ebay aquasafe RO DI unites good buy?

[silence88]

ive been looking for an RO DI unite for a good price and found the aquasafe aquarium II unites on ebay i think the 100 GPD unites are $80 + 25 shipping to canada and sence iam not far from the border it should get there pretty quick, it also says canadian customers dont pay duty or brokage i think, but i just whant to make sure there an ok unite and good company before i order we have hard water and TDS is about 130 if that matters are the RO membranes and DI resine they have a good buy should i order some exteras wile at it? do you need a persure gauge we are on a well so no clorine either

[fewells]

I have used one with no problems. Most people on here will say don't get it. Just make sure you get a good ro membrane.

If you are on a well get a gauge as you may need a booster pump to get max performance out of the unit.

[silence88]

why dont get it because there are better ones out there or because its faulty in some way? one at the LFS costs at least $225 and it ships to canada for 110- it cant be that bad can it?

[cyber_ecco]

I have one and many people up here use them. Never heard any complaints.

[TwistedTiger]

Run for the hills, the RO/DI police are coming!!!! No kidding they'll be here shortly. There are better units for close to the same price but that one will do just fine. You can always upgrade things like membranes, filters and DI resin when it's time to replace them.

[fatboyjoe]

I bought one 3 1/2 years ago, no problems at all. it came with a pressure gage.I added a inline tds meter for like $25.00. I bought filters from them and from home depot. all ro units take the same filters, use the same parts like tubing, auto shut-offs and check valves. so you can get replacements practicaly anywhere. I get 0 tds from my unit. so you can pay $100.00 to get 0 tds or you can pay $300.00 or more to get 0 tds. it's totally up to you.

[cyber_ecco]

Silence88 where are you located in Canada? I know here in Van. they have group buys and they get them quite cheap. Aquasafe has a main office in Van. from what I understand.

[rbursek]

100gal per day leave something to be desirsed. A 75gpd is better, go to the sponsors Buckeyesupply or The filterguys, check prices email them, but if I remember right 100gpd is not as "clean water" as a 75.

[silence88]

cyber ecco iam about 20min past chillawack, i asked this question on canreef but thought i would ask here to get more responses before i ordered, do you mean they have group buys for the units or filters? i know they have an office in van they said they only do bissness off ebay or the internet and i wasent sure if the unit i whant is the same price there as on ebay there canada site sucks, sence i have an ebay acount i just finished getting a paypal acount so iam planing on ordering in the next few days unless someone convincess me otherwise iam just a littel hesitent sence ive never had one before and its kind of confuseing setting it up ect and i whant to make right choice all be it a cheaper one:)

[orb]

i had one, and for the price it wasn't too bad.

[Roland Jacques]

All RODIs can produce 0 TDS.

The main reason someone may want to buy a better RODI is efficiency. Which one will give me the cheapest water per gallon. For some people that not important. If you only use a little bit of water...

Carbon blocks filters can be $6 for 3000 gallon cartage, or $14 for a 20,000 gallan cartage, So... Same goes for RODIs. ( Carbon block rated at 3000 = 600 gallons of pure water. Prefilters, filter your waste water also)

I use a lot of water so picking the right RO saves me $200 a year.


I dont see the RODI you're talking about. But it probably has a nano membrane 90% rejection rate. you should at least get 96-98% rejection membrane otherwise you will spend 2-3 times more On DI resins.

A pressure gauge is a must have

[rjkrejci]

I've been using that unit for several months and love it!

I have well water (about 40PSI, no boost pump) that's etremely cold (around 40F) and I consistently get 0 tds with a 3:1 rejection rate. And the DI beads are still going strong (not really any color change to speak of)

I think the key is that this unit has an adjustable back-pressure valve, so you can adjust the rejection rate based on your circumstances. I ususally turn on the sink tap and adjust the reject stream to yield about 3 or 4:1 rejection rate (guestimated) and it gets me 0TDS every time.

Anyway, I'd get it again in a heartbeat.

[johnd4g]

I've been using the ebay Aquasafe 100gpd unit for about 4 years and its worked great. Just replace the filters about every 6 months and you'll be fine.

[reefcolors]

I've had the aquasafe 100 gpd unit for about 1 1/2 year and no problems here.

[dave2184]

I've had one since i started into reefs great unit for the price.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=12787&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500

[ellisz]

Typically the membrane is less efficient and the DI cartridge is a lot smaller. When I bought mine, they did not have clear canisters either. Other than that, I think they are decent. I bought mine about 5 years ago. I have since replaced the the little DI with a standard cartridge refillable Dual DI, replaced the 100 gpd membrane with a Filmtec 75 gpd, and added a pressure gauge.

I still think mine was a good buy. I even bought the case of filters from them. There are a lot of DI choices out there now though. Check some of the online vendors and do a price comparison. Most LFS won't be able to compete, IMO.

[AZDesertRat]

It is an OK drinking water system at best and nowhere near a reef quality system.
Look at the filters it contains:
1. 5 micron sediment- a good reef system will contain a 1 micron or less prefilter, 0.5 or 0.2 microns are even better and the best ones come with those.
2. A granular activated carbon filter- GAC has no place in a RO/DI system, it lasts about 300 total gallons before it is exhausted(thats 60 good gallons of RO or RO/DI and 240 gallons of waste). A good RO/DI system uses solid carbon blocks in low micron ranges. Only one single carbon block is necessary if its a Matrix Chlorine Guzzler type in a 0.5 or 0.6 micron range good for 20,000 total gallons of normally chlorinated or chloraminated water.
3. A 5 micron carbon block- See above, 5 micron carbons are good for a maximum of about 5,000 gallons of water not 20,000 like a good block.
4. A 100 GPD Applied Membranes membrane- This is the only good thing about the system- A 100 GPD Applied is comparable to a 75 GPD Dow Filmtec. Dow says 75 GPD at 50 psi which equals 90 gPD at 60 psi and 100 GPD at 65 psi. Applied says 100 GPD at 65 psi so its the same as 75 GPD at 50 psi. Both brands are 96-98% efficient off the shelf.
5. A very small highly inefficient low capacity 6 oz hollow tube type horizonntal DI filter- Good RO/DI units use a standard sized 10" vertical canister(just like all the other filters are in) which holds a refillable cartridge containing 20 ounces, yes 20 ounces of DI resin. Theflow through a vertical canister type is very efficient since it is a bottom up flow and all resin comes into contact with water. Horizontals short circuit or channel so not all resin is used and water slips by untreated.
6. A GAC final filter- A reef systems does not need nor do you want one of these, they ADD TDS back into the RO/DI water. They are there strictly for drinking water taste and odor and thats it. They use things like this to claim more "Stages" .

Don't get hung up on the number of stages, its what those stages contain that is important. For an RO system you need 3 stages, for an RO/DI you need 4.

There are a number of Reef Central Sponsors that build their own RO/DI units with true reef quality systems starting at about $150.

www.buckeyefieldsupply.com - look at their 75 GPD Premium
www.thefilterguys.biz - look at their Ocean Reef +1
www.spectrapure.com - The MaxCap is the number 1 reef system in the world
www.purelyh2o.com - look at the Optima series
www.airwaterice.com - look at the Typhoon III with the optional filter package
www.melevsreef.com - Melev is a reef hobbyist himself and understands the needs of a reef system

[silence88]

thanks AZdesertrat thats a lot of info, just to make sure on this but the aquasafe aquarium unit dosent have a GAC final filter after DI, i dont have any chlorine or anything in my water iam on a well so is the carbon filter realy that important?when i change out the filters can i just get a 1micron pre filter and replace the 5micron one? it also has three 6oz DI cartriges dos that make it any better?

[raynist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12018074#post12018074 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by silence88
thanks AZdesertrat thats a lot of info, just to make sure on this but the aquasafe aquarium unit dosent have a GAC final filter after DI, i dont have any chlorine or anything in my water iam on a well so is the carbon filter realy that important?when i change out the filters can i just get a 1micron pre filter and replace the 5micron one? it also has three 6oz DI cartriges dos that make it any better?

I would spend the extra $50, it is worth it.

The problem with the horizontal DI stages is that they can channel the water and it will miss the DI resin. One vertical stage is better. I bought a similar unit and upgraded it. It would have been cheaper to buy one from the above vendors from the beginning.

[AZDesertRat]

Carbon is not only for chlorine, it adsorbs volatile organic chemicals also. VOCs can be common in wells. Herbicides, pesticides, fuel or gasoline byproducts from runoff or leaking underground storage tanks, the list goes on and on.

The three small horizontal cylinders don't even come close to the efficiency of a single vertical 20 oz cartridge designed exclusively for DI resins. The vertical has a bottom up flow pattern so all water and resin come into contact with each other. A properly packed vertical is by far the best way to go.

I would still stay away from just about all e-bay quality systems. There are exceptions but they are not going to be the $69 one size fits all miracle units. Even on e-bay you are going to pay the same $150 to $250 for a good unit that will last and you almost always end up paying much more for shipping. Stick with the Sponsors here on RC, they know what it takes and have very competitive pricing on much higher quality systems.

[silence88]

thanks again AZdesertrat, one other thing though is iam in canada and right now my email isent working but will any of the sponsers ship to canada? aquasafe has an office or something here in BC witch i gess is why they dont charge brokage ect for the unit crossing the border witch is a main reason i was going to buy from them, sence haveing another unit shipped over might cost quite a bit in brokage to my understanding and i coudent find another company like aquasafe wich dident charge brokage or at least i could be sure it woudent cost me more than a basic unit localy would you know of any? or if i buy the aquasafe unit could i take off the horizontal DI canasters and add one of the better 10" ones too it after?

[ellisz]

I have an aquasafe unit that I added on to. I have since replaced the the little DI with a standard cartridge refillable Dual DI, replaced the 100 gpd membrane with a Filmtec 75 gpd, clear canisters and added a pressure gauge.

It is running right now. Been going 4 years now. The things listed above will need to be addressed but it can be a usable unit. I am using the storage tank that came with mine as well. I have a RO spicket that I use for cleaning equipment and making coffee.