DIY passive RO generator

I'll refrain from commenting on Navy distilling systems that I operated for 22 yrs....no way is it purer than RO systems.

But we liked the taste of JP-5 in the water... and the food...and...

Mark
 
After some experimentation I can now confirm that use of painters clear thick Visqueen $5 for about 50 SF, is effective in drastically reducing evaporation in dry climates, Saves on chilling and heating cost, and generates for me about 1/2 gallon of purified water (PW) daily per 4 square feet of tank surface area and for me that comes out to about 10 gallons of RO per-day without the use of power or equipment. This method PW generator has been around for a bout 100 years

I agree with the general sentiment in this thread, but I have another question. How do you go from .5gal per 4 sq. ft per day to 10gal a day generated? That indicates that you have 80 sq ft of tank surface you are collecting from. That tank looks like a standard 55 which has a surface area of 4 sq ft.
 
I agree with the general sentiment in this thread, but I have another question. How do you go from .5gal per 4 sq. ft per day to 10gal a day generated? That indicates that you have 80 sq ft of tank surface you are collecting from. That tank looks like a standard 55 which has a surface area of 4 sq ft.
Actually is a guesstimate and includes all my tanks totaling 1200 gallons. I just know that Im not having to do bucket brigade every other day using either RO with a TDS of 30 PPM at $0.25 a gallon to stave off sky-rocking TDS, or tap water at 700 PPM TDS and watch my O2 levels drop from 8% to 6% as TDS quickly climbs above 1200 PPM. This solution has provided me a substantial drop in TDS even though evaporation is still occurring in the form of purified water vapor, that water vapor is recaptured by collecting and condensing on the plastic and drips back into the tank pure enough to drink 0 to 2 PPM. The same basic theory used on shipboard evaporation systems for sweet water, but of course they were designed completely different, goodness know I would never have allowed Seamen Rbishop to get tangled up in all that plastic lol:joke: Nice lad.
 
Check back in about a month or two when the plastic has a nice buildup of green algea then we can add Nitrate reducing to the title as well ;).

Not quite sure how sealed the plastic is but aren't you a bit concerned about the buildup of organic gasses? Your tank is going to smell like somebody farted in an elevator........

Your still going to get some evaporative loss, not sure how much, as the water that collects on the top of the plastic is still subject to the same factors as the tank water.

Your claim that evaporative water is cleaner the RO water fails to address that the evaporative water is exposed to any and all contaminates found in the air in your house. These contaminates can and will collect on the poly itself. In cases of mold and bacteria, they can also collect and multiply if the poly is not cleaned often.
 
Don't worry dc0gnet0 about the algae, all of my aquariums are positioned to use controlled sunlight at right angles to the Visqeen. This is where 90% of my lighting comes from free, another silly idea that works remember. This is simply a no cost solution that works for those that need one, you obviously don't need a solution and therefore cant see it, and no amount of argument can change that fact. As the saying goes, "you can lead a horse to purified water but you cannot make him drink":chillpill:;)
 
It's not a RO generator...plain and simple. There is no Reverse Osmosis taking place Mr. Naval Physicist. I beleive the title clearly says:

DIY passive RO generator


In realtion to the tank water itself, there is also no purification taking place. Your merely squeezing a lemon and then re-injection the juice back into the same lemon. As far as saving water due to evaporative loss, I good fitting lid would be just as effective. Your better of planting a tomato garden, and watering your garden with the tank water when you do water changes. And your fish will love you for it. ;)
 
This is simply a no cost solution that works for those that need one, you obviously don't need a solution and therefore cant see it, and no amount of argument can change that fact. As the saying goes, "you can lead a horse to purified water but you cannot make him drink":chillpill:;)

You haven't made a single argument. You've simply said "it works!" and ignored all arguments as to why it doesn't work. At this point its actually getting quite sad. Not sure how you manage so much DIY when you obvious have no idea what the hell you are doing to begin with.

Case in point, 'controlled sunlight at right angles'? It's called a window. It's been used for lighting rooms for about as long as people have been building structures to live in. Its been the common way to light tanks without dedicated lighting for about as long as aquariums have been kept. Algae simply need light, moisture, and nutrients. It may not get enough nutrients to grow in this case, but don't think that limiting light is going to stop it if the nutrients are there. Limiting lighting is usually used to slow it enough so that algae eating life in the tank can keep up.
 
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