RO units?

[Benno]

Have been looking on ebay and have noticed RO units going for under 100 bucks. Would it be worth me buying one of these to prepare my water for keeping discus, i am not looking to breed them at this stage so am wondering if it is worth buying one or am i better off to just filling up my water change drum and tweaking the parametres in that untill its right for my fish? I am not keeping discus yet just trying to gather as much info as possible before i take the plunge. thanks in advance. Benno

[BobbyBruce]

Hi Benno,

I bougth an adjustable (variable TDS meter), RO unit throut psifilters.com.au earlier this year. I had a good talk to Peter on the phone (check contact details on the site) if you want to talk to him about choices.

I have no choice up here, the water is way too hard for anything requiring softwater. I dial up about 60 TDS and I prepare my change water in my old 200 ltr tank. Basically the RO water with Wild Almond (Terminalia Cattapa), leaves for tannins.

Regards,

Bob

[swampy1972]

I don't own an RO unit but from what I've read they are heavy water users - about 3:1 waste to usable water. Just something to consider if water use is an issue for you.

[BobbyBruce]

Sorry Benno,

Forgot about water useage which is something you would need to consider in SA. For each 20 ltr of RO I am getting I am also producing 30 ltr of grey water, so about 1/1.5.

Regards,

Bob

[Hollowman]

By piggy-backing another membrane you can reduce waste, you can also buy booster pumps for poor water pressure which also help. I get a 1:1 ratio now.

[scoob]

Hi Hollowman

That is a good idea, I purchased a filter from PSI filters as well, I have emailed Peter to see if it was easy to connect another membrane to my unit. Thanks for the tip.

Have you used RO water in a planted tank ? I changed 50% of my water in my planted tank with RO water last night, added a bit of seachem equilibrium see if the plants do beter.

Cheers
Mike

[scoob]

Hi Hollowman

That is a good idea, I purchased a filter from PSI filters as well, I have emailed Peter to see if it was easy to connect another membrane to my unit. Thanks for the tip.

Have you used RO water in a planted tank ? I changed 50% of my water in my planted tank with RO water last night, added a bit of seachem equilibrium see if the plants do beter.

Cheers
Mike

[Benno]

Thanks for all of the replies guys, very helpful. Mite not bother with the RO unit, sounds rather costly and im not looking to breed or keep any wildcaughts atm so mite leave it. cheers, Ben