? reverse osmosis system?

Shane Kennedy · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 17

just bought a RO/DI system
the RO water will go to a storage tank & then to my kitchen
the DI water will go to my aquarium
i'm going to set up a drip feed into the aquarium
w/ a overflow to the sewer line
(want to automate water changes)
the unit comes w/ an auto shutoff attached to a float in the tank
what i'm concerned/confused about is:

if the auto shutoff kicks in, will water stop flowing to my aquarium
& if it doesn't & water is constantly flowing to the aquarium
since it will be such a small volume,
will the incoming presure send unnecassary amounts of water down the waste line

TIA
shane

Archived from group: rec>aquaria>tech

Andi · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

I've thought about doing a similar thing, only the overflow poses a
problem given the positioning of walls, boilers, drains etc in my
house. :-/

>if the auto shutoff kicks in, will water stop flowing to my aquarium

I've not tried producing RO and DI seperately/at the same time but I
believe it would depend on where the feed into the DI cannister comes
from, and (I think) where the storage tank is in relation(vertically)
to the aquarium, in relation to the RO/DI unit

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

If you have placed a T connector on the RO output line, and connected
one end to the DI unit, and the other to the shutoff valve then when
the valve is closed water will still flow to the DI cannister.
(I assume this is how you've set it up?)

If the feed into the DI cannister comes from the output line from the
valve, then water will not flow to the DI cannister

If you have connected an output from the storage tank to the DI
cannister then water might flow to the DI cannister (provided you get
enough pressure). I'm not sure tho......

>& if it doesn't & water is constantly flowing to the aquarium
>since it will be such a small volume,
>will the incoming presure send unnecassary amounts of water down the waste line

Not sure that I've fully understood what you're asking.

With the system permanently producing, you should expect to see 3G
waste for every 1G produced (assuming a 3:1 waste/product ratio).

However, I've noticed that I get waste water from my RO/DI unit even
when I close the valve from the output line (it's been off for 24
hours now - not sure if it should do this! - anyone??). :-/

Andi

Shane Kennedy · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 17

> >& if it doesn't & water is constantly flowing to the aquarium
> >since it will be such a small volume,
> >will the incoming presure send unnecassary amounts of water down the waste line
>
> Not sure that I've fully understood what you're asking.
>
> With the system permanently producing, you should expect to see 3G
> waste for every 1G produced (assuming a 3:1 waste/product ratio).
>
> However, I've noticed that I get waste water from my RO/DI unit even
> when I close the valve from the output line (it's been off for 24
> hours now - not sure if it should do this! - anyone??). :-/
>

what i'm trying to ask here is
if i'm consuming less water than my unit is producing
does the incoming water pressure force the extra capacity down the drain

if there is incoming water pressure
& there's an open drain line
& i'm not consuming any of the output
then it looks like water would just run down the drain