RO/DI vs seachem safe

[demonbarber09]

Hey y’all so I just got into the hobby and recently bought a reverse osmosis. My question is do I also need DI system because my buddy who has tanks told me not to get the DI and just use seachem safe. I’m not sure if should just get DI anyway.

 

[SteveEreef]

If your TDS after the RO is reading anything other than zero you’ll want to use DI to get it to zero. My TDS are 1-2 after RO membrane and zero after DI resin.

 

[dhnguyen]

You don't NEED DI but... Well lets use this analogy. Do you need proper food and nutrition to survive? Technically you could probably survive off crackers and water but....

 

[Woodyman]

There are a multitude of answers here... So to narrow down what would be appropriate for your individual situation the biggest and first question should be what do you plan to keep in your tank?

Fish only, fish + soft coral, fish + mixed coral (lps,sps,softies).


The second question I would have is what is your source water like? Hard, soft, municipal or well?

But the first question is the first determining step.

 

[Woodyman]

Hey y’all so I just got into the hobby and recently bought a reverse osmosis. My question is do I also need DI system because my buddy who has tanks told me not to get the DI and just use seachem safe. I’m not sure if should just get DI anyway.

Just going RO can be appropriate, but as mentioned it depends on your goal for the system and also what is being left behind in your RO TDS, for example if your leftover 2-6 ppm of TDS is straight copper that's bad, If it's straight calcium it's a totally different story, and short of an ICP of your RO you won't know until you test it.

 

[Biokabe]

Seachem Safe is in no way a good alternative to a proper DI system. If you need to use Safe anyhow, you need a DI system; if your water is good enough to not need Safe, then you might be able to skip the DI part of the equation. It all depends, as others have said, on what your goals are and what your local water is like.

Personally, I would never run a reef tank without a full RO/DI system.

 

[G Santana]

Spend the few more bucks to either upgrade your RO or take it back for a unit that has DI.
You will not regret it!!!
This unit is inexpensive (relatively) and cranks out more than i need!!!

 

[demonbarber09]

There are a multitude of answers here... So to narrow down what would be appropriate for your individual situation the biggest and first question should be what do you plan to keep in your tank?

Fish only, fish + soft coral, fish + mixed coral (lps,sps,softies).


The second question I would have is what is your source water like? Hard, soft, municipal or well?

But the first question is the first determining ste

Spend the few more bucks to either upgrade your RO or take it back for a unit that has DI.
You will not regret it!!!
This unit is inexpensive (relatively) and cranks out more than i need!!!

So I was thinking of upgrading it and adding the DI because I’m gonna use the RO for drinking water also

 

[dhnguyen]

Adding another canister and fill it with DI resin doesn't really cost all much. All you need are these

canister
Amazon product

refillable DI cartridge
Amazon product

 

[demonbarber09]

There are a multitude of answers here... So to narrow down what would be appropriate for your individual situation the biggest and first question should be what do you plan to keep in your tank?

Fish only, fish + soft coral, fish + mixed coral (lps,sps,softies).


The second question I would have is what is your source water like? Hard, soft, municipal or well?

But the first question is the first determining step.

Using city water and now I’m probably gonna return the safe and buy a DI system now

 

[Woodyman]

Using city water and now I’m probably gonna return the safe and buy a DI system now

Any idea of your city water parameters? Do they use chlorine or chloramine for treatment or both? If chloramine is used I'd recommend using a secondary carbon filter as well

 

[demonbarber09]

Adding another canister and fill it with DI resin doesn't really cost all much. All you need are these

canister
Amazon product

refillable DI cartridge
Amazon product

What about this

 

[Woodyman]

What about this

This will work and is what your looking for in order to add DI to an existing RO system.

 

[Woodyman]

So I was thinking of upgrading it and adding the DI because I’m gonna use the RO for drinking water also

If your using the RO for drinking don't forgot to re-mineralize it prior to drinking!

 

[demonbarber09]

If your using the RO for drinking don't forgot to re-mineralize it prior to drinking!

how do you do that because this the system I have

 

[Woodyman]

how do you do that because this the system I have

That unit looks like it has the mineral stages up top. I'm not familiar with the unit but judging from the photo it would be the housings stacked on top of the RO.

Make sure you run your RO into DI prior to mineralizing, otherwise you will burn through the mineral cartridges and DI quickly while wasting $$ in the process. A 'T' fittings with ball vales will work or you could use a 3 way ball valve as well.

 

[Woodyman]

how do you do that because this the system I have

Water coming out of the storage tank would be re-mineralized so your good there. Just don't feed your DI with the re-mineralized water.

 

[demonbarber09]

That unit looks like it has the mineral stages up top. I'm not familiar with the unit but judging from the photo it would be the housings stacked on top of the RO.

Make sure you run your RO into DI prior to mineralizing, otherwise you will burn through the mineral cartridges and DI quickly while wasting $$ in the process. A 'T' fittings with ball vales will work or you could use a 3 way ball valve as well.

I saw on how to todo it that so I’m most likely gonna buy the Di tonight and install it all when it’s delivered

 

[Woodyman]

I saw on how to todo it that so I’m most likely gonna buy the Di tonight and install it all when it’s delivered

Don't forget to buy the DI cartridges as well! It's always nice to have spares on hand.

 

[demonbarber09]

Don't forget to buy the DI cartridges as well! It's always nice to have spares on hand.

I was thinking that because I like to have backups and always be prepared just in case