RO/DI - Chloramine Filters - Booster Pumps

[Pharaoh]

Posting this up as a topic for discussion. I'm not so much interested in moving to RO/DI water as I keep Africans, but I would like input from those that use them.

I am currently using the Dual stage Carbon filter from TheFilterGuys to remove chloramines from my municipal water supply. I have recently re-verified that chlaramines are in full use in Indianapolis, so there's no way around pre-filtering my water on the drip systems. I also verified that they current water pressure in the local system runs at about 30 psi.

Of course, being a Monster Fish Keeper, I have quite a few setups and I am moving towards integrating more of my setups into my drip system. This is where I've started to notice some problems. My original setup was dripping into two to setups ran on a timer and it functioned well. As I added more tanks, it became impossible to get water to all of the tanks, so I switched to drip emitters and a constant drip to help spread the flow. This let me add the third tank setup to the mix.

Since, I have attempted to add a fourth and fifth tank to the mix with terrible results. I just don't have enough pressure to get water to all of the tanks. I am figuring this is a result of the 30psi water pressure being stretched much too far.

This leaves me at the fork in the road. How do I get more water to my tanks? I have a couple of options.

1. Buy another one or two filtration systems and run multiple filters to get all the water to my tanks.

Pros:
Each filter system will last much longer and maintenance can still be done all at once. No real time lost.

Cons:
Multiple systems that each cost a decent amount and all require replacement parts occasionally.
Also, this may not solve the real problem, but merely work around it.
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2. Buy a booster pump to to increase the input pressure of the chloramine filter, which will increase the output enabling more tanks to be added. I also saw that the aquatecs are adjustable, which could make things simple as I could dial the pressure in right where I want it.

Pros:
One initial outlay to increase the effectiveness of my system.
Single system maintenance = less work & less testing

Cons:
I'm not sure what these chloramine filters are rated. I'm thinking 50psi. I do remember something about not wanting more than 15 GPM or so.

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What do most RO/DI systems run pressure wise?

I'll probably have more questions to follow up, but I'll throw this out there for now.

Thoughts? Opinions? Answers?

 

[jcardona1]

Most RO/DI units need 50-60psi so you have enough pressure to push water through the RO membrane (my tap is at about 60-65psi). Even when you have that much pressure already, I've read some guys on SW forums still recommend adding a booster pump to increase pressure up to 80-100psi. The higher the pressure, the faster the unit produces water and the less waste water you get. It's a win/win.

So a question, if you add the booster pump, are you still going to use emitters, or go back to the timer? Because remember, emitters need a certain psi. Too much and you'll blow them right off the line.

 

[Pharaoh]

Most RO/DI units need 50-60psi so you have enough pressure to push water through the RO membrane (my tap is at about 60-65psi). Even when you have that much pressure already, I've read some guys on SW forums still recommend adding a booster pump to increase pressure up to 80-100psi. The higher the pressure, the faster the unit produces water and the less waste water you get. It's a win/win.

So a question, if you add the booster pump, are you still going to use emitters, or go back to the timer? Because remember, emitters need a certain psi. Too much and you'll blow them right off the line.

Well, providing I go with a pump. I'll have to work out those details. I'm guessing that there is some pressure loss across the carbon blocks. I'm sure I'm going to have to do some fine tuning and/ or go back to the timer based system.

 

[Pharaoh]

Just noticed that I can get my hands on a drip emitter that will handle up to 60 psi.