R.O.'s in perspective....

[snagged by reef]

hey guys and gals,

give me your opinions on this. i came up with this perspective only to talk myself out of spending more money. that being said, i think i came to very valid points. here it is.

i'll start with an average RO 2 chamber unit. 50gpd at about $250-$300?

This would be the initial cost, and at approx. $100 per cartridge replaced every 12 months or so.

Average amount of top off water is between 1 to 2 gallons?

heres the kicker: at an average of $1 per gallon of RO water from your LFS, at an average of 52 to 104 gallons a year...
thats $52 to $104 per year in water, which is less than just the cartridges themselves which are $100/piece x 2=$200....

Someone tell me different please....im all ears...

Thanks all!

[tunaluver]

yeah thats fine except you didnt factor water changes at all or if your skimmer goes wild and removes bunches of stuff... plus you never really know how good the water really is at the lfs. peace of mind is worth far more than 100$ IMO

[snagged by reef]

that being said, 2 cartridges equals $200 per year. do you use over 200 gallins a year in water changes? and, id your LFS has a full marine/coral outfit, you would not trust thier water?

[tunaluver]

i dont trust they change their filters often enough. i have heard people who test the water at their lfs just for the heck of it and i guess its made me kind of hesitant to use their water. i like to know whats in my water. but mostly what isnt in my water. i use way over 200 gallons a year. i also like the fact that i can make a garbage can full of water and if i have an emergency i got water ready to go for waterchange if something bad happens. and you know bad stuff always happens when the store is not open

[lpsluver]

Originally posted by snagged by reef
hey guys and gals,

give me your opinions on this. i came up with this perspective only to talk myself out of spending more money. that being said, i think i came to very valid points. here it is.

i'll start with an average RO 2 chamber unit. 50gpd at about $250-$300?

This would be the initial cost, and at approx. $100 per cartridge replaced every 12 months or so.

Average amount of top off water is between 1 to 2 gallons?

heres the kicker: at an average of $1 per gallon of RO water from your LFS, at an average of 52 to 104 gallons a year...
thats $52 to $104 per year in water, which is less than just the cartridges themselves which are $100/piece x 2=$200....

Someone tell me different please....im all ears...

Thanks all!

Let me see if I understand this. You're going to pay 250-300 dollars for a 2 stage 50 gpd RO. Why? It is easy to find a 5 stage 75gpd RO for around $140. Replace cartridges 2x/year for said 75gpd is a total of $80 plus shipping. Replace the RO cartridge every 2 years for $40.

You could probably make it even cheaper if you use a TDS meter to determine when filters need to be replaced because it will likely be a little longer than 6 months for the average reefer.

Your initial cost for the entire set-up is practically a wash and each subsequent year it is cheaper, using your model.

Did I miss something?

[Travis L. Stevens]

Well, for me it is justifiable.

Water Consumption for 29g Reef
2 Gallons Evaporation per Day = 730 gallons per year
5 Gallon Water Change Twice a Month = 120 gallons per year
Total Water Consumption = 850 gallons per year.

Store bought water* ($1/gallon)
$850 per year

RO/DI Water (not including initial cost of unit)
With my unit, I waste 4 gallons of water for every one gallon made, so I use 4,250 gallons a year. I have a payment plan with my apartment, so I don't know what our water costs. But, you can apply your cost of water to my numbers and figure it out.

**Store bought water is only about $0.25-$0.50 around here

Also, I don't trust most of the LFSs around my area to properly change their filters. In addition, it only costs about $100 to change the RO unit. The DI and other filter cartridges are about $20. Just as well, I'm not sure that you would always need to change it every 12 months.

[snagged by reef]

i was looking descent ro/di units at about $250 and said only change once a year, each cartridge. the cartridge to the pertaining units cost about $100, being $200 a year. over all, how much water do you use a year is now what the topic would be. if you use over 150 - 200 gallons a year, then yes, ro/di is the way to go....

[snagged by reef]

2 gallons a day in top off water???!!!....wow

[Travis L. Stevens]

Originally posted by snagged by reef
2 gallons a day in top off water???!!!....wow

Yup, I use evaporative cooling as my main source of cooling. I can't afford to drop $1000 on a chiller. Instead, I just evap 2g a day and use fans

[jimwat]

Originally posted by snagged by reef
2 gallons a day in top off water???!!!....wow

Metal Halide + Evaporative Cooling + Wet Skimmer = 1 to 2 gallons a day for me as well.

Without even doing the math, I do not like carrying water from my kitchen to my living room every day (much less from the LFS).

[LobsterOfJustice]

I dont know where you are getting those prices, but my 5 stage unit cost $200, and the replacement filters are like $20 for the whole pack. Every few years you need to replace the membrane, thats like $30.

And I use far more than 1 gallon per week. I use almost 30 per week on topoff, and another 30 every two weeks for water changes.

[RichConley]

Originally posted by snagged by reef
2 gallons a day in top off water???!!!....wow

I'm about 4 in my 72.



5 Stage RODI. Very good unit: $150
Full, all prefilters and membrane: $60 a year(although the membrane lasts for 2 years really)

My water usage
72g: 3-4g per day: ~1000gpy
29: 1gpd: ~300gpy
Water changes: 500gpy

1800 gpy used. Roughly $60 in costs, with an additional maybe $5 for the water itself.


RODI is $.50 a gallon around here, and you're lucky if it has a TDS of less than 30.

[AZDesertRat]

I am not sure where you are getting your prices bu they are extremely high for both the unit you describe and the replacements.
A good quality 4 or 5 stage 75 GPD true reef quality RO/DI, not just RO which is what you will get at the LFS, will run you about $150-$160. A little better unit with things like a TDS meter, pressure gauge and autoshutoff valve will be in the $200-$250 range and the Cadillac of all RO/DI systems with two dual inline TDS meters and dual DI canisters is about $350.
Replacement of cartridges should be done every 6 months at about $25 total or $50 year.

A LFS is going to provide RO only and then it is often of questionable quality sinced they are looking for volume and not quality. I have seen LFS with water not much different than tap due to poor maintenance and poor storage and housekeeping.

I go through 12-15 gallons per week even with a chiller and 20-25 gallons per week if the chiller is not running. No way would I even think about buying that amount of water from the LFS or even a Water & Ice store.

[snagged by reef]

Very nice guys. thank you for all the input. like i said, i was trying to talk myself out of it. so much for that.

it also seems like i get way more feedback when i say something negative or false about fish, coral, equipment, etc.

Thanks again....off to the store i go!!!

[AZDesertRat]

DON'T buy a RO/DI unit from your LFS or hardware store. They are not the same quality we have been talking about here and will end up costing you more in upgrades and replacements to get them to reef quality. Some LFS do sell Spectrapure which is the best in the business but you will end up paying a premium at the LFS when you could join in a group buy here on RC and save a bundle. You may also find Kent at the LFS which is a pretty good unit but overpriced. Don't even consider Coralife, Seachem and others are they are not well made nor do they perform well.
Stick with one of the Sponsors here on RC like:
www.spectrapure.com
www.buckeyefieldsupply.com
www.thefilterguys.biz
www.melevsreef.com
www.purelyh2o.com

[snagged by reef]

thanks...i was actually lookinh at Drs Foster & Smith...good or no

[AZDesertRat]

No. The Kent is over priced, the Seachem(Pinnacle) is questionable and the Coralife is poor quality.
Stick with one of the vendors I suggested. They all support this forum and website and are saltwater hobbyists themselves. They build their own units in their own facilities by hand one at a time. The ones you mentioned are imports using questionable Chinese and Taiwanese components. Remember all the fuss about Chinese imports right now and the poor materials they are using??? Makes you think, or it should anyway.

[jimwat]

Originally posted by AZDesertRat
Don't even consider Coralife, Seachem and others are they are not well made nor do they perform well

Echo that. I purchased a Coralife DI cartridge from my LFS that was crap. I use a TDS meter ($12 on Ebay) to keep a handle on when to replace my cartridges and the Coralife cartridge actually made my TDS increase (tap = 150 tds, RO = 10 tds, RO+DI = 12 tds...WTH??). Anyway, lesson learned.

[King-Kong]

Bought my unit from air water ice.com and I love it. Great support from those guys, too. Ive spoken over the phone several times when I have had questions and have been FLOORED by their service.