Thinking of buying an RO System

Hey Guys and Gals,

I am thinking of Buying an RO unit but wanted to understand how to use them first.

Do You just run tap water through the unit into say a water butt and use the water for water changes or does the water need to be treated/have certain elements buffered back up?

If re-buffering is required how do you know much and of what to add to the filtered water, Alternatively do some people mix ro with tap water in a water butt?

Any advice is greatly appreciated as the confusion over this point is all that has stopped me going for an ro system in the past and I get the general feeling that RO water is better for the plecs as I think in my area the Ph from the tap is fairly high if I remember rightly about 7.6 - 7.8.

Thanks

I do belive a supper post on RO will be made on this site quite soon
:woohoo::woohoo::clap::clap::whistle::whistle::lol::lol::thumbup::thumbup:

macvsog23 said:

I do belive a supper post on RO will be made on this site quite soon
:woohoo::woohoo::clap::clap::whistle::whistle::lol::lol::thumbup::thumbup:

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Would be very interested in reading that once done i to am toying with using RO/HMA

Likewise, I have a 5 stage RO Unit that I have had for over 18 months, never used it, as unsure what it does, or to test it to see if it is actually working correctly.

An article on this would be perfect.

I do understand this article is due soon
:whistle:

macvsog23 said:

I do understand this article is due soon
:whistle:

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Come on then Bob chop chop we are all waiting lol

Your the water expert lol

whilst waiting for bob to pull his finger out, i believe most people use a mix of RO and tap water, varying the amount of which ever one to get to the required parameters

I have actually fixed mine now so the RO waste feeds back through the HMA unit. I know Bob reckons its not possible but it is. The lowest my TDS will come out now is 225 but thats alot better than my tap water at 480 +.

Cheers

thegeeman

Need to buy a TDS meter to check my tap water. Off to look on ebay.

Zebra Pleco said:

Need to buy a TDS meter to check my tap water. Off to look on ebay.

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You might have low TDS in scotland here in bolton it comes out the tap at 120tds

thegeeman said:

I have actually fixed mine now so the RO waste feeds back through the HMA unit. I know Bob reckons its not possible but it is. The lowest my TDS will come out now is 225 but thats alot better than my tap water at 480 +.

Cheers

thegeeman

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Hi I am not saying it impossible just your get a rather hi TDS I am quite amazed you got it this low.
It is all due to changing the back pressure this controls the flow rate thus the TDS.
It is some thing I would never do but that is just because I am a bit worried about stuffing things up.

scatz said:

whilst waiting for bob to pull his finger out, i believe most people use a mix of RO and tap water, varying the amount of which ever one to get to the required parameters

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Finger is out mate I do think it is now up some thing else

macvsog23 said:

Finger is out mate I do think it is now up some thing else

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Yes it is:yes:

Sorry for the delay guys, Bob was waiting for me to put it up for him. here it is and worth waiting for

http://www.plecoplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8754

Great read thanks Bob.

How are we to know what TDS is right? what I mean is should it differ for certain plecs or is there a certain level that is about right for breeding most l numbers?

As if we know what region we need to be in in relation to tds I am guessing it is trial and error based upon the mix of tap water with ro i.e. once you about how much to mix this should be about the amount required everytime unless the tap water suddenly changes dramatically.

Also,

By mixing ro and tapwater to get the desired tds will this not also result in the ph varying quite a bit per water change?

As even if being very careful surely you cant mix the exact same amount of tap water to ro water at every water change? so surely any slight difference would potentially cause a difference in the ph which could cause problems in the tank for the plecs? I am guessing a little here to try to get a full understanding.

Thanks

mike0605 said:

Also,

By mixing ro and tapwater to get the desired tds will this not also result in the ph varying quite a bit per water change?

As even if being very careful surely you cant mix the exact same amount of tap water to ro water at every water change? so surely any slight difference would potentially cause a difference in the ph which could cause problems in the tank for the plecs? I am guessing a little here to try to get a full understanding.

Thanks

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This is why I use HMA and use a needle valve to mix it

macvsog23 said:

This is why I use HMA and use a needle valve to mix it

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I do the same.

Cheers

thegeeman

This might be of help to some people. Bob basic but it shows you how to use RO and HMA


Cheers

thegeeman

Looking at the image above then, so you add no chemicals or further vitamins to the water, like RO Right etc, it just goes straight into tank?

Yeap. I dont add anything back to the water at all. I just adjust the flow control on the outlet of the HMA which then mixes with the neat RO.

Cheers

thegeeman