I bought a ro/di unit!!! Cuple of pointers please

[alfieferenzo84]

cuple of quick things they say to hook it up to cold water well that is about 55F and the membrance calls for 77f at 50psi so how do you make that happin?

Sense this unit will strip the water down to lower then 5tds would i need to use extra stuff or would the salt be good enough for trace stuff? What salt do you all recommend?

For the first water change should i do like only 25% or just do a major change to get the tank on track? And there on how much should i do? Its a 75 fowlr .15 ammonia, nitrates are 15 the only things i can test now

How long can water be stored for?

Should top off water have buffer or just let it go?

Just some questions off the top of my head sense this is new and i am reding back and forth stuff so i figure i would ask you all for your personal thoughts and what you do! Thanks

[Phish]

Contact "The Filter Guys" at: thefilterguys@charter.net
Also, visit their site at: http://www.thefilterguys.biz/

These guys will usually answer your questions within 24 hours and help you through your problems, even if you did not buy your system from them. I can't say enough good stuff about these guys. I now order all my filters and DI resin from them, and recommend them to anyone with water problems.

[piscivorous]

Yeah, Jim from the Filter Guys is great....give him a call. As for trace elements...your salt should add everything you need to water.

[cmersman]

you should have 0 TDS after the DI stage. As far as what salt to use, there have been hundreds of threads on that. It is a matter of preference. Check out those other threads.

[green814]

As for the temp issue, when I get everything set up, I am going to use 50ft of hose for the input & coil it inside my mixed & HEATED saltwater. I estimate I will have about 40ft inside the garbage can to heat the input water. I have read that others will use a 5g bucket w/ a heater, but if I keep premade water heated, why not use that "bucket"!

I am not sure on the buffer or storage time as I am still learning also.

Good luck,
Chris

[AZDesertRat]

From the top.
Temperature and pressure will affect the production rate of the RO. The lower the temperature and/or the pressure the less it will produce. It should still perform well at 55 degrees as long as your pressure is in the 50 to 80 range. You will ntice an increase waste flow though with colder water. No big deal!

You do not need to add any buffers to the water, most salts today are designed to be used with RO/DI water. Just about any name brand salt will be fine. I have used Instant Ocean, Red Sea, Oceanic and Ocean Pure and had no problems with any of them.

Stick with a normal 10 to 20% water change and things will work out. No need to do anything drastic, patience is the key.

As long as water is covered or sealed it stores just about forever. Don't expose it to lots of sunlight or dirty conditons though.


Again No Buffers are required. If your tank is SPS dominated you may need to do 2 part additions or kalk but it sounds like you are just getting started so thats not needed. NEVER ever add anything you cannot test for. If you don't have a test kit for it and know that it really needs it don't put it in there. You can really get things out of whack by adding things that are not called for.

Good things happen slowly but bad things happen quickly!

[erendon]

I have been using a Kent Marine 4 stage unit. as stated earlier, you should end up with 0 TDS. I have it hooked up to my cold water line and I have never had a problem with temp parameters. Due to the DI stage on my filter I use Kent Marine Osmo prep - marine for my top off water and I personaly use Reef Crystals for my salt water (No osmo used, salt had needed elements). As far as how long you can store water, I have two 42 Gal plastic cans with air stones, sml power heads and 250 WTT heaters in cold weather, make sure you have tight fitting lids. They can last for months with the exeption of evaporation.