Best RO/DI with Drinking water device

[mling]

I am now convinced that I should get a RO/DI water conditioner for me reef tank. I know these things are not cheap so I would like to kill two birds with one stone. What is a good RO/DI water conditioner that can aslo double as a drinking water conditioner ?
Does the drinking water taste weird ?

[Paidbychrist0825]

all i can tel you this early on a sunday is that the water will taste awesome. its like you havent had water till youve had RO/DI.

[Macbeth417]

mling:
In this case a great deal of the units are exactly the same. What really matters is the cartridge media. As long as your unit uses a good 1-mircon Sediment Cartridge a 1-micron Carbon Block such as a Matrikx, Dow or Desal ROs (I recommend the DOW TFC 50-75gpd due to the higher rejection rate) you are set. When it comes to DI, they are pretty standard (just comes down to whether or not you want color changing media or you want a refillable cartridge and extra resin. I use a color change). Outside of insuring you have quality media the rest is really just bells and whistles. In my opinion the optimum system are the 4 stage units that have a Sediment filter passing into a Carbon/Carbon-Sediment filter then into a high rejection TFC (CTA membranes will pass on chlorine TFC will be destroyed by it so make sure you get carbon stage before the TFC or if you go with CTA, which is rare, use a Carbon after it) and finally passes through DI resin.... and out pops 0tds water.
So all that being said, Get a good base 4 stage unit and TDS meter to make sure it is always setup right and the gage when the membranes are exhausting (this will depend heavily on your starting TDS) and you are all set. A simple Hana hand held TDS meter works fine (this is what I use), though inline ones are nice as you can read input and output TDs.
Such as this unit from Aquatic Reef Systems:

http://www.aquaticreefsystems.com/images/oceanusclearmain.gif


Most places sell kits for you RO/DI systems that come with a storage tank and a little J tube faucet that install right under the ole' sink.
http://www.aquaticreefsystems.com/images/drinkingwaterkit.jpg *1

Welp hope that answered your question a little.

-Erik :-D

[tnguy86]

okay
i haven't posted in a while, but here goes
de-ionized water has no ions, hence will only make you thirsty and dehydrated. you might as well drink salt water.

[Aquaman]

We have a large RO/DI Culligan unit at work that purifies water for a waterjet cutting operation. When the unit was setup the Technician instructed us not to use the water for drinking purposes. I agree with tnguy86. Not only does it remove Ions but it also removes most minerals in the water that your body is used to getting from tap water. We use a stainless steel enclosure for waterjet cutting because stainless will not rust but the RO/DI water still leaches minerals out of the stainless over time. The stainless becomes pitted from constantly being sprayed with RO/DI water. We also caught a guy at work using the water to make his morning coffee, poor guy couldn't figure out why he was constantly heading to the toilet. I guess it can give you the S@%s. I agree that tap water is not the best thing for a saltwater setup but I for one am not sold on RO/DI water as being an absolute must have. Last time I looked I saw thousands of fish in the ocean living without RO/DI!! I may be wrong but atleast I know it's working for me. I just using water that is purified through a simple canister filter that I have. After seeing first hand what RO/DI does to stainless steel, I can only imagine what it does to your stomach over time. Good luck!