What "exactly" is a RO filter?

[Yuri De Lima]

I know that RO stand for Reverse osmosis filter. I have seen this name in a bunch of places; here, in books I've read, catalogs..etc. But I still do not know exactly what it is. I know it filters out impurities from one's tap water.

So, how does it work?
How do you hook it up?
How do you operate and maintain it?
Is it necessary for any of the following, Fish only ST tank, Fish w/ Live Rock, Reef system?


Tankz,:grinyes:

Yuri

 

[Reefscape]

An RO unit is a unit which is attached into your mains water supply and is basically a series of filters that has water passed through them and the water is split two ways...One exit of the unit is for the pure water and goes to a collection container and the second exit is the polluted waste water.

It effectivly filters your tap water using by a method called reverse osmosis which produces a small quantity of pure RO water, and a largerquantity of waste water ( usually 1 gallon pure to 2 -3 gallons polluted ) which is in effect, the gunk and crap outta your tap water at home.

RO water has a very low mineral content which is what makes it best for out reefs. But, we do need to add minerals and trace elements back to teh water which is done when we add the salt.

Ro water has had all the elements removed which will cause nuisance algae growths in the tank like nitrates and phosphates to name a few.

Hooking it up is a reletivly simple process and this is acheived by using either a saddle clamp on out internal water system in the house, or by using a water hose attachment to an outside garden tap.

The are operated in many different ways. Some people have them connected directly to the aquarium with an autotop off device, whilst other will simply have the water going into a rubber maid or water butt and then used from there..the only real maintence needed for an RO unit membrane replacement and flushing.

In my personal opinion, it is needed for all marine systems..

Hope this info helps you a little and maybe other will be able to expand on what i have said...

Any more questions, just shout up...

Niko

 

[SigPiPup]

As an addition to Niko's excellent explanation....

Reverse osmosis is a separation process that uses pressure to force a solvent through a membrane that retains the solute on one side and allows the pure solvent to pass to the other side. More formally, it is the process of forcing a solvent from a region of high solute concentration through a membrane to a region of low solute concentration by applying a pressure in excess of the osmotic pressure. This is the reverse of the normal osmosis process, which is the natural movement of solvent from an area of low solute concentration, through a membrane, to an area of high solute concentration when no external pressure is applied. The membrane here is semipermeable, meaning it allows the passage of solvent but not of solute.

It's from wikipedia, but it seems accurate to me. I don't think that I could have put it into words quite so eloquently.

 

[Yuri De Lima]

Once you connect the unit(RO filter), it must remain connected? Or could I connect it, collect the amount of water which I will need to start tank/ whater changes and then disconnect it back? Would that be a problem?

Tankz, :grinyes:

Yuri.

 

[DarkSoul]

Once you connect the unit(RO filter), it must remain connected? Or could I connect it, collect the amount of water which I will need to start tank/ whater changes and then disconnect it back? Would that be a problem?

Tankz, :grinyes:

Yuri.

its much easier to leave it connected, and have a faucet on it.... they do NOT produce water on demand though. If you turned on a faucet that was connected directly to the RO output, you would only get little dribbles.

You need a water storage tank of some kind, and usually its much much easier to just shell out the dough for a pressurized accumulator tank, instead of buying pumps, and float switches for a non-pressurized container.

I'm going WAY over the top with mine.
I have a saddle valve on my hot and cold water lines, that feed into a single one. The water temp is a constant 80F. This will help the unit produce more water (up to its rated capacity) My TDS is fairly low to begin with (100ppm) which further helps the unit produce its rated quantity of water.
Then I will also be purchasing an Aquatec 8842-2N01-S424 pump, to boost the feed pressure to 120PSI, which, if it doesn't explode, should even further assist my unit in producing its 100GPD as well as wasting MUCH less water.
for every gallon of pure water produced, roughly 10 gallons goes directly down the drain.

it will also be pre-purified by a UV sterilizer before even going into the membrane..... why would I do this knowing that even virii in water would be filtered out by the membrane? Because even though its not really a worry, virii trapped on the membrane could survive and eventually grow through to the other side of the membrane, being released into the "pure" water.

im not actually worried about it, but hey why not right?

 

[Yuri De Lima]

Those RO units in your signature, are they any good? How come they cost a lot less than others?

Found this are www.drsfostersmith.com Price= $36.99
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=4484&N=2004+113775

Can they be used to filter out water to put in a 24g Aquapod reef system?

Could one just use tap water with dechlorination liquid and store the water for a week before used? Is it dangerous?

Tankz, :grinyes:

Yuri.