RO undersink owners ?

[cmc1]

Anyone who has an underwater sink RO, you know the one that has a 3 gallon resevior.

1. Was is hard to DIY?
2. Is it sufficient enough ( 3gal/? )
3. What would you do different?

Anyone?

I would like to make my reef a little more automated and would appreciate any ideas or suggestion. I'm not exactly Mr. handyman

Thanks,
Carl

 

[bpnc]

Carl,

I have my RO under the bathroom sink and it fills a 3 Gallon covered bucket that is also under the sink. I use 1-1.5 gal per day in my 75 gal reef. The RO is tapped into the cold water line. The discard is tapped into the drain. I installed the Kent float valve and soleniod which does shutdown the filling of the bucket but I have had problems getting it to consistently shut down the discard water. To resolve the discard water problem I bought a sprinkler zone valve and timer from Lowes and put the zone valve in the input line...the zone valve turns on 1 hour and 15 minutes each day and tops off the bucket. The hour and 15 minutes is enough to just fill the bucket but if it more time than needed the input is shut down via the float valve. This works well since it turns the RO on for a longer period of time and the RO actaully produces better water than if it were on a few minutes at a time. The bucket under the sink has a pump and the sump has a float switch that controls the pump. I made a hole in the wall so I could get the wires and hose from the pump back to the aquarium on the other side of the wall. In my case I have a reef filler pump from a past reef and use it to fill the sump and the float switch cuts it off if it gets to high..someday I will get tweaked just right and it will maintain the level so that the float switch is just a precaution.

Many people just use a small powerhead with the float switch which is what I would have done if I did not already own the reefliller. I also would just buy the Kent Float Valve for the Bucket and the Zone Valve...not the Kent Soleniod.

These things are not that hard to install if you can use a wrench, pliers, teflon tape and drill.

Good luck with your automation project...

Bill

 

[Gatortailale1]

I have a rainsoft water softener with a 50 gpd RO unit under sink. I spliced the line that fills the 3 gal tank under sink and connected it to this little float valve (top right in picture on link) The float is in my sump and it keeps my tank at same level all day every day. No muss no fuss. http://www.spectrapure.com/St_alc_p4.htm

Prior to the use of this float, I was adding 2+ gals when tank was new and that was before I started running lights. No Idea what it adds now, but automation is a great when it comes to topping off your reef.

My RO unit will shut down or go into standby mode when sump float shuts it off and 3 gal tank full. Make sure your RO unit can safely go into standby mode. :lol:

HTH

C

 

[ChrisRD]

I'm not exactly Mr. handyman

Well, by the looks of that pic it seems like you know what you're doing with the reef end of things - nice tank!

 

[cmc1]

Thanks for all the comments, this is what I was looking for.

Wolfman,

Thanks for the compliment, it is the joy of gathering when he have one.

 

[Anonymous]

...
1. Was is hard to DIY?
2. Is it sufficient enough ( 3gal/? )
3. What would you do different?

hi.
1, Yes, since you need to make a pressurized cyclinder that can handle 100 psi, and a NSF approved (potable) plastic membrane that won't puncture with several thousand inflate/deflate cycle per year. If you don't need to put it under the sink, then you can get away with a plastic reservior about the output, and let the gravity do the work when you need the water. The latter is very easy to DIY.

2, 3 gal is sufficient for a household of 6 for cooking and drinking purpose. However, if you want to use it for carwash, then 3 gal is not enough.

3, I would get a permeate pump three years ago. It would have saved me enough money to pay for the pump by now.

 

[gkrane]

cmc,

not to get off topic but who is the manufacturer of your tank? its awesome.

 

[Casey1]

it was easy.. I was worried myself...

The hardest part was drilling the sink... other thatn that.. piece of cake....

My only wish.. is that I could tap a line directly to refill tank.. My water line is too far away from my tank.. but no biggie...