Reverse osmosis (RO) equipment review

[ICPS-bob]

Many CP growers catch use rain water, some are fortunate to be able to use tap water, but many use reverse osmosis units.

What has been your experience and costs in obtaining pure water? What RO unit do you use? How long have you used it? What problems have you encountered? If you were to buy a new RO unit, what model would you buy and why?

[pinglover]

The unit I use is an RO/DI unit from www.aquaticreefsystems.com/

I purchased the- Value Line Aquarium 4 stage RO DI
there was an additional charge that was nominal to increase the output to 100 gallons per day.

All of the filters for this unit are readily available at Home Depot, Menards, or Lowes which was a plus so we didn't end up tied to the supplier for filters.

In addition to the RO/DI unit, I purchased a handheld TDS unit. The cost was nominal and it was worth it. I've found that my rain water is perfectly acceptable to continue using for my CPs. I've found the water from the ponds to be far too high in dissolved solids for me to use even in a pinch. Amazingly, the bottled "Ultra Pure" Spring Water we buy for drinking water is higher in tds than most of the wells around here. Interesting. Can't believe we were paying for Spring Water for the past 5 years when it would appear our tap water is considerably lower in TDS than the bottled water. That, in and of itself, paid for the total cost of the handheld meter. I won't be buying that spring water any longer.

Unfortunately, my new RO system is not doing all that well. I had to bypass the DI phase to be able to get any quantity of water. I don't believe there is anything wrong with the system itself, it's that I'm on a well here. I've literally had to order water tankers from Wisconsin in an attempt to keep some of my native tree/shrub/herbaceous perennials alive. The only plants that get water on a regular basis are the CPs. It is unlawful to water anything around here. Back to the RO, we no longer have enough pressure to our well to be able to get much more than 3 gallons a day right now yet the unit is rated to 100 gallons per day. My husband ordered some sort of a pump to increase the pressure to the unit in the hopes we can get production up to 20-25 gallons a day. It's been a few weeks and we still haven't received the pump but his check did clear the bank. Evidently the RO units are designed to function at a minimum of 70-75 lbs of water pressure. We aren't even close. The water table is just too low. We re-drilled our well two years ago when we went dry and since then we've had a sum total of 6 neighbors who have had to re-drill their wells and two... possibly three more who may have to get their wells re-drilled or risk having their homes condemned.

This being said, if one is on city water, I suspect one should have enough pressure for the unit to function properly. Unless you are going to be doing tissue culture or some sort of a medical procedure, I don't believe the DI phase is necessary.

[Aidan]

I use rain water in preference, but we are currently in the midst of one of the driest springs on record and this April was the warmest on record... and those records go back 320 years!

I use a 6-stage 100gpd (US) RO unit with built-in pressure gauge and twin sensor TDS meter. I'm currently taking about 45gpd (Imperial) out of it, which is just about keeping up with the daily requirements of my plants. I am probably going to to install a pump soon and a second TDS meter with sensors either side of the DI polishing can.

I have been running the system for a year and have yet to change filters or DI resin (No, I don't drink it. I prefer hard water). My water supply comes from chalk aquifers and the input TDS varies from approx 175 - 275ppm. Output is currently at 4ppm.

Tips:

Domestic RO units are usually supplied with a self-piercing needle valve to connect to the mains water supply. They are useless. Get the unit properly plumbed-in to a tap.

Water pressure is highest at night, so that's the best time to run a RO unit.

[pinglover]

[sigh] We've got it connected properly. The problem is that our water pressure is running at around 35-45 and 50 on a good day. That's virtually impossible to deal with.

If there is another unit out there on the market that you believe might work for us given the limitations presented by our well water situation, I'll buy it and don't particularly care about the cost. I'm tired of tanking water to this property and I do collect rain water. After a good rain, I am generally sitting on around 200 gallons of rain water. That isn't enough to make it through a dry spell and I am really tired of buying distilled water 100 gallons at a time. It's hard loading it and unloading it. Forgot to mention that we have an iron curtain on all of the water in our home. We have incredibly high sulfur to the extent that without that little added extra, our house would smell like a rotten egg factory.

[taywf1234]

Aidan where abouts did you buy your RO machine from?

[Aidan]

Here:

www.ro-man.com/

Much of Scotland has a very soft water supply and so you may well be able to use mains water for your plants.

[jm82792]

Hey the ro units I see say 2000 PPM does that mean maximum amount in of water or maximum amount of PPM out of the system?

[Aidan]

You'd better explain and/or provide a link to where you see this. Quoting a figure out of context doesn't give much to work on.

[jrfxtreme]

I bought this RO unit a couple years ago: jimstrains.com/?mainURL=/store/item/1hqsw/Reveres_Osmosis_Systems/100_GPD_6_stage.html

I've changed the prefilters once and currently get 34 PPM from it. My tap is in the area of 130 PPM, give or take.

The only issue with it is when I first start it up it quickly spikes for a short period in disolved solids, then it goes back to pure water. Not sure if this can be fixed. For this reason I also no longer use the tank as the impure water seems to collect there.

I use around 10 gallons(give or take) a week so it works for me!

Never had any experience with any other units but if I had to rate this unit I'd give it an 4 out of 5.

Also, like someone said before a TDS meter is a must!

Hey the ro units I see say 2000 PPM does that mean maximum amount in of water or maximum amount of PPM out of the system?

You must be misreading something. 2000 PPM = lethal to anything most likely. Did you mean 2000 GPD?

PPM = parts per million(water quality, lower the better)
GPD = gallons per day(max water output per day)

[jm82792]

I am going to want to buy a tds because we have a spring then a filtration system then an ozonater so it may be good enoughe but the tds meter shall tell
Value Line 4 Stage - Reverse Osmosis System
Price: $229.00
2 year limited warranty
General System Specifications
Feed water: PSI 40 - 125 PSI (20-40PSI at reduced performance)
Feed water Temperature: 40¢ª - 100¢ª(F)
Max. Total Dissolved Solids (TDS): 2000 ppm
Max. Hardness: 10 gpg
Max. Iron 0.2ppm
pH limits: 4 - 10

[Pingman]

I have been using a table model for the past 4 years with excellent results. This one has a membrane and 3 filters. It came with a TDS meter, and the water usually measures under 10ppm. Input water ranges from 400-500ppm. It generates 100 gallons a day.
I usually fill a 32 gallon bucket and use it for my CP's and some of my orchids.
Peter.

[jm82792]

Where is a good place to buy one? I would also but the tds meter because my mom wants one and a cost split will happen most likely. First I would get the tds meter and check the water and if it works check it frequently to see any rise because it is from a spring and there are lots of variables.

[bttrfly777]

I have a ESU Coralife Pure-Flo II RO unit 24GPD TFC ESU # 76000. It's fantastic and economical. I only make 4 gallons a day so I didn't need to pay for one of those crazy 100 Gallon Per Day units. It's just a 24GPD and I bought it from jeanettebarr on Ebay. She sells the RO units for aquariums and it's the best price I've found and it works like a charm.