Down & Dirty Shopping Guide for Your First SW Tank
- Thread starter Grins
- Start date
what are thoughts on this? . . . http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4395+4484&pcatid=4484
All this is, is a standard tap filter, they appear to make it sound like it can do all the job that an RO Unit provides, even DI. However, at the cost and lack of filters, i cant see that this will compare with any RO Unit and such would not recomend or waste ( har har waste...RO water waste...oh sheesh, my talent is wasted...oh...har har...wasted...nevermind ) money buying one, put this towards a proper RO unit.
Niko
Niko
I'm not sure if I've done enough research on this topic, but what research I have done is showing only RO units that require a professional plumber or someone that knows what they're doing in that area (which I definitely don't . . . I don't even know how to use a plunger :headshake2: ). That's not an option. The landlord won't allow that type of thing and I also know I won't be here for more than a year after I get my masters degree. So, pretty much I should keep buying the water from the LFS then. I won't lie, I was hoping that little thing would do the job temporarily, but I'm not going to waste the money. Thanks!
Well...i cannot say that it "cant" do the job, the question has to be asked though..." How well can it do the job? "
RO units are very easy to install. All you need to do is buy a pipe saddle that has the water pipe fawcet connector on them, which most all do. Takes about 5 mins to install by your self, connect the RO unit, and away you go...Certainly dont need any plumbing skills to fit one of those mate...
Niko
RO units are very easy to install. All you need to do is buy a pipe saddle that has the water pipe fawcet connector on them, which most all do. Takes about 5 mins to install by your self, connect the RO unit, and away you go...Certainly dont need any plumbing skills to fit one of those mate...
Niko
haha okay, that sounds easy enough. I just read a few RO units' "more information" links and all said something about a professional plumber. Thanks for the tip!
I happen to have owned this for a couple years now and it actually works very well. It's basically three filter pads, about 3" of carbon and about 8"-10" DI resin all in a 4" diameter tube. The cold water flows from the bottom up and takes about 1-2 hours to filter 5 gallons of water. Yup. Extremely slow. You then add Ph Adjuster and Electro-right to adjust the ph and add back the electrolytes and minerals lost through the DI process. I used it back when I first started my 29g freshwater planted aquarium and it worked wonders! My plants where growing extremely fast, pearling, and flowering without the addition of ferts or co2, and my dwarf gouramis where breeding like crazy! The only downside to the system was the filter costs. One filter would last me 1 or 2 months. At $20 a filter + shipping, it ended up costing me about $120 - $200 a year on filters alone. :nono: Long story short, money got tight and I had to stop using it and switched to tap water. Soon after everything went to hell. :devil: 90% of my plants died as well as 80% of my fish. Also got a horrible algae problem that I have been battling since Jan of this year. Your better off buying one of the more expensive units. You can get a full set of filters for under $25.00 and they all last about or at least a year before needing replacement. I'm investing on a $100 - $200 RO/DI unit sometime in the near future.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for all that great valuable info Grins!
I've updated this list a bit and posted it in the new blog section. It can be found here: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/blog.php?b=21u=71655
