Best RO Unit from Dr. Foster and Smith

Dr. Foster and Smith are having a sale on water filters! What is the best unit that you can get from them? It looks like the Coralife 3 stage 24gpd is around 100 bucks! That sounds like a good deal to me! I use about 10 gallons of ro water a week for water changes and top offs! What is the advantage of a 4 stage unit? Should this be considered?
thanks

 

The best they carry are the Kents but they are still way overpriced even on sale. Coralife are very low end entry level systems and receive lots of complaints.
Compare the $106 unit you are considering to the CSP found here for $135:
SpectraPure Customer Appreciation SALE! 20% - 50% off

Coralife-24 GPD dry off the shelf membrane, Spectrapure-90GPD treated and batch tested wet RO membrane; Coralife unknown micron range carbon block, Spectrapure 0.5 micron 20,000 gallon carbon block; Coralife 1 or 5 micron prefilter, Spectrapure 0.5 micron absolute rated prefilter; Coralife no TDS meter or inline pressure gauge, Spectrapure dual inline TDS meter and inline pressure gauge.

Best of all you can get the 4 stage CSP-DI for only $10 more at $145 and it comes with all the above plus a full size 20 oz vertical refillable DI filled with fresh SilicaBuster DI resin. Its a bargain and there really is no comparison in quality of performance.

Compare the Spectrapure prices to the Kents which are the best the Drs. carry and you really begin to see what a bargain they are right now.

 

awesome thanks alot! i will check em out!

 

AZ is really the spectrapure spokesman! Gave me the same advice looked into it a bit more and ordered the CSP-DI. just looking at pure stats there is no competition. when you factor in that they have been around a while and they service what they sell its a no-brainer. jeeze, i don't even have the unit in my hands yet n im preaching...

 

I've been looking into an RODI unit. I use tap now. I know the benefits of it. But I need a softener too. (AZ told me this one ) Why does no one ever mention this? Most houses do't have a softener already under their sink?.. So why is it? I would get an RO unit by now if the costs didn't pile up. First I need an RO unit, then maybe a pressurized water storage tank, then a softener, what next?

 

You don't really want the pressurized water tank for use with your aquarium.

 

I don't? I would like to be able to have a few gallons stored, at all times, i.c.e. I don't have a garage, to store a brute trashcan or large water storage bin.

Well don't I still need a softener?

 

You'd want to store it in jugs or something then. I have my top off water in 2.5 gallon distilled water jugs from the supermarket. The pressurized tanks will allow for TDS creep through the membrane, and the water won't be nearly as pure.

I don't know about the softener; AZDRat would know better than I would.

 

Thats correct, small pressurized tanks cause the RO to cycle frequently to replenish the water in the tank leading to concentrated TDS creep in the product water. With an RO/DI this leads to premature DI exhaustion as well as accumulated TDS in the tank.

I prefer something like the Brute trashcan with float switches set a distance apart so the level must drop significantly beofe the RO/DI cycles on again so you reduce the sffects of TDS creep. In my 23 gallon can it drops 11 gallons before the RO/DI comes on.

All RO membrane manufacturers recommend using softened water, read their fine print and they all state something like "Permeate flow and salt rejection based on the following test conditions: 250 ppm softened tapwater, 77°F (25°C), 50 psig (3.4 bar), and 15% recovery."

I'm not really a spokesman for anyone, its just right now the Spectrapure units are by far the best value. If you look back you will see i have recommended many vendors and manufacturers over the years when the have something of interest to offer the hobby.