My RO device for my near future marine tank.

msouth468

msouth468

Fighting for the little guy
Nov 29, 2005
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couchpotatodx.proboards66.com
Looks nice. I was wondering if I could ask you a question. I am on a well and have a septic/leech field. I heard that these R/O systems wastes a lot of water and dumps it into your septic which would be bad for me on both ends especailly the septic side. Are you on town water & sewer? By the way the system looks pretty sweet I am jealous. One thing I noticed though is the saddle valve. I would say you should put a real valve in the water line instead of using the saddle valve. I have had one of those valves spring a leak on me and it is a bad thing. At least put it close to a shut off in case of a leak.

otherwise good luck!

Dharma
 
Well, to tell you the truth I'm not all that well educated on RO systems.

But from what I know they don't waste water. Sounds like what you heard about was some sort of pressure relief valve that bypassed into the septic tank. Which wouldn't hurt the septic just waste water. I live out in the country but I am connected to city water.

As for the saddle valve, I'm not going to use it. I will tie into the house system using a T-connector. And once I know the pressure in my system I will have to use a needle valve to adjust the pressure to the proper level.
 
Actually, RO systems do waste water. The feed water flows past a membrane. Some of the water passes through the membrane; this is the "good" purified water. The rest of the water flows along the membrane washing away the impurities - this is the "bad" or waste water, as it has a concentrated level of impurities. Usually the ratio of "good" water to "bad" water is ~1:3 or so, which means you generate 3 times as much waste water as good water. The waste water isn't necessarily bad, though, just not good for your aquarium (and I might not want to drink it). It can still be used for things like watering plants and such.
 
Ahh...I get it now. Thanks for that info. Strangly enough I was under the impresion that there would be no waste water during the production of my pure water. Instead a periodic "flush" of the system would be needed. Either way it doesn't matter I'm only using the RO system for my aquariums and nothing else.
 
I have this system

I have this exact system. I've had it installed for about 3 months now and it works great for me. Also, because there is no DI, we use it for our drinking water as well. It really tastes great and my tank has not had any problems.

I think it a good buy. It was for me.
 
I'm going to strickly use it for my aquariums. I've never been picky about my water. But for some reason my fish are :D
 
thanks for the info. I think I will try to figure out a way to drain the water outside initially somehow. I know that excess water is bad for leech fields as they will flush a lot of the beneficial bac away. Now once the holding tank of say 100 gallons is full then can I assume that there will be no more wasted water until I turn the water on? So if the most amount of water used at one time would be when the unit is first switched on and is filling the 100 gallon tank and wasting 300 gallons of water roughly. Mayby I should figure something out to let it drain outside then switch to the household drain afterwards or hold it somewhere for watering my plants. I know I am over worried about my leech field and all but better safe then sorry. ;) ANy input would be appreciated

Dharma
 
Hey dharmalism, if you run off well water then just run a dump line from your RO unit back into your well. I live out in the country but I am hooked up to city water. I'm going to find a way to tap my waste RO water back into my system. When I took Hydraulics in College I remember there was a way in a closed pressurized system to tape a line to a motor and send the rest back through the system. But, I can't remember, I have to go back to my books and try to find a way. Other wise I will just run a line into the well next to my house (it is used to water my cattle). But I really don't want to.

Oh, and I finally am going to recieve th RO unit in the mail. It took over three weeks for them to ship it. Probably due to the holiday rush.
 
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I have heard of people dropping it (waste water) into thier hot water tank, using it to water the garden, wash the car ect.

I just plumbed mine under my kitchen sink with the waste water going into the waste line
 
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