Can you give me some info on this? I am playing with the idea of going for an ro drip. Any links would be appreciated.
I dont have any links and I don't know of any that I'm aware of, I'm sure someone else has done this before I just kind of came up with it on my own. It's a pretty simple process I use. At the time I started doing it no one that I know of was doing a pure RO drip, and people who tried it were not having success. They were dealing with pH crashes and other issues. Or they mixed RO water and regular tap water to keep it "more stable, and save on filters." I frankly don't see the point in mixing water, it sounds like more trouble than its worth, and it's not giving you a pure soft water source. Rays prefer and thrive in soft water, period. Some may argue that rays can and will adapt to anything. Yea that's fairly true, most animals can adapt to new conditions with ease, doesn't mean they prefer it. They key difference here is thrive vs tollerate.
Mixing was not an option for me with my well water being so horrible. Well tap pH was about 8.8 and had ammonia, nitrates, and phosphates. So I installed a whole house water softener and a 100 gpd 6 stage RO/DI unit to filter my tank water. I started off just making what water I needed and using it for water changes, but as we all know that gets old when your doing water changes daily or every couple days. My thought was, well I am using a pure RO water source for water changes... Whats the difference in dripping it if you keep the pH stable? So I started dripping one day and never looked back.
When I started dripping straight cold RO/DI filtered water, to keep my pH stable I added seashells in my sump as a buffer. I believe this is the key to stability. These naturally breakdown over the course of months, and must be replenished. You dont need alot, depends on the size of your system. Mine is about 300 gallons total and i only use a handfull at a time.
But wait? Don't sea shells or calcium carbonate raise your pH and make your water harder? Yes they do. But I thought we were trying to achieve a softer water? Yes we are but the key is to make sure your pH stays stable and does not fluctuate around a whole lot. Dripping straight RO water at a pH of 6 can be dangerous if left unchecked. You would also be suprised how much your pH fluctuates day in and day out based on fresh air surrounding the tank, light passing through the water, and day/night cycle. With the shells added to my system it keeps me at 6.1-6.3 pretty consistantly.
I also have driftwood in my main display and in the refugium with java moss and Anubias nana to suck up the Nitrates. My rays and the other South American fish love it. Doing the timeline I have been running this system for over 2 years with zero issues. Occasionally I vaccum debris out of the sump and main display.
On my RO unit, which I run a booster pump on to keep the pressure high... I change the sediment filter about once a month and carbons about once every 2 months. The DI resin I change once it fully changes to the exhausted color. As far as the main membrane I change that once my outgoing TDS starts to climb. On average that only needs to get changed out once a year or so.
Hope this helps and answers your questions.
