RODI Water Set up

[JustKoch]

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this - but am curious so I have been in this hobby now for about over 5 months and love it. So one thing I am wanting to change is being able to do my own RODI water - I have been purchasing my RODI and Saltwater from my LFS. But now I am at the point where I want to start doing things myself. So first thing first is start off with the RODI water. So I am looking for ideas how I can do the RODI water set up. It is not an option to drill a hole in my kitchen countertop. Right now I have a 40 gallon IM AIO, and I have a Neptunian 125 gallon tank coming in the next few weeks. So wanting to start doing the water stuff on my own. I have seen some posts where some did their RODI water with garden hose from outside? Some who redid their plumbing to fit it. But I am looking for the easiest way for me to be able to produce my own RODI water for my water changes - and eventually for making my own saltwater. Any guidance or feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Jonify]

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this - but am curious so I have been in this hobby now for about over 5 months and love it. So one thing I am wanting to change is being able to do my own RODI water - I have been purchasing my RODI and Saltwater from my LFS. But now I am at the point where I want to start doing things myself. So first thing first is start off with the RODI water. So I am looking for ideas how I can do the RODI water set up. It is not an option to drill a hole in my kitchen countertop. Right now I have a 40 gallon IM AIO, and I have a Neptunian 125 gallon tank coming in the next few weeks. So wanting to start doing the water stuff on my own. I have seen some posts where some did their RODI water with garden hose from outside? Some who redid their plumbing to fit it. But I am looking for the easiest way for me to be able to produce my own RODI water for my water changes - and eventually for making my own saltwater. Any guidance or feedback would be appreciated.

The easiest thing is to pick up an RO/DI unit from a place like BRS. You will be able to plumb that directly under your sink (either bathroom or kitchen) hardware. Takes less than 5 minutes, no drilling. Unless you also want the waste water from the RO/DI unit to go back down the drain automatically. That's about a 5-dollar part and a drill bit. If you will send me a brightly-lighted photo (use your flash) under the kitchen or bathroom sink you want to connect it to, I will show you the parts.

 

[JustKoch]

The easiest thing is to pick up an RO/DI unit from a place like BRS. You will be able to plumb that directly under your sink (either bathroom or kitchen) hardware. Takes less than 5 minutes, no drilling. Unless you also want the waste water from the RO/DI unit to go back down the drain automatically. That's about a 5-dollar part and a drill bit. If you will send me a brightly-lighted photo (use your flash) under the kitchen or bathroom sink you want to connect it to, I will show you the parts.

That is what I was looking at - BRS - and see there are so many diff stages aka Stage 4/5/6/7. I'll get a pic tomorrow and post it here. Now if I do the RODI water - i can fill a couple containers and it would last a while or does once you pull out the RODI water it has a life span of a few days or weeks?

 

[Damon Jensen]

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this - but am curious so I have been in this hobby now for about over 5 months and love it. So one thing I am wanting to change is being able to do my own RODI water - I have been purchasing my RODI and Saltwater from my LFS. But now I am at the point where I want to start doing things myself. So first thing first is start off with the RODI water. So I am looking for ideas how I can do the RODI water set up. It is not an option to drill a hole in my kitchen countertop. Right now I have a 40 gallon IM AIO, and I have a Neptunian 125 gallon tank coming in the next few weeks. So wanting to start doing the water stuff on my own. I have seen some posts where some did their RODI water with garden hose from outside? Some who redid their plumbing to fit it. But I am looking for the easiest way for me to be able to produce my own RODI water for my water changes - and eventually for making my own saltwater. Any guidance or feedback would be appreciated.

I connect to my hose just remember it is about 4 to 1 in waste water. I am getting about a gallon an hour. Also, I use my emergency pump in in a 30 gl container to mix salt and circulate water

 

[Macbalacano]

That is what I was looking at - BRS - and see there are so many diff stages aka Stage 4/5/6/7. I'll get a pic tomorrow and post it here. Now if I do the RODI water - i can fill a couple containers and it would last a while or does once you pull out the RODI water it has a life span of a few days or weeks?

I bought mine from BRS a year ago and it's awesome, I just have it under the sink in my bathroom. I'd recommend putting it in a laundry sink or a place where you can have a bucket drain easily if it overflows. I put my bucket in the stand-up shower while it is filling up with RODI water. RODI water can stay a long time, but I would cover it to prevent anything contaminating it and prevent evaporation mostly.

 

[Jonify]

That is what I was looking at - BRS - and see there are so many diff stages aka Stage 4/5/6/7. I'll get a pic tomorrow and post it here. Now if I do the RODI water - i can fill a couple containers and it would last a while or does once you pull out the RODI water it has a life span of a few days or weeks?

If you keep it in a sealed container, it lasts for a long time. A few months at least. As far as which stage you should get, that depends on the water quality/pipes of your water provider and home. If you google your provider and "annual water quality report" you should get a page that shows you its readings. That will help you determine which stage you need. But at the minimum, a 4-stage is vastly better than nothing, and if anything else, it will just wear out quicker if your water or your pipes are higher TDS than normal. But even then, replacement cartridges in that case are fairly inexpensive. You do at least want to buy an RO/DI unit that has as TDS meter. That's the only way you will know if your unit is working effectively on your water supply.

 

[Phil D.]

My Coralife RO Unit came with a garden hose connector on it. I bought a dishwasher adapter at Home Depot and fitted it to my bathroom faucet. I put the waste hose into the drain of the sink. With the 200gpd kit from BRS, I am getting a 1:1.3 ratio.

 

[Reef.]

I connect to my hose just remember it is about 4 to 1 in waste water. I am getting about a gallon an hour. Also, I use my emergency pump in in a 30 gl container to mix salt and circulate water

What size rodi system are you using?

1 gallon an hour is not good.

 

[stanlalee]

A splitter from the washing machine in the garage is how I feed my RODI system.

Bingo and I'm glad I put it in the garage because twice in two months I've overflowed my containers (I have a float kit but only having a 30g and 15g a 30g container of RODI water is not ideal so I fill 5 gallon containers at 5-15g at a time). Not a big problem in the garage. BIG problem in the kitchen.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Of course the sky-is-the-limit (budget?, physical space?, understanding wife?!) when it comes to RO/DI set-ups, but as I think you can tell, at the heart of the matter is to decide on which BRS unit you want (say, 4-7 stages?), and get water to it as easily as a faucet adapter from a laundry room sink. I would strongly recommend the $80.00 booster pump, however, for faster and more efficient water production. Best wishes!

 

[Zerodameaon]

If you have cloramine you need the 6 stage IIRC. You can get your water report from your municipal water company/district. If you have a well you don't need to worry about chlorine/chloramine but you may need better pre membrane filtration.

My setup is in my basement laundry room and I send the waste water down the washer waste line. The feed line comes from a garden hose spliter off my washer line. One thing I have found is a lot of the splitters leak so get some thread tape just in case.

 

[Reef.]

I think it would be useful for the op to say what they want from the system as there are so many options, they will get confused very fast if we don’t know what to suggest to get them where they want to be.

how much water do you want to store eg enough for a month?

Where do you want to have the setup, have you a separate room, garage, kitchen, mobile system to store away.

 

[Jonify]

I think it would be useful for the op to say what they want from the system as there are so many options, they will get confused very fast if we don’t know what to suggest to get them where they want to be.

Sounds like they're not sure, and not sure what to ask. Which was me, at one time! But as others have posted, we need to know the quality of your water provider in order to recommend which stage RO/DI you need--connecting it is the easy part. Google that annual report and post

 

[Weasel1960]

I am going to add a laundry tub in the basement next to water softener and drain stack. Storage tanks to be in the same room. Check the specs on the various RODI units, some have a dual membrane and have less waste water.

 

[Damon Jensen]

What size rodi system are you using?

1 gallon an hour is not good.

7 stage. I just did a quick experiment, I closed the output control to in crease pressure, and it seems to increase the output flow. I'll turn the system back on tomorrow and let it build more pressure and measure it again. It sounds like I need a pressure gage!!!!!!

 

[Reef.]

7 stage. I just did a quick experiment, I closed the output control to in crease pressure, and it seems to increase the output flow. I'll turn the system back on tomorrow and let it build more pressure and measure it again. It sounds like I need a pressure gage!!!!!!

Even if you have a low 36 GPD system you should be getting more than 1 gallon an hour.

A booster pump makes a huge difference if your water pressure is fairly low.

 

[Damon Jensen]

Thanks, looking at pumps now.

 

[shootingstar_reef]

I use a 4-stage countertop filter that attaches to my bathroom sink (despite the name, in the description you'll see it still has a DI stage for full RO/DI filtering)

 

[JustKoch]

Thank you everyone for your responses! Sorry it took me a while to respond been a busy day at work. So right now I am not even sure where to start. Some of the suggestions ya'll had are kinda a no go for me. For one Im in Texas - so no basement. My Washer/Dryer unit is upstairs in the 2nd floor so the washer connection is a no go. I do have a water heater set up in the garage - that is one option (I have or I swore I read somewhere that someone did that option). I do have a kitchen but have brand new cabinets and countertop. So not sure how that can be done. So I do have 2 outside hoses which are close to the garage - so that can potentially be an option.

 

[JustKoch]

As for my water quality report - found something from 2019 -