top off water

[triguy]

For the past two years, I have been using a 3 stage ro/di system for my top off water. I had been using the waste water for my plants, but now that they are starting to put us on water restrictions in San Diego, I am thinking about going away from this.

Last week I got 10g of water from the water machines (Glacier) near grocery stores. I got home and measured it with my TDS meter, and it read 15ppm. Water from my ro/di always measure 0 on my TDS. It was only $2.50, so I would assume I would be saving money over the long run. No filters to buy, no waste water.

Would like to hear any experiences using these water machines. And I also wanted to know if the difference in TDS will make a big difference and is this average for these water machines?

[mdntrdr]

Those machines are notorious for TDS.

I would stay away from them.

[triguy]

Those machines are notorious for TDS.

I would stay away from them.

Maybe you're right. I thought I'd get more response but could be that everybody is using ro/di filtration, but it's hard to believe.

[smcfall176]

The thing is we spend all this money on skimmers and ca reactors not to mention all the cool stuff in the tank...Kinda makes the price of Ro Di filters seem like no big deal. Better safe than sorry!

[BANANAHANDS]

I don't understand. You want to stop filtering your own water because of water restrictions? At least you're being responsible and using the waste water. I doubt the waste water from the glacier machines is used. I use my waste water to do laundry.

[Financial Panth]

The thing is we spend all this money on skimmers and ca reactors not to mention all the cool stuff in the tank...Kinda makes the price of Ro Di filters seem like no big deal. Better safe than sorry!

This!

[swap]

If the waste water is a concern, you could upgrade your RO system to a high efficiency system like the UHE from Spectrapure. You might be able to purchase the components to update your existing system.

[preef]

What is the TDS of your tap water? Maybe you can get by just running it through DI which will have no waste.

[dwd5813]

the big difference between using water that you make yourself and water from one of those machines is quality control. you can test the water as you make it at home and change filters when you need to whereas when you go the other way you are dependent on an outside entity, the company who services the machines, to keep up with maintenance and quality control. what was good one week might be terrible the next. it's sort of the same argument folks make against tap water, even for those with excellent numbers having been reported. you never know when it's going to change.

you're already taking steps to reduce the actual waste produced from the system by finding uses for the reject water from the system. i would continue that action and look for other ways to use the water, such as laundry. or you could always look into the ultra high efficiency systems. either way i think your tank will be better off with water you make yourself vs. water from those machines.