Which is more important? RO or DI?

[AZDesertRat]

Regardless of how much or how little water you make, change the prefilter and carbon block at 6 month intervals and disinfect the system at that time. Since these two filters have no effect on TDS you really have no way of know if they "last longer" or not except maybe pressure drop using a pressure gauge and chlorine breakthru using a low range chlorine test kit. Its easier to stick with 6 months as you can see.

Try to make 5-10 gallons of water at a time and use the unit at least every 10-14 days to keep it fresh. Its probably harder on a unit when it is not used enough rather than used frequently, it gives nasties a chance to grow inside them.

[MizTanks]

What a well of information. Thank you DR! Sounds like I'll be drinking RO/DI water too drinking fresh water to keep the unit fresh-lol

[Paulo]

Most people do not like the taste of the water that goest thru DI. SO usually they T off water to drink before the DI unit fyi.

[AZDesertRat]

I'd drink RO only rather than RO/DI. It has a bland, blah taste and isn't refreshing.
A simple John Guest tee and a couple ball valves or a three way ball valve will give you the option of RO only or RO/DI depending upon the use. If you were to get a drinking water kit it would look something like the diagram here:

http://www.spectrapure.com/huds/4-ST...K-RODI-NAG.pdf

Notice the check valve seperating the RO/DI and plain RO sides.

[MizTanks]

OMG am I supposed to be able to read that? lmao! What ever happened to keeping it simple? UGH!

[binford4000]

I'll be using it for tank water only, at 5g's weekly or biweekly. Does this not make a difference? Oh and it'll be attached to the faucet tap. We have great water here so I'm sure the filters will last longer then usual.

Have you tested the water your useing now? When we lived up north our city water was under 80 ppm.Talk to your water department they can give you the levels.It's best to know what your getting befor you try to fix it. I also like the unit Hedi suggested.It's very easy to buy more then you need in r/o di's. 0 to 20 ppm is still 0 to 20 ppm no matter how much you spent on the unit lol

[AZDesertRat]

There is no such thing as getting too much in a RO/DI. You either get one thats reef quality or one that is not.
When you get a reef quality system you get 0 TDS not 0-20 TDS. The advantage of buying a better system is lower overall cost of ownership due to reduced maintenance requirements and filter/DI changes. Yes you may pay a little more upfront but it is returned many times over the life of the system.

80 TDS out of the tap is very good but still not reef quality and it would require a RO/DI to get that to 0 TDS. You could do it with DI alone but the cost of resin replacements or recharging would soon exceed the cost of the reef quality RO/DI in the beginning.

[MizTanks]

I've decided that until I can afford to purchase a unit I'll be pre-treating my makeup/top off water using Marc Weiss: Phosphate+Silicate Magnet. Not a fix for sure but it's something. And it wont leach.

[CalmSeasQuest]

I've decided that until I can afford to purchase a unit I'll be pre-treating my makeup/top off water using Marc Weiss: Phosphate+Silicate Magnet. Not a fix for sure but it's something. And it wont leach.

Marc Weiss: Phosphate+Silicate Magnet - INGREDIENTS: Iron, calcium, magnesium, selenium, molygdenum, copper. Derived from ferment of: Sugar cane molasses, vitamins, yeasts

I'd do so research on Marc Weiss products Jamie - they do not have the best rep. Personally, based on the contents, I don't think I would use it in my tank. The active ingredient is likely GFO - the rest looks like snake oil to me.

The goal is 0 TDS - NOTHING but H20 and certainly not derivatives from fermented sugar cane. I also would have a problem trusting a firm that adds copper to a compound used in a reef tank when they can't spell Molybdenum.

[MizTanks]

Ok I'm beyond frustration here! I need to treat my water with something. If not this then what? Suggestions? And please don't say an RO/DI unit.