What Exactly Is Reverse Osmosis And Why Is It So Important?

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

1. Doesnt the system hook up under your sink and make a said amount of water every hour and store it? If so, wouldnt that mean that you need a bucket under there to store it in? [w/ a heater and powerhead to mix around the salt well]
2. What exactly does it remove? Will it magically leave in the trace minerals you need like calcium, but remove the certain minerals and chlorine that you dont? That would mean that you need a trace minerals supplement but SH said something about them being bad so what do you do SH?
3. Are there filters you need to replace or something? I just dont know anything about the storage of the water or any of that so any help would be appreciated as soon as possible.
Most of my info was given to me by my dad {who doesnt think i need RO} who plumbs new houses and buildings and has installed many RO systems throughout his 33 years of this business and we dont know the differences between the ones for just drinking water purification and fish water purification.

 

[randomguysmell]

im a RO unit noob as well, they use pressure to take minerals out of the water, usually 99% of impurities are removed

 

[J-Money]

1- you can plumb your R/O system into your sink, but i live in an apartment so i got an adapter to hook up to the faucet and I can put it back in a closet when i'm done. Usually if you plumb it in then you get a big container with the system to hold the water. It's sealed and totally dark so it's protected.

2-R/O basically removes everything turning it into pure water. You get the minerals you need again from the salt mixture. some people add supplements when they have stuff that needs extra. lots of corals and such need extra calcium or maybe iodine etc...

3-Filters do need to be replaced. How often depends on how much water you pump through the system.

edited to add, you may not need an R/O system depending on how pure your water is out of the tap, but chances are it's not too pure...

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Ok how much water can it make in a day? Cuz I thought it comes out really slowly because it has to force it through a really tight opening to remove impurities. So you have to do your weekly water changes over a long period of time or something?

I could always call the people running the warter system in my city{its well water, if that means anything} and see just how much bad stuff is in there, but why take any chances with anything but pure H2O? Theres other filtration systems out there that removes stuff like asbestos, cysts{whatever that is it sounds gross} chlorine obviously, sediment, which my dad is also convinced we dont have any of, and some other junk. I guess if I knew what all the impurities were, I could see if I could just do one of those other systems you can get at a home improvement store. But RO sounds like the way to go no matter what. I was wondering how much of a pain it would be though. If i can get one of those things just to hook up to a faucet when I need it, Id totally do that and it doesnt sound like the most expensive way to go either

 

[maestro]

Ok how much water can it make in a day? Cuz I thought it comes out really slowly because it has to force it through a really tight opening to remove impurities. So you have to do your weekly water changes over a long period of time or something?

I could always call the people running the warter system in my city{its well water, if that means anything} and see just how much bad stuff is in there, but why take any chances with anything but pure H2O? Theres other filtration systems out there that removes stuff like asbestos, cysts{whatever that is it sounds gross} chlorine obviously, sediment, which my dad is also convinced we dont have any of, and some other junk. I guess if I knew what all the impurities were, I could see if I could just do one of those other systems you can get at a home improvement store. But RO sounds like the way to go no matter what. I was wondering how much of a pain it would be though. If i can get one of those things just to hook up to a faucet when I need it, Id totally do that and it doesnt sound like the most expensive way to go either

Different units have different ratings, the middle of the range ones are quoted as producing 50 gallons a day but this is under ideal temperature and water pressure so you'll unlikley to get near that

 

[J-Money]

my unit only actually makes about 3 or 4 gallons per hour, so i usually just put the end in my rubbermaid bin and let it run for 4 or 5 hours depending on how much water i want to change.

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Yeah my biggest water change is like 35 gallons occasionally but usually like 7.5 gallons. I got one of the smaller machines that makes 1 gallon per hour so I can turn it on leave for the day come back and do the change. Something wierd was going on with it though the bigger amount of water was coming out the RO tube instead of the waste tube and everything was hooked up right then we discovered that there was no filter membrane so I have to wait a week till my lfs gets one in thats complete! Still dont know what was going on though...

 

[steelhealr]

The RO/DI unit I have is a six stage unit....3 prefilters, the RO membrane, DI resin and then coconut shell carbon (this one is mainly for taste).

The first three filters are like a carbon type filter and do a first initial screen out...larger particles. The water then passes thru the RO membrane, which, by pressure filters out up to 95-98% of impurities, metals, nitrates, etc, depending on the quality of membrane you have. Waster water flushes the RO membrane out to keep the TDS low. The water then passes thru a DI (deionization) resin where any residual ions are 'absorbed' by an exchange resin. Under excellent conditions. water can approach 99% pure.....no nitrates, calcium, sodium, iron, etc.

Many of the filters have flow ratings which just don't 'rate' unless you have high water pressure. Eg, my filter is rated at 110gph....I"m lucking if I get 5 G's in 24hours. My house water pressure is about 40-42 PSI. My manual says that if you are below 45, you need a pump.

As J-Money says above, I keep my portable...attach to a faucet or garden hose when I need to make RO and store it under the sink. If you attach it to your plumbing, you need a storage tank which has a float/cutoff switch when the tank is full.

If you are using a good unit, your water should be about 98-99% pure. A good SW mix puts back the 'good stuff' you need to fill your tank. Dosing a tank should be unnecessary if you do regular water changes. Dosing may contribute to algae blooms. NEVER DOSE YOUR TANK WITH ANYTHING THAT YOU DON"T TEST IT FOR. SH

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

The one I got can also be stored under the sink and my house's pressure is 70 or 80 im not exactly sure but I guess this should be fast enough.

 

[crazyelece]

As stated above an RO takes out the crap in the water and gets it purer. For example my RO (a three stage without DI) filters my water from 250+ ppm (parts per million) tds (total disolved solids) to 8-10 ppm tds. 0 ppm tds would be pure water. IMO it is very practical for troubleshooting alone to use at least RO water if not RO/DI. If you can get the water <15 ppm tds, it will be good to use.

Also since it wasn't really mentioned drinking water RO units and aquarium RO units are the same thing. Many drinking water systems don't use a DI filter and are a little smaller production because chances are you're not going to drink 50-100 gallons of water a day.

If you get a smaller production unit make sure you get a storage tank. That way when you need a few gallons of water you won't have to wait a couple hours to a few days for it to filter the water. My first RO unit had a 10 gal a day membrane and it took 2 weeks to fill up my 120gal system.

Personally I think you should have a system that can make as much water a day as half your tank volume. I use this rule in case of an emergency you should be able to get half the volume within a 24 hour period. I also use a 34 gal storage tank on mine as well so I can make water instantly. My RO is used for both drinking water in the house and my tanks so it is permanently mounted and I have water line running right to the tank for salt mixing and top offs.

Also as far as storage tanks, if you add one it is very easy. You can use a storage tank for a well system to get larger volume tanks. They make nice small tanks specifically for RO drinking water systems but they are usually only about 1-3 gallons in size.

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Yeah thats a good point about the emergency.