My New DI Auto Top-Off Setup

[bbyatv]

I finally got sick and tired of making water every week for evap and water changes.

 

My tank is a 30g with a 10g sump.

 

I evap about 1248 ml per day.

I do a 2 gallon (7570 ml) water change once a week.

Total DI water required per week: 16306 ml (4.3 gallons)

 

This little auto top-off keeps 4.5 gallons of DI on the ready for all my tanks needs.

 

I took a 5 gallon Deer Park bottle & cut off the top.

I added a drain valve and float valve.

I connected a Tap Waer Filter to the system.

(Don't think this filter works? Read this link: http://members.cox.net/bbyatv/myocean/apdiunit/index.html)

I have cut down the amount of time I spend maintaining the tank by hours a week.

 

 

 

Bruce

Edited August 28, 2007 by bbyatv

[jason the filter freak]

Link is bronken dude

[bbyatv]

Try it now?

 

Bruce

 

Link is bronken dude

[jason the filter freak]

Works just fine now, I remember seeing that as a thread somewhere too.

[yauger]

Try it now?

 

Bruce

 

Bruce,

 

I didn't know that filter did that great of a job... I was looking at buying a RO/DI unit soon and now I'm thinking that this might just be more cost affective for me. (15 gallon display/20 gallon sump) thanks for the info...

[JMsAquarium]

That's interesting. So it looks like the solids are removed, how about chlorine/chloramine?

It would be great if we could test some samples of produced water as follows:

- Your setup

- Your setup plus coupling the AP tap water filter with a DI cartridge.

- Traditional RODI.

 

 

JM

 

BTW Bruce, this is the cartridge you are talking about right?

 

API tap water filter

Then click on tap water

[bbyatv]

This is a great DI filter for smaller tanks where you do not need a lot of water. It might even work for larger set ups. The issue being that you need to change the cartridge out about every 40 gallons processed (depending on the water quality in your area). It works well for me.

 

Bruce

 

Bruce,

 

I didn't know that filter did that great of a job... I was looking at buying a RO/DI unit soon and now I'm thinking that this might just be more cost affective for me. (15 gallon display/20 gallon sump) thanks for the info...

 

 

JM,

 

Basically this unit is a DI filter.

 

Read this information for details and customer reviews:

 

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idProduct~AP4111.html

 

It also talks about how much water the filter will process.

 

I would like to run tests like these just to see if i will work for larger systems.

 

Bruce

 

That's interesting. So it looks like the solids are removed, how about chlorine/chloramine?

It would be great if we could test some samples of produced water as follows:

- Your setup

- Your setup plus coupling the AP tap water filter with a DI cartridge.

- Traditional RODI.

JM

 

BTW Bruce, this is the cartridge you are talking about right?

 

API tap water filter

Then click on tap water

[JMsAquarium]

This is a great DI filter for smaller tanks where you do not need a lot of water. It might even work for larger set ups. The issue being that you need to change the cartridge out about every 40 gallons processed (depending on the water quality in your area). It works well for me.

 

Bruce

JM,

 

Basically this unit is a DI filter.

 

Read this information for details and customer reviews:

 

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idProduct~AP4111.html

 

It also talks about how much water the filter will process.

 

I would like to run tests like these just to see if i will work for larger systems.

 

Bruce

 

Yup, I read the description. My thoughts about running the tests are exacly the same as yours I used to ran one of these back then when I had freshwater tanks and never had a problem. For SW fish that will work very well. Can you give some feedback on what corals you have and how they respond to that water?

 

Thanks

 

JM

[YBeNormal]

Yep, it's basically a chamber with a proprietary DI cartridge and should work just as well as an RO/DI unit but with higher long-term costs. Doing a quick search, it looks like refill cartridges cost ~$25/each.

 

You could get the same results a little cheaper by buying an "add-on" cannister from AWI or TFG, some fittings, a refillable DI cartridge and some DI resin.

 

cannister: http://airwaterice.com/product/WE-H6010CW

DI refillable kit: http://airwaterice.com/product/REFILLDIPACK

- or -

refillable cartridge: http://airwaterice.com/product/CLEAR10REFILLCART

color changing DI resin (4 refills): http://airwaterice.com/product/BAGDIRESIN

 

A system like these would be great for a nano or other very small tank. Costs would quickly exceed the cost of a good RO/DI system if you need lots of filtered water though.

 

{Edit to correct link to refill resins}

Edited August 29, 2007 by YBeNormal

[bbyatv]

I agree that this is a good set up for a small tank like my 30g.

 

One point I would make is that if you do pay $25 for a cartridge you payed to much. I get them for about $18.50 each and that includes shipping. I average about $0.45 a gallon for DI water (sometimes less). Although an RO/DI system might be cheaper to run, I am not sure that with the amount of water that goes down the drain and the costs of filter media it would be a whole lot cheaper.

 

Perhaps the refillable DI kit listed in YBeNormal's post could make the cost per gallon go down even further.

 

Also if you are thinking about building a one stage DI kit from parts like the ones listed in YBeNormal's post, you should make sure to use Mixed Bed resin. Here is a link to the Mixed Bed resin at the same site:

 

http://airwaterice.com/product/BAGDIRESIN

 

Bruce

 

Yep, it's basically a chamber with a proprietary DI cartridge and should work just as well as an RO/DI unit but with higher long-term costs. Doing a quick search, it looks like refill cartridges cost ~$25/each.

 

You could get the same results a little cheaper by buying an "add-on" cannister from AWI or TFG, some fittings, a refillable DI cartridge and some DI resin.

 

cannister: http://airwaterice.com/product/WE-H6010CW

DI refillable kit: http://airwaterice.com/product/REFILLDIPACK

- or -

refillable cartridge: http://airwaterice.com/product/CLEAR10REFILLCART

color changing DI resin (4 refills): http://airwaterice.com/product/BAGDIRESIN

 

A system like these would be great for a nano or other very small tank. Costs would quickly exceed the cost of a good RO/DI system if you need lots of filtered water though.

 

{Edit to correct link to refill resins}

Edited August 29, 2007 by bbyatv

[jason the filter freak]

Ygpm