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Reverse Osmosis filter Comparison?

Iliveinazoo

Member
Joined
23 Apr 2008
Messages
130
Location
Southampton
I'm thinking about buying a reverse osmosis filter because buying water is becoming really expensive.
There doesn't seem to be that many second hand ones out there and what's being sold is not far off the price of new.

I've found 2 companies online and they are:
1. RO-Man.
2. Waterfiltrationonline.

it would be great to know if anyone has any experience with these companies? Which one sells the best kit? Is a deionization unit required? Is a 2 stage unit pointless?

Thanks in advance.
 
Hi. I recently inevsted in an RO unit also - like you say, it's expensive buying it, especially with petrol costs, and it's annoying lugging the vats around all the time. I bought the actual unit from my LFS, it's a 3 stage - I've got 2 fine filters and a carbon filter, and I've found it fantastic! I change the fine filter every 8 months, so it saves me loads of money. I found that storage was an issue though, because I found that I needed to have stored the collective volume of all my tanks to do a water change because I do them all on the weekend, plus some for emergencies, so the storage vat takes up loads of room. I didn't buy the unit from R.O. man, but I bought a shut-off kit from them, and met them in the UK discus show in Bristol. the shut off kit arrived extremely quickly, and I received good customer service from them when I contacted them. Hope this helps.
 
I cant say I've used RO-man and they certainly seem to be the most recognised, however I find the website less than easy to use and much prefer to use www.osmotics.co.uk who are often a few quid cheaper and the website is ultra easy to use. I've always ordered from them and have only ever had one issue with them sending me the wrong thing which they rectified by post the next day and told me to keep the stuff I had already been sent!

Service is 1st class.

Sam
 
Thanks for the info.

Does a deionizer help much or is that too fancy and not worth the money for an aquarium?
 
Basically the water from an RO membrane has an approx TDS of 10ppm, the deionizer reduces this to 0ppm. Its not essential for freshwater tanks and is really only from marine tanks. I got one as I'll def go marine at some stage so seemed sensible to pay the extra and just use it now. It doesn't cost much to run in terms of resin replacement, although I guess that depends on how much water you use.

Sam
 
Themuleous said:
Basically the water from an RO membrane has an approx TDS of 10ppm, the deionizer reduces this to 0ppm. Its not essential for freshwater tanks and is really only from marine tanks. I got one as I'll def go marine at some stage so seemed sensible to pay the extra and just use it now. It doesn't cost much to run in terms of resin replacement, although I guess that depends on how much water you use.

Sam

That depends on the quality of your incoming water. I have a 50gpd unit from RO Man with no deioniser and get water of no more than 0-2ppm TDS produced. My water has an incoming TDS of 130-180ppm.
 
Themuleous wrote:
Basically the water from an RO membrane has an approx TDS of 10ppm, the deionizer reduces this to 0ppm. Its not essential for freshwater tanks and is really only from marine tanks. I got one as I'll def go marine at some stage so seemed sensible to pay the extra and just use it now. It doesn't cost much to run in terms of resin replacement, although I guess that depends on how much water you use.

Sam

That depends on the quality of your incoming water. I have a 50gpd unit from RO Man with no deioniser and get water of no more than 0-2ppm TDS produced. My water has an incoming TDS of 130-180ppm.

I find the same - mine has a TDS of 0-1, so I wouldn't worry about it for freshwater.
 
I'm just trying to get rid of my tap water's ridiculously high, barely legal nitrates so no deionizer it is then.
 
RO man are very helpful - we were writing several emails back and forth, and they very patiently answered all my questions, before we came to a conclusion on which unit I should buy.

I haven't actually used the unit yet - I'm waiting for the cold weather to die down because I want to put it outside. So I can't comment on how good it is. But they're very helpful.
 
I use a RO man 75gpd unit with the DI filter and its great, I also have a pump fitted to bring the operating pressure up to around 80psi as I live on top of a hill and my mains pressure isn't great. With that kit it takes about 3 hours to fill a 30 litre barrel (actually 35 litres). I can recommend RO man unreservedly, the service I have had from them has been flawless and the unit does what it says on the tin. Haven't tried any others so can't comment on them. As for whether a DI filter is necessary for a planted tank, probably not, but if your going to invest then why not get one as most of the time deals are available and there is somthing satisfying about a 0ppm measurement as a basis to work from. As for water storage I use 4x30litre barrels (which actually take about 35litres) which is enough for me for a week. I bought them from here:

http://www.waterbuttsnbottles.co.uk/5L- ... /c-11-112/

and I can vouch for them also.

Incidently I hang 300watt heaters inside the barels (from home made brackets) to bring the water temperature up before introducing it to my tanks, therefore eliminating any thermal shock to the fishes.
 
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