[Arpeggio]

ATM, I'm not prepared to be dropping >$200 for anything that's not a frog. So when looking for an RO sytem I don't have many options.

So, what I'm looking at is Aquarium Water Quality: Pure-Flo II RO Units and this.

Both are Coralife, but the difference is that one is a 3 stage vs. 2 stage. What's the difference? I like both websites but I'd prefer to buy from Neherp. Both ship free, so that's no problem. $10 difference doesn't bother me at all either. But I would prefer to order from Neherp as I have had nothing but great experience with them and would really love to support a small store like them vs. Dr. F&S.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[wesly2007]

Aquarium Water | Reverse Osmosis | RODI Water | ReefKeeper Water | Mighty Mite 50GPD with DI Added

This is the one i have always used for my frogs and my reef tank. I realy like these guys and have always had good luck when ordering from them.

 

[motydesign]

i got this one almost a year ago and LOVE IT!
75 GPD RO/DI 5 Stage Standard System - English

 

[Mitch]

I have this one and I love it. I personally wouldn't use anything else.

 

[bobrez]

I have 1 similar to the neherp model (looks the same) that i got from homedepot. The cartridges also look the same so might be able to get them there ina pinch (idk maybe there all the same) Mine works awsome i use it for humans an frogs and it has absolutly no taste so i know its working.

The bigger round cylinders are your carbon filters, there is 1 before ro filter and 1 after. This protects your ro from clorine because it will destroy an ro filter quickly. The ro filter is the cylinder on top.

This setup feeds a storage tank, mine is 6gals and takes 6 to 10 hrs to fill depending on state of filters. Carbon filters are changed and system cleaned every 6 months and ro filter every year. Neherps looks great, idk what tank comes with it tho.

The tank takes up quite a bit of space, probably wont fit under a sink. Have to say it takes abit of pluming to hook 1 up, just so you know

 

[bobrez]

Sorry to add the carbon filters are almost 20 a shot so i think 2 is enough $.02

Looking at the reef ro systems most dont come with storage tank so you would need to buy 1 seperate if humans will drink this. Id give neherp a call an ask if comes with tank for human consumpton.

 

[Rhesus Feist]

Aquarium Water | Reverse Osmosis | RODI Water | ReefKeeper Water | Mighty Mite 50GPD with DI Added

This is the one i have always used for my frogs and my reef tank. I realy like these guys and have always had good luck when ordering from them.

+1 for these guys. I have one of their larger 5 stage units, but thats because I use it primarily for aquariums.

 

[Froggyplush]

im new at this frog thing but its got me set up nice frog room they can be bought at home depot how much middle of the road version of the water purifier

 

[phender]

I tend to run away from anything that has the Corallife name on it. Here is the system I use. https://www.wattspremier.com/products.php?product=Five-Stage-%285SV%29-Reverse-Osmosis-System
It comes with a tank and a faucet for your sink. All the filters are standard so you can buy them anywhere, but if you register it with them they will send you snail mail and e-mail reminders when it is time to change the filters.

I use it for all my drinking, frog and reef tank water.

 

[Pumilo]

I tend to run away from anything that has the Corallife name on it. Here is the system I use. https://www.wattspremier.com/products.php?product=Five-Stage-%285SV%29-Reverse-Osmosis-System
It comes with a tank and a faucet for your sink. All the filters are standard so you can buy them anywhere, but if you register it with them they will send you snail mail and e-mail reminders when it is time to change the filters.

I use it for all my drinking, frog and reef tank water.

You mean CoralDeath? Coralife buys the cheapest of the cheap and puts a pretty package on it. I farmed coral for over 10 years and I also advise avoiding Coralife.
Maybe it would help to know a little bit about RO filters.
Stage One - This is a particle prefilter, obviously to remove particles. I think you generally see these in either a 1 micron particle or a 5 micron particle prefilter.
Stage Two - This is the Carbon filter or a Carbon Block filter. This is important as it removes the chlorine that can destroy your reverse osmosis membrane.
Stage Three - This is your RO membrane (Reverse Osmosis). This is the backbone of your system. This is where (mostly) pure water goes one way and impure, waste water goes out the waste hose.
Stage Four - Deionizer This will take your almost pure water and make it laboratory grade. A system that would put another carbon filter here, instead of a DI filter, in my opinion, is poorly designed and redundant. Carbons, depending on their quality, may add at least some phosphates back into your water. This is OK for drinking water but is not meant for reefs or laboratory grade pure water. Personally, I would not run a system with a second carbon filter after your membrane.
Stage Five - Anything after 4 stages are most likely simply to extend the life of your RO membrane. It could be a scale filter.

Note: Different manufactures may change these stages for different applications, but these four are typically the stages used for Reef quality or lab grade water.

 

[Rhesus Feist]

If you're starting to get confused, or still trying to figure out what you need in a filter here is what I look for.

Stage 1: You want a 10 micron sediment filter. This filters out all particulates down to a size of 10 microns
Stage 2: 5 micron carbon block filter (you can go 10 micron carbon block here)
Stage 3: 1-2 micron carbon block filter (you can go 5 micron carbon block here)
Stage 4: RO membrane

Anything else is all optional. People aren't supposed to drink DI water, and I don't think I would bother with a DI filter for frogs either. If you want to have a sink mounted people drinking water supply you will need a pressure tank and probably a granulated carbon filter (for taste issues with water that sits in the storage tank).

I personally don't bother with the pressure tank business, I just fill up gallon jugs from the output hose of my RO filter to get people water. I have my RO filter set up in the laundry room. I put a Y adapter on the washing machine cold water line, and used a hose to 1/4 inch hard line adapter to get the water to my RO unit. I have two valved output hoses coming from the filter, one before the DI filter for people, viv, and house plant water, and one after the DI cartridge for aquarium water. I don't have any massive aquariums, so I just fill 5 gal buckets and gallon jugs.

As Phender mentioned, all (well almost all) of the filter cartridges are standardized sizes and are interchangeable. It is the filter media type and micron size that matter for your pre-RO membrane cartridges




Note: Dang Doug beat me while I was typing

I like to use 2 carbon blocks to reduce wear on my RO membrane, and to make absolutely sure I've got ALL of the chlorine/chloramine out of the water. I lived in an area for awhile where the tap water smelled like laundry bleach sometimes. As Pumilo said, if you want lab quality pure water, stage 5 in my list would be your DI cartridge, which i use for aquariums, but I only use water filtered as far as the RO for people and vivs. Plus, it sounded like the OP was trying to save a few $s while still getting a good filter.

Note #2: +1 run away from coralife. Cheap crap that barely works and breaks easily. I've personally witnessed 2 different coralife CF light fixtures catch fire.

 

[Dizzle21]

Get a spectrapure! Love mine just check out the specs.

 

[BuckeyeFS]

If you're starting to get confused, or still trying to figure out what you need in a filter here is what I look for.

Stage 1: You want a 10 micron sediment filter. This filters out all particulates down to a size of 10 microns
Stage 2: 5 micron carbon block filter (you can go 10 micron carbon block here)
Stage 3: 1-2 micron carbon block filter (you can go 5 micron carbon block here)
Stage 4: RO membrane

Anything else is all optional.

I like to use 2 carbon blocks to reduce wear on my RO membrane, and to make absolutely sure I've got ALL of the chlorine/chloramine out of the water.

I'll give you a litle different take on some of these points.
Assuming you are on city water with no particular issue with heavy sediment loads, and have no chloramines in your water, I would go with:
1 micron sediment filter
0.5 micron carbon block

second carbon block not needed, and doesn't help anything other than the vendor bottom line. Carbon block sdon't remove chloramine. They split the chloramine back into ammonia and chlorine. The carbon takes care of the chlorine, but the ammonia passes through the carbon, and for the most part through the RO membrane. If your critters are sensitive the ammonia, and if you have chloramines in your water, then there is an issue to deal with.

If you go with a 10 mic sediment followed by a 5 mic carbon, followed by a 1 mic carbon, your carbon blocks will trap sediment rather than what you want them to do - remove VOC's including chlorine.

Russ

 

[Arpeggio]

Thank you everyone for the information. Although I haven't digested it all yet, I greatly appreciated it. It will be a little bit until I have the funds to purchase any of the recommendations, so I have plenty of time to make the right decision.

One thing though, being from WI, our water is EXTREMELY hard. D*** lime. Anything I should be worried about for that?

 

[BuckeyeFS]

The text book answer is that hard water should be softened before being delivered to an RO system. However, with RO membrane prices less than half of what they were years ago, we have RO customers all over the country using RO on hard water.

RO water is very soft in that the membrane removes a high percentage of calcium and magnesium - the two primary culprits that make water "hard."

Russ

 

[Arpeggio]

I ended up getting a 75gpd 4 stage used from a seller on The Planted Tank for $130 with an inline/outline tds meter. Very happy with it

http://thefilterguys.biz/ro_di_systems.htm