RO System

Steelers7 · 09-13-2005, 09:57 PM

Whats up everyone. I got my RO unit hooked up without any leaks.

The guy at my LFS said I shouldn't too much water coming out of the waste tube. When I was running the unit, it seems I was getting more water out of the waste tube, than the actual clean tube.

My RO unit is 24 gpd, and that seemed about right, I was getting about 1 gallon per hour.

Is this water I made any good since some much water was coming out of the waste tube? I don't have anything to test the TDS with right now, and don't want to put the water in the tank if it can harm the fish.

Thanks.

Area 51 Exotics · 09-13-2005, 10:21 PM

Hard to tell without the TDS meter, on mine I get about about 2/3cup good & 1/3 cup bad ratio coming out. My TDS is 150 in and 0 out. It could just mean that it's pulling a lot out of your water.

Birdlady · 09-14-2005, 05:42 AM

Typically you get 3 to 4 times the waste water as pur water.

I know I do! There are a few units out there specially made to produce less waste water, but they cost a bit more.

I would toss out the first few gallons, or what they call the membrane 'break in' time. After that is should be fine.

Matt Rogers · 09-14-2005, 07:02 PM

Yes, I concur with BL. Many produce a lot of waste water. I know mine does. I recall something in the manual about trimming part of the waste line (the end inside the RO unit) to get optimum results. I did it on mine. I'll try to dig up that up when I have time. Maybe someone else recalls what I am talking about and can help.

Matt Rogers · 09-14-2005, 07:20 PM

OK, I found it in the manual. I was thinking of the flow restrictor assembly. There is a chart that shows what length to cut it to depending on your 'product rate.'

Product rate is defined as the amount of water coming from the RO (product water - the purified water, not the waste water) in 2 minutes divided by 2. (Use a measuring cup) The result is the product flow rate in millileters per minute. GPD (gallons per day) can be determined by multiplying product flow rate by .38.

I am not sure if this stuff applies to all RO units, but dig around in your instructions.

By the way, mine also says to let run for 15 minutes (or 2 gallons) before collecting water to use in the aquarium.

Steelers7 · 09-14-2005, 08:42 PM

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I added the RO water to the tank and it seems alright. I'm hoping that me using RO water for now on, along with PhosGuard will get rid of the brown algae in the tank.

Also, my Remora skimmer seems to be over skimming like it does when I added water with stress coat in it. I don't know why RO water would do that, but other than that seems like its fine.