank is fairly new- about 2 months. I run octo 110s skimmer. Water so far is from the city (supposedly partly well water), which would change with the end of the year(then Michigan lake water). I have some sps, Los and softies in tank, also 2 clownfish and a wrasse, snails and hermit crab. They seem to be doing well.

 

[redfishbluefish]

You have an RO system for drinking water....I can tell because of the storage tank and polishing carbon filter.

Good news is that you can use this to make water for your tank by picking up a few things.....

1. A tee valve to tee off after the membrane. Something like THIS from BRS.

2. A canister with DI resin to take out that last bit of TDS. As an example, something like THIS.

You don't want to use the water coming out of the storage tank because that contains a fair amount of TDS. So you install the tee valve when you wish to make water for your tank. This runs through the DI resin making zero TDS water. When finished making tank water, you flip the valve to continue making drinking water.

Hope this helps.

 

[lapin]

(see the post above)Since you are on city water I would think about getting a small ro/di unit. Of course you dont have to, but it would be a bit of insurance in case your city decides to put something new in your water that your current filter does not fully remove. Your unit puts calcium back into your water after filtering almost everything out. You could just get a DI canister with a meter (see above) That would need to be plumbed after the the RO filter but before the calcium filter. The cost would prob be the same as a whole small unit.

 

[Ewelina]

You have an RO system for drinking water....I can tell because of the storage tank and polishing carbon filter.

Good news is that you can use this to make water for your tank by picking up a few things.....

1. A tee valve to tee off after the membrane. Something like THIS from BRS.

2. A canister with DI resin to take out that last bit of TDS. As an example, something like THIS.

You don't want to use the water coming out of the storage tank because that contains a fair amount of TDS. So you install the tee valve when you wish to make water for your tank. This runs through the DI resin making zero TDS water. When finished making tank water, you flip the valve to continue making drinking water.

Hope this helps.

That sounds like an awesome idea! I wonder, though, how well the water is drained from the tank - I have a 5gal one, and always can get about 3.5 gal, then The water trickles and I dont know if I get the very last drop or its newly filtered water, if you know what I mean. I wouldn't want to drink di water . Would something like that work?: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/131836957695

 

[Ewelina]

(see the post above)Since you are on city water I would think about getting a small ro/di unit. Of course you dont have to, but it would be a bit of insurance in case your city decides to put something new in your water that your current filter does not fully remove. Your unit puts calcium back into your water after filtering almost everything out. You could just get a DI canister with a meter (see above) That would need to be plumbed after the the RO filter but before the calcium filter. The cost would prob be the same as a whole small unit.

That's what I'm worried about. Besides, I dont like the fact of wasting lots of water with this system. I would rather have something that would allow me to catch the waste water to use it eg for watering plants. Any suggerstions/recomendations?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Maybe I wasn't clear....

You don't want to use the water coming out of the storage tank for your fish tank.

You use the tee valve between the membrane and the tank to re-direct the water to the DI resin....this is the water you collect for your fish tank. The water in the storage tank will still be used for drinking water....never to touch the DI filters.

Let me see if I can find a diagram that shows how it's hooked up....I'll hopefully be back shortly.

 

[Ewelina]

Maybe I wasn't clear....

You don't want to use the water coming out of the storage tank for your fish tank.

You use the tee valve between the membrane and the tank to re-direct the water to the DI resin....this is the water you collect for your fish tank. The water in the storage tank will still be used for drinking water....never to touch the DI filters.

Let me see if I can find a diagram that shows how it's hooked up....I'll hopefully be back shortly.

Oh, ok. I would appreciate the diagram.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I must apologize.....I thought I'd be able to easily find a diagram of what I was talking about....but I can't quickly find one. So let me start with what you have and see if I can explain it. You have something like this:

So what you want to do is to first install the tee valve I linked above between the auto shutoff and the tee for the tank/polishing filter (post carbon filter). When you're ready to make water for your tank, you turn this value to redirect water to the DI canister I linked above. That is, the water is no longer being directed to the tank/post carbon filter. The water coming out of this DI canister is the water you want to collect to use in your tank. When you're done collecting water for your tank, you flip this valve back to continue to use the drinking water part of the system, where this water goes through the tank/post carbon filter. Sorry I couldn't find a specific diagram.

 

[Ewelina]

I must apologize.....I thought I'd be able to easily find a diagram of what I was talking about....but I can't quickly find one. So let me start with what you have and see if I can explain it. You have something like this:

So what you want to do is to first install the tee valve I linked above between the auto shutoff and the tee for the tank/polishing filter (post carbon filter). When you're ready to make water for your tank, you turn this value to redirect water to the DI canister I linked above. That is, the water is no longer being directed to the tank/post carbon filter. The water coming out of this DI canister is the water you want to collect to use in your tank. When you're done collecting water for your tank, you flip this valve back to continue to use the drinking water part of the system, where this water goes through the tank/post carbon filter. Sorry I couldn't find a specific diagram.

Thank you so much! I reaaaaalllly appreciate it! Now the hardest part is to somehow get my husband to do it for me. He can be very crabby...

 

[redfishbluefish]

No hubby needed!

A pair of scissors and a screw drive should do it.

Cut the tubing to install the valve.....simply press and fit the tubing into the valve.

Find a place to put in a couple screws to hold the DI canister and again, press and fit the tubing into this canister.

Give the little man a kiss on the forehead and tell him what you just did!