Seachem Pinnacle + Ro/di Unit

[lljdma06]

I love my Marine peeps, but I'm severly DIY-challenged, so this thread's going to go here. I won this at an auction (last year's AGA convention). (I think, )

Product specs here from the Seachem website.

http/www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Pinnacle+RO.html

And instructions.

http/www.seachem.com/Library/Instructions/Pinnacle_Manual_2009.03.23.pdf

Now that I'm very close to setting up my Marine aquarium, so I really need to hook up my RO/DI unit. I'm starting this thread to help me through the process and to get some serious hand-holding from TFF's hardware/DIY experts. Please, I will absolutely not be offended if you treat me like I'm five. That would be great. Use little words so I can understand.

First question: Did I get a good unit? Retails for $400 in most Marine depots and websites. Got it for $100 at the auction, but I was buying without any research. I don't usually do this, but people seemed unhappy when they didn't get it.

Out of the box it looks like this. Pretty...

Says you're supposed to have the following out of the box.

1 Yellow tubing (input line)
2 Blue tubing (product water line)
3 Black tubing (waste water line)
4 Brass hose adaptor
5 Ball Valve
6 RO Membrane
7 Canister Wrench

Do you see all of these items in the following pictures, because some of this looks like it belongs in a space shuttle. I can guess some of them.

Pictured here I think is 7 (Canister wrench), 1-3 (Yellow, blue, & black tubing), 4 (brass hose adaptor), and perhaps 5 (Ball valve). I've never seen a ball valve so I have no clue what one looks like.

In this picture, I think I've got item 6 (RO membrane) but I don't know, again, have never seen one.

Second Question: Now, where do I connect this thing? I've got faucents everywhere. And the washing machine has a water hookup too. Does it matter where I hook it up?

Third Question: Packaging says it does 100g a day. My goodness, it's only for a 36g tank. If I do 100g, I've got enough water for the initial fill and 4 50% waterchanges, so I'm not positive I need to even run this thing all the time or produce that much water at once.

Fourth Question: Can you stop and start the unit so you're not dealing with 100g of water a day? Do you have to take precautions to make sure the components are maintained?

I also purchased this to measure TDS

Fifth Question: Am I missing something to install the RO unit.

Sixth Question: What containers would you recommend for water storage? Was thinking 5g bottled water containers as I can get those easily, but I know I'll have to replace them as they degrade with time.

I apologize for the many questions. I figured I'll learn something and anybody that comes across this thread will learn something too.

I'm excited about this, by the way, not only for the SW implications, but for the longest time I was limited with what fish and plants I could keep because my tapwater is very hard. I can now experiment with RO/tap mixes to get better results for my Freshwater tanks. I can breed me some fishies, maybe.

Thanks for looking and I appreciate all your help.

Liz

 

[ChilliPepper]

I may not be much help, but will try my best!

First question - not sure! Not familiar with that one myself.
Second question - I got a thingy (see, not technically minded am I?) with mine which clamped onto the water pipe and pierced it. This then becomes the input for the unit. I could find out the technical name if you want, not sure off the top of my head. I have mine in our downstairs toilet, under the sink, as there's a nice big cupboard in there.
Third question - you're unlikely to get that 100g. Most units produce about half what they claim to as it depends on individual water pressure/temperature etc. We have low water pressure and I have a 100g unit as well, but never get that in a day. I have a booster pump as well.
Fourth question - no, it doesn't need to be on all day. The important thing is to flush the membrane before and after each use for about 5 minutes a time. On ours this is the black tubing (this is the pipe that the waste comes out). You can get ball valves to make sure the membrane stays wet as it mustn't dry out. I'm going to be using RO to mix with tap water for my freshies as well, so the unit is on about every other day.
Fifth question - I don't think do. It should have a list of parts in the instruction manual.
Sixth question - I have 25L jerry cans/water canisters that I purchased from my LFS. Have a look on ebay to see if any come up. Make sure they are food grade plastic though!

Hope that helps a little!