State of the art RO unit!

[Ben]

I picked up my Merlin RO unit today and i am soo happy!
It does 2000L per day and has %93 retention meaning only %7 waste!
Which is great in this time of drought.

I am stick to death of crappy water with Flouride my main concern. After doing some extensive research with my water its full of rubish! Money will be saved as I am using Seachems Prime in my 2000L water storage tank.

It will be set up this week with some more photo's. 8-)

[fishgeek]

how can it have such a low rejection rate? only 7% waste is pretty amazing

do you klnow what the membrane technology is?

[Ben]

http://www.gamurdock.com/gam/out/GROUPS/RO-Systems-Merlin-RO-System.htm

Interesting question Andrew, to be honest I am not sure but have a look at the above link. What I can tell you is it has 2 ro membranes as apposed to 1 like most of the other ro's on the market.

[fishgeek]

looks like a standard rejection rate on the performance data and is a tfc membrane which is relatively standard nowdays

either someone has mislead you or maybe tere was a misunderstanding

from the performance data supplied at your link
SYSTEM PERFORMANCE RATING: Product Water Production: 744 Gallons Per Day (2,815 Liters Per Day) Average System Recovery: 23.80% Average System Efficiency: 23.80% Measured at 50 psi (3.44 Bar), 77°F (25°C), 750 mg/L Total Dissolved Solids according to NSF/ANSI 58. Average System Recovery is the percentage of the influent water to the membrane portion of the system that is available to the user as reverse osmosis treated water when operated as designed (without a pressurized storage tank). Average System Efficiency rating is the percentage of the influent water to the system that is available to the user as reverse osmosis treated water under operating conditions that approximate typical daily usage. System efficiency rating is identical to recovery rating when the system is tested without a storage tank or when the storage tank is bypassed.

approx 80% rejection and that is at optimum pressure levels, do you know what you tap pressure is ? 40psi is quite high, and higher pressure will achieve better filtration
most r/o struggle to operate below 35 psi

andrew

[Ben]

Very interesting, the wholesaler where it comes from say's it has %93 retension.

Removing the fluoride (ave %93.7) is the main reason why I purchased this big RO unit.

On another note Andrew, what do you know about fluoride and its affects on fish. Its a very controversal issue all over the world with it bieng put in out tap water.

My area (mitcham) has .85 MG/L.

http://www.yvw.com.au/NR/rdonlyres/6539BBB9-C5FD-4177-8960-278F47E72EFD/0/ApprovedFinalDWQannualreport.pdf

[fishgeek]

as for flouride my knowledge is a big fish specific nothing

the rate you have been quoted is for the molecules not the water

ie with any r/o between 85-95 % of anything (well almost) will be rejected at the membrane stage

this needs to be washed away with water though otherwise it physcially blocks the holes in the membrane
so the water rejection is high to wash those particles away, although not as high as the % of molecules still generally 80%


do you know whether the r/o membranes are in series or parralel

andrew

[norto]

Ben,
Where abouts did you purchase the unit?
Regards,
Norto.

[Ben]

Amazing Amazon.

Andrew ro membranes are parralel.

cheers
Ben

[Merrilyn]

Ben, flouride has been added to our tap water for the last thirty years.

I remember all sorts of things being blamed on the fluoride, like defects in human infants as well as stopping fish breeding.

Don't think any of it was ever proven.

[apistodiscus]

as far as I am aware there are no studies that conclusevily show that flouride has any detremental effects on fish.

If your water is soft enough for your fish, I'd just run it through an HMA filter or through activated carbon. Probably a hell lot cheaper than using an RO unit. I presume you are paying for your water by consumption in Australia

[Ben]

As I am aware aswell, there has been no studies in regards to fluoride and its affects on fish, but It is proven that fluoride is a poison! Even though the legal amount that is allowed to be used in Australia's tap water is 1.0 mg/l basically there is a tiny amunt of poison in the water.

Fluoride has been banned in many countries over the world so if it can be banned in a country I dont need any further proof that having fluoride in water is or can be bad for fish in some degree.

Simply do a google search and you will find lots of infomation that having fluoride does not do us humans much benifet.

Remember when Crocky/Brad was pumping out the discus in Northen Victoria? was this sheer luck or simply they dont have fluoride in his water?

[apistodiscus]

Don't believe everything you read on the net. There are many scaremongers out there.I just had a lokk at this one http://fluoridealert.org/50-reasons.htm . Whatever gives you a kick. I had this discussion with my GP and there is absolutely proven scientific data that flouride in small doses is bad for you and I couldn't find any either in my field of expertise which is fresh water ecology. Or think about it this way. All the waste water that is run through waste water stations and returned to river/lakes and is not stripped of flouride. There is no evidence that any aquatic organisms suffer in the slightest.
At some stage all substances become toxic. It all depends on the level of concentration.

[seecuta]

thats exactly right. fluoride in large doses can kill you (do the math, probably work out to 2000 L or something along the lines). However the same applies to anything else, given a high enough consumption which in most cases is not humanly possible.

As far as im aware, fluoride in small doses is beneficial for our health, hence it was introduced into our water. Lack of, on the other hand can be detrimental.

An interesting story, water itself can kill you when taken in HUGE quantities (true story!!!).

[Ben]

apistodiscus do they use fluoride in your home town?

I would like to see or hear of more research on its affects on aquatic animals with fish more so in mind.

Can a male fish's sperm be affected by fluoride as it goes from its ovipositor to the eggs?

Can the development of fish eggs be affected on certain fish species when fluoride is at 1.0 mg/L?

Can fluoride prevent fish from bieng induced to spawn? these are my questions if anyone can help!

[Ben]

Here is a good read!

http://www.fluoridealert.org/

[apistodiscus]

apistodiscus do they use fluoride in your home town?

I would like to see or hear of more research on its affects on aquatic animals with fish more so in mind.

Can a male fish's sperm be affected by fluoride as it goes from its ovipositor to the eggs?

Can the development of fish eggs be affected on certain fish species when fluoride is at 1.0 mg/L?

Can fluoride prevent fish from bieng induced to spawn? these are my questions if anyone can help!

Yes, there is flouride in all public water supply in Ireland. I'm breeding some very delicate Apistos in my local tapwater and never had any problems with it. Flouride in low concentration as it is used in drinking water does not affect aquatic annimals. You seem to have the preception that flouride actually kills the bacteria that cause tooth decay. It doesn't but strengthens the tooth itself against acid.

[fishgeek]

ben how have you found the unit?

andrew

[Ben]

I have found it really well except for the fact i did make a mikstake in its retention! its 3to1.

It really pushes the ro water through which is what i wanted taking under 20 hours to fill my 2000L water storage tank.

I set it up with a seperate 1 micron sediment filter as the area i am in has a lot of fine silt in the water.

i will take some photo's of it in operation soon.