ro/di purifier

ghostrida3 · 03/17/2007, 03:35 PM

ime trying to decide on purchasing the aquarium pharmaceuticals tap water purifier or buying a slightly more expensive ro filter. how many gallons do u usually get out of the ro filters before u have to change the filter material, also how expensive is the filter material?

AZDesertRat · 03/17/2007, 03:51 PM

A good RO membrane preceded by a good quality prefilter and carbon block should easily last 3 to 5 years or longer. Prefilters and carbon block are changed every 6 months at a cost of $10 to $15 tops. You should really go RO/DI for best results and DI resin is entirely dependent on your tap water TDS and how well you RO functions, but its normally in the 150 to 500+ gallon range per DI refill.
A Tap Water Purifier on the other hand might last 25 gallons if you are very lucky and the water will still not be the same as RO or RO/DI. Refills will soon eat you up if you go this route, its not cheaper by any means.
A good RO/DI will cost about $150 with $30 to $45 a year or so to maintain (filter and resin replacements). The Tap filter may be on $30 or $40 to buy but at $20 a pop for replacement cartridges every 25 or 30 gallons of water it will soon pass up the RO/DI. Whatever you buy get a handheld TDS meter to test water quality.

03/17/2007, 03:35 PM	#1
ghostrida3 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: marietta, ga Posts: 477	ro/di purifier ime trying to decide on purchasing the aquarium pharmaceuticals tap water purifier or buying a slightly more expensive ro filter. how many gallons do u usually get out of the ro filters before u have to change the filter material, also how expensive is the filter material?

03/17/2007, 03:51 PM	#2
AZDesertRat Moved On Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: NW Phoenix Posts: 16,621	A good RO membrane preceded by a good quality prefilter and carbon block should easily last 3 to 5 years or longer. Prefilters and carbon block are changed every 6 months at a cost of $10 to $15 tops. You should really go RO/DI for best results and DI resin is entirely dependent on your tap water TDS and how well you RO functions, but its normally in the 150 to 500+ gallon range per DI refill. A Tap Water Purifier on the other hand might last 25 gallons if you are very lucky and the water will still not be the same as RO or RO/DI. Refills will soon eat you up if you go this route, its not cheaper by any means. A good RO/DI will cost about $150 with $30 to $45 a year or so to maintain (filter and resin replacements). The Tap filter may be on $30 or $40 to buy but at $20 a pop for replacement cartridges every 25 or 30 gallons of water it will soon pass up the RO/DI. Whatever you buy get a handheld TDS meter to test water quality.