RO/DI unit? Overfiltration?

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PinkLady

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I've seen a "RO/DI unit" referred to before and Googled it, but am unsure of the exact purpose for it and if I would really need it for one 55g saltwater FOWLR setup?

Also, is there such a thing as overfiltration for a marine environment? My tank is 55g with 40 lbs. of live purple rock and 30 lbs. of live aragonite sand + live crushed coral aragonite. I have two HOB filters, Penn-Plax Cascade 300 models, that are strictly for bio-filtration and are filled with plastic bio-balls, bio-sponges, and "bio-falls" that the output water flows through and over. These are extremely well seeded and flow rate is 300gph for each. I also have a Marineland C530 canister filter that is chemical (carbon), mechanical (varying types of sifting layers, floss, etc) and also has a top layer of ceramic tubes for bio growth. This runs at 530gph and creates a really nice flow/circulation in the tank. Water parameters are GREAT in the tank, water is crystal clear and sharp, and my few inhabitants are thriving (I've been going slow on stocking). So total filtration is 1130gph -- is this harmful? At this rate, how often should I do a water change and how much? Do I still need a protein skimmer? I haven't added one yet as I wasn't sure if it was needed with that amount of filtration and water flow, and just having the 2 fish + starfish + bloodfire shrimp so far.

Thanks!
 
RO/DI stands for Reverse Osmosis/DeIonizer.

It's a water filter and does not filter your aquariums water. It attaches to your houses water system and filters it down to pure water. You then use this water in your aquarium for water changes/topoffs. No need to dechlorinate your water because the RO/DI filter take care of that.

They work through reverse osmosis (duh) by pushing water through a semipermiable membrane that only allows water molicules through.

Usually what people do is they have the filter make water and fill up a 55 gallon drum or garbage can with the fresh, pure water, them mix it with the salt with a circulation pump. Then just use that water for changes.

Or you can just have it fill the drum and do it the old fashon way and mix the salt in by hand.

Or better yet some people with large tanks have the freshwater return of the RO/DI hooked directly to the sump of their tank with a floating ball valve so it automatically tops the tank off when water evaporates.

They are considered nessassary unless you have a really really good water company for your area that gives you really pure water.
 
adding onto Bacons post, RO/DI stands for Reverse Osmosis/De-Ionization, its pretty much just a heavy duty water filter in which water if forced through a series of micron filters and then a filter membrane producing pure water, leaving no chemicals such as harmful chloramines etc... in the water. The De-ionization part of the filter is optional but removes alot of the ions in the water such as phosphates and other things that create algae growth in a tank, mind you algae growth will still happen, but to a lesser extent, because of your live stock and the waste they produce.

In my opinion buying a RO/DI unit is always a great investment if you plan on being in the hobby for a long time. It saves you plenty in gas money by not having to drive to your LFS to buy RO/DI water. Another live-saver for a salt water aquarium is not having to use water de-chlorinaters to get rid of the chlorine in your tap water.

As far as over filtering goes im assuming yes there can be. Especially with mechanical filters such as HOB/Canister because of the mechanical aspect to them and how sometimes they might cause the salt in the water to cling to it and lower the salinity/SG.

For water changes it doesn't really matter how much GPH rate your filters are pumping out, its always good to have fresh water in the tank, your live stock will surely appreciate it. I Do about a 20-30% water change every 2-3 weeks so pretty much 10% a week. You don't have to but that's just me, keeps me in the habit of doing it.
 
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately with the way my house is designed, I can't access my water piping system to add a softener or an RO/DI unit. I live in what used to be the fire station (before they built a new one), and my house is where the offices, kitchen, bedrooms used to be. The other half of my house where the truck bay was is now my landlord's offices and garage for his construction equipment, and the water main is literally built into the wall -- so we'd have to hack a hole in the wall to get to it. I also don't have a garage or anything like that.

However, because the fire station basically has its own well water system, I have NO chlorine whatsoever in my water and have never had to add dechlorinator or anything else to it to use in my various aquariums. The only issue I deal with is a higher pH (which marine tanks need anyway) and the water being harder/having more calcium, which gets offset by the salt and the filtration. My water parameters have been perfect since I got it up and running. My house is very dry so despite my glass tops, the water evaporates at a decent rate, so I add water once per week (with salt in it of course to maintain the same constant specific gravity). If I did a 10% water change weekly, would that be OK?
 
When you do top offs you don't do it with salt water. Salt doesn't evaporate so if you keep adding salt to the water you use to top off your only raising your SG. I would recommend doing a water change asap, and adding pure water with no salt. Keep checking your SG after every gallon of pure water until your SG is back to where it should be (1.023-1.025).
 
O and I forgot to mention this but you can tap into the plumbing under your sink and place the RO/DI unit under your sink. Your tank only needs a 10% water change per week so you could just do a 5 gallon bucket full of water. An RO/DI unit and a 5 gal bucket will fit under most kitchen sinks.
 
PinkLady;3620721; said:
I've seen a "RO/DI unit" referred to before and Googled it, but am unsure of the exact purpose for it and if I would really need it for one 55g saltwater FOWLR setup? Reverse Osmosis and De-ionization is a key element in proper aquarium water treatment for a saltwater tank. consult this site for more detailed information

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_2/cav2i4/RO_systems/reverse_osmosis.htm

Also, is there such a thing as overfiltration for a marine environment? the more filtration the better. My tank is 55g with 40 lbs. of live purple rock and 30 lbs. of live aragonite sand + live crushed coral aragonite. I have two HOB filters, Penn-Plax Cascade 300 models, that are strictly for bio-filtration and are filled with plastic bio-balls, bio-sponges, and "bio-falls" that the output water flows through and over. These are extremely well seeded and flow rate is 300gph for each. I also have a Marineland C530 canister filter that is chemical (carbon), mechanical (varying types of sifting layers, floss, etc) and also has a top layer of ceramic tubes for bio growth. This runs at 530gph and creates a really nice flow/circulation in the tank. Water parameters are GREAT in the tank, water is crystal clear and sharp, and my few inhabitants are thriving (I've been going slow on stocking). So total filtration is 1130gph -- is this harmful? not at all. At this rate, how often should I do a water change and how much? you can do 5-10% per week or 20% bi-weekly Do I still need a protein skimmer? I still would have a protein skimmer to filter out all the organics in the water. I haven't added one yet as I wasn't sure if it was needed with that amount of filtration and water flow, and just having the 2 fish + starfish + bloodfire shrimp so far.

Thanks!
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mr.reef24
 
Amazon_Addict;3625391; said:
When you do top offs you don't do it with salt water. Salt doesn't evaporate so if you keep adding salt to the water you use to top off your only raising your SG. I would recommend doing a water change asap, and adding pure water with no salt. Keep checking your SG after every gallon of pure water until your SG is back to where it should be (1.023-1.025).
Click to expand...

But some salt gets weeded out with my canister, hence why I use saltwater for top offs. The specific gravity never changes, I check it frequently.

What about using distilled water since water changes are so small?
 
if you mount the whole RO/DI unit onto a piece of wood/OSB/plywood or have some sort of rack/cabinet for it you can buy faucet adapters and dont have to "hard-wire" it into your water system
 
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