Looking for RO and 'filter' (clorine removed) systems high volume low maint?

[jake37]

Next year I'm going to be setting up 3 100+ gallon aquarium and 2 400+ gallon aquariums.

I'm looking for two units to support these aquarium:
an ro unit that can produce adequate volume (300 gallons week); have indicator indicating when service is needed (replacement of cartridges and such) and minimal waste water + some type of storage tank (300-500 gallons); pump to send water through the pipes to the aquarium and auto shut off for the ro unit when tank is full.
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I also need a second unit that removes chlorine from the water but leave the minerals.

Can someone who has done this before suggest such units - what does fish store use or similar ?

 

[twentyleagues]

When I was on city water I used a dual carbon filter to remove chlorine. One had granular carbon the other was a high quality coconut carbon block. These removed 95% or better of chlorine.

When I had saltwater I had a ro di unit with a dual 75 gpd membrane. So 150 gpd total.

 

[twentyleagues]

Oh the best you are going to get is 1.5 :1 on waste to filtered water. That's what mine was. Mine was made by the same people who supply bulk reef supply with their branded units. Mine was the 4 stage water saver 150 model.

 

[twentyleagues]

I keep hitting the post button!!!! Lol
As for pump to move it, it all depends on how far it needs to go. I used a reeflo dart to move my premixed salt water from the 300g holding tank to the sump about 25' away during water changes. Took about 10-15 min to do a 300g water change from start to finish.

 

[DThompson]

I agree with twentyleagues , to make RO water, your best option is one like they sell on BRS and then just put another carbon filter in the chamber that is meant for DI. This would get you what you're looking for but creates a ton of waste water. You can buy more RO membrane filters to run in series with the waste water produced to recuperate some of the waste water but the more membranes you stack on the system, the higher the water pressure will need to be. I personally just use 4 filters (10 micron filter/5 micron filter/Carbon block filter/Carbon block filter) with 1/2" diamater water lines running between them to product large amounts of water quickly. It takes me about 1 hour to fill 200 gallons in my tank.

Also, my method doesn't have the RO filter/membrane so there is 0 waste water. So I traded RO quality water for 0 waste water. I didn't need it to be pristine water, but it's more than adequate for my stingrays.

 

[duanes]

Just curious what kind of fish you are keeping that you need RO.
For most fresh water fish , RO is not a healthy choice.
Only fish from very soft, mineral free water habitats can even exist in straight RO.
Fish from moderate to hard water habitats would suffer from the lack of osmotic pressure.

 

[jake37]

Just curious what kind of fish you are keeping that you need RO.
For most fresh water fish , RO is not a healthy choice.
Only fish from very soft, mineral free water habitats can even exist in straight RO.
Fish from moderate to hard water habitats would suffer from the lack of osmotic pressure.

First; I am using the water to thin tap water but at least one tank will be a low ph tank (this might change but plan is: 3 elizabeth, 4 dicrossus filamentosus, 8 cherry chocolate gourami); this tank will have near pure ro water and a target ph of around 5.5.

Second i've gotten some help on this matter so the information i provided comes from information i've collected but for dechlorinated water i can use something like this:

Upflow Non-Electric Catalytic Carbon Filter

The Upflow Non-Backwashing Catalytic Carbon Filters are a simple, low cost method for treating city water to reduce chloramine taste and odor, hydrogen sulfide, and chlorine taste and odor. These upflow filters require no electricity and require no drain connections to operate. The water simply...

www.freshwatersystems.com

Using the above device the water fed to the ro unit will already have the chlorine removed...

For RO awater i can use something like spectrapure maxcap send it into a 260 gallon tank and then have a well pump between the large tank and a 40 gallon pressure tank (this provides the pressure to send the water through the pipes). When the pressure tank empties it will be refilled from the 260 gallon tank.
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Our base water is 120 tds (gh 7 kh 3); most of the sa fishes I keep would prefer tds of 40 gh 3 kh 1-2 so I can mix the ro water with dechlorinated water 1:1 - for the two large tanks (400 gallon) I will use a drip system where between 1 and 2 gph are sent into the tank - and the excess will flow out of the sump; for the smaller tanks I will likely start by doing manual water changes and go from there - i might eventually add something more automated but undecided. The low ph tank fishes are fairly sensitive to changes in water condition so that one will likely always be manual. The live bearer tank will get dechlorinated tap. This is the sort of tank i typically keep:

 

[duanes]

Yes for those species, a mixture of tap and RO would be appropriate.