RO Reality nuts and bolts of getting started

[troi]

I am in a situation where I should really go to RO water but I have no idea what I would be getting into with my own unit. We use RO from the store for cooking, drinking, washing hair and so forth so I am looking to set up a system to accommodate those needs as well as water changes for five aquaria from 10 gal to 29 gal each.

I do not own the house but have an accommodating landlord so I think I can tweak some plumbing if necessary. Questions: Is there a way to put in an in-line RO set up or do I need a collection tank? Can I backflush RO filters as the ads suggest? Water is almost hard enough to walk on. Do I need pumps to lift water into a storage tank? House pressure is good. How big a tank to I need for storage? Do the automatic shutoff valves work?

Or do I need better questions for a useful response?

I am getting very tired of hauling water and the tanks don't get changed often enough.

troi

[MatsP]

I havn't got pictures to post right now, but I have two 25g storage tanks [and those hold a bit more than 25g, since they are actually designed to have a float valve and a bunch of other things attached to them and a bit more "space" at the top - I recon it's closer to 40g fully filled]. It is similar to this.

To get water out of there, I use a pump that does 3500 liter per hour (about 100gph) - but the tanks are also "on stilts", so they sit (bottom) about shoulder-hight on a 6'3" person, so for small amounts of water, the pump isn't really necessary [in fact, it only became necessary when I put another rack of tanks in, where the top tank is above the top waterline of the tanks].

I doubt you will be able to find a "inline" RO system that is sufficient to supply you with water for washing your hair or some such. Even drinking water RO systenms have small reservoirs to hold a few liters/a couple of gallons or so.

If you have really hard water, then you may want to oversize the "gallons per day" by a bit, as they tend to produce more water in the conditions where the water is soft.

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Mats

[OldMan]

An in-line RO is out of the question in terms of cost and maintenance for a home setting. On the other hand, I bought a tank type system for my home and installed it about 5 years ago. In terms of modifying plumbing, you will need to make a connection to a cold water pipe and another connection to the drain off a sink. The RO unit will mount on the side of the cabinet under a sink and I found the best place to mount the storage tank was in a corner cabinet near the sink. I put it in the corner where the cabinet is almost never really used because it is so hard to get to. The RO faucet mounts in a hole in the top of the sink so you will need a way to create that hole.
Advice: You will need a system rated for much higher flow than you would expect because the ratings are at an ideal system pressure and are at warm temperatures. When it is cold outside, expect maybe 2/3 as much water as during summer and you can almost count on the pressure not being at the ideal setting. What that means is that the 100 gallon per day unit may give you a real world 50 GPD. The 3 gallon tank that comes with a typical unit will easily fit into a kitchen cabinet but the 10 gallon they sell as an add on might be a good option if you have a place for it.
Do not buy a DI unit with the RO. Since you need some minerals in your water and your fish also need some, the last polishing effect of a DI to remove the last scraps of minerals means you must add back in those minerals or must mix the RO with tap water. There is no need to pay for the DI resin and then just turn around and put the minerals back in at additional cost. Be aware that an RO will waste more water down that drain connection than it supplies to the RO faucet by several times over. If you can find an RO with an automatic shutoff, that shutoff will reduce the amount of wasted water but will not eliminate it, the high concentration water created by the RO process must go somewhere.
For aquarium use, I start placing lots of water into covered 5 gallon buckets a couple of days ahead of my water changes so that I have enough ready on water change day to mix with my tap water to the desired concentration of minerals. With a total of 300 gallons in my tanks, no RO would ever give me enough water in a short time to do all the water changes the same day without storing a few buckets ahead of time.

[troi]

Thanks folks. Mats, it looks like the cistern you linked to is a UK product, but I suspect here in water Hell storage tanks are pretty easy to come by. Do you just run the RO into the storage tank? It sounds a bit easier than storing buckets around.

Water pressure here is incredibly good year round, except with the pipes freeze, that is, but I will expect a reduction in flow anyway.

I am not sure if I want to mix with tap water or not. Even at half and half, my tanks grow an amazing array of algae quickly. Our phosphates must be off the charts--I've been afraid to ask the water company. Maybe one quarter RO? I like the idea of DI with amount of mineral (and kind) but not taking out just to put back in is a point.

So far, no uranium in the city water supply although outlying communities have had a problem.

troi

[MatsP]

It is a UK product, and yes, here we do have a lot of these products because water pressure in our 100+ years old water system tends to be rather low, and instead of the town getting together and building a water-tower for shared usage, every household tends to have it's own tank in the loft to provide pressure for showers and bath taps, etc.

But any suitable water container would be fine - some people use old aquariums - as long as it holds water, it doesn't matter what it looks like. You may want to paint the sides so that you don't get algae growing in it.

And yes, I just let the RO drip straight into it. I have an overflow pipe that goes to the drain, should it fill up too much.

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Mats

[troi]

We are rural and some areas have contaminated water, other areas have to drill 1000 ft or more to reach the water table, so water hauling and storing are common. Our systems aren't old (we're a frontier area, wild west well into the 20th century) but poorly planned and constructed. Fortunately one thing thing this town has done right as far as water goes it to put in two big storage tanks up the mesa so the pressure is good. I see water storage tanks in the beds of pickup trucks, presumably for delivery, all the time.

Getting the water OUT of the building is a bit more of a problem. Many of the sewer pipes are clogged with Chinese Elm roots, which seek any water they can find in the desert.

troi