Hooking up a RO unit and recommendation

[lake_tuna]

I'm interested in a RO unit, but I have a water softener (I use salt as it's cheaper), and I don't use softened water for shrimps. I tried it once, and they freaked out for a while, so I stopped immediately. I'll probably need to hook it up outside; do you guys think it will be OK leaving this unit out? I'm also not sure how I'd dispense the water from the unit. I guess I'll need to look into that too or ask someone to install some kind of fixture for me.

Also, is there a popular RO unit among shrimp and fish keepers?

 

[dbosman]

You don't list your location, so the question of having an RO unit outside is up to you and your weather.
Usually if you have a water softener, the RO unit goes after the softener as that will have swapped out a lot of the harder to filter minerals in favor of sodium. RO by itself isn't good for most creatures. pH can fluctuate wildly. You'd want to use some buffering or a mix of hard and RO water.

Check out the videos at Bulk reef Supply http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/brs-tv
By the time you finish a couple you'll be a lot more knowledgeable about RO pieces and what they do and what pieces you actually need.

 

[lake_tuna]

I'm in Southern California. Pretty mild weather.

So, it is typical to reverse-osmosis the softened water (I'm assuming I have the order correct when you say "RO unit goes after the softener")? Then, I don't even need to put this outside and I can just keep in by my shrimp tank. I'm not interested in keeping an ideal softness or hardness of the water. I wasn't sure if the "reverse osmosis" unit literally performed reverse osmosis (i.e. remove everything in the water except H2O) including the sodium.

I'm just interested in using RO water to refill my tanks (and use regular water or slightly RO-mixed water for water changes). I'm using water from the outside, and it is really getting crusted on my glass walls. I'll take a look at the link later at home. Thanks!

 

[lake_tuna]

dbosman, I checked out some of the videos in your link. The RO unit one is very informative. Thanks!

 

[lake_tuna]

Does anyone use a water holder of some sort to hold a large amount of water that you can readily dispense for your fish tanks?

 

[dbosman]

That is a very popular option.
Make sure the container is food safe. Too many trash containers have XXXXXXcide in the plastic these days to take a chance on them.
If you use the search feature on Craig's list and look for rain barrel, you will probably turn up someone selling empty juice concentrate barrels.