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RO/DI System Question


PetesFolly

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Since I am very new to this hobby, I thought I would ask all of you for some advice. I am looking at an RO/DI system so that I can stop buying water from the store. When I was looking at the reviews for a 100 gallon per day unit, someone ask if it is safe to drink and one of the replies stated that RO/DI is not good/safe for human consumption since all of the trace elements are removed and you would need to add them back in. This person also stated that this would also apply to aquarium use... Obviously, that stumped me since I was planning on using the filtered water for water changes and water top offs for a 120 gallon reef tank that I started back in July. I am sure mixing it for water changes would take care of the trace elements, but what about the fresh water top off? If this is true, would it be better to go with an RO system only? I do know that the store where I purchase my water from sells RO water only (both fresh and salt). Thanks for the advice! :D

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Ro/di is safe for human consumption but is not as beneficial for the body. As far as reef use it is far more beneficial. The trace elements that may be removed from the filter will be added through salt mixing. You will be able to control what goes into the tank this way. I have 5 stage system with dual membranes from Brs and it works great for me.

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Thanks! I thought the comment was odd since so many people have RO/DI systems. Thought I would check with all of you first though.

No problem. I wouldn't recommend anything other than a complete ro/di. Works with both salt and freshwater.

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I've been lurking and reading here for a while, but finally a topic came up that I could actually contribute to.

So, I'm an actual registered member now!

 

But about the DI water....

Back in my nuclear navy days, we used very pure water in the reactors. So pure, in fact, that it did not conduct electricity. You could take a bath with this water and drop a hair dryer in the tub and not be electrocuted. And yes, you could drink it. Admiral Rickover himself, rather famously, poured himself a glass of water drawn directly from a nuclear reactor and drank it, in order to make a point about nuclear safety.

However....

The "O" in RO/DI also applies to your body.

Water and minerals will pass through the semi-permeable membrane of your digestive tract in order to reach an equilibrium of dissolved minerals on both sides of the membrane.

When you drink a couple pints of DI water, the minerals start switching sides very quickly.

The result was usually diarrhea. (don't ask me how I know) :blush:

Drink a LOT of DI water, and you can drastically upset the potassium and magnesium levels in your blood stream, which can have some serious cardiac repercussions.

 

Hope my first post was helpful!

Looking forward to future discussions.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I always thought it was because of teeth. City water is treated with fluoride and one of the biggest health improvements in history for the masses. Rodii removes it so your teeth are more prone to decay. People on well water that use flouride tooth paste are ok, but people that don't have as good of dental hygiene will see rapid decay.

 

I have a 4 stage RO filter and a two stage DI filter. My RO's 4th stage returns minerals to the water. (Mainly because we love coffee). So only DI goes to fish stuff and drinkable water goes to the faucet we get our drinking water from.

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Here is an excerpt from a peer-reviewed article by Dr. Eugene A. Thiers on drinking pure water:

Is Pure Water Harmful to Your Health?

Arguments against drinking purified water fall into two major types of categories. In the
first category, the argument can be summarized as follows:”Essential minerals are removed from
pure water—and that’s bad.” This is the nutritionist argument. The second type of argument
typically states that “pure water leaches minerals from the body—and that is also bad.” This is
the pseudo-medical argument. We’ll briefly examine the merits of each.
The nutritionist argument rests on the premise that minerals that are dissolved in natural
water are essential for the body, and that is false. What is true is that humans require certain
minimum nutrients (e.g., over 2,000 calories for the average adult) which include trace elements,
such as calcium, magnesium, as well as certain vitamins that are not synthesized by the body,
such as vitamin C, among others. These nutrients are normally ingested in our food through the
process of digestion.
For example, the recommended daily requirements of calcium and magnesium are about
1,000 to 2,000 mg and 300 to 400 mg, respectively, although specific requirements vary by
gender, age, and other factors. Water may provide a small fraction of these requirements. Thus,
if one lives in areas with hard water (which is defined as having 48 to 72 mg/l of calcium) and
one drinks eight glasses per day, which is about 2 liters, one would absorb less than 144 mg
of calcium, or less than 14% of the daily requirements. Drinking one glass of milk contains
between 300 to 350 mg of calcium, which is more than twice as much as the 8 glasses of water,
and a few slices of cheese could provide even more. The point is that the food we eat provides
most, if not all of the daily requirements, and not the water we drink. In fact, since most water
sources are not hard (the range goes from less than 7mg/l for soft water to more than 72 mg/l for
very hard water), the amount of nutrients and essential elements provided by water is rather
insignificant.
The second argument is more difficult to dismiss because it appears grounded on
“scientific” principles, hence its pseudo-medical label. While it is true that relatively pure water
(remember, there is no such a thing as totally pure water) dissolves practically everything, and
that is why it is labeled “aggressive,” it does so only in minute quantities. Yet, numerous
opinions from medical doctors (who have forgotten their chemistry lessons) suggest that pure
water can leach minerals from the body in the same way that pure water leaches various
materials under laboratory conditions.
Fouling is the progressive degradation of membrane surfaces due to particle occlusion.
There are two ways of assessing the above opinions. One way is to point out that there is
hardly any evidence in the scientific literature about such leaching of minerals from the body
(i.e., no clinical data or peer-review articles in respected journals). The second, more effective
way is to point out that the moment the water enters the mouth, human saliva renders it nonaggressive.
Human saliva contains numerous organic compounds that are grouped into 9-10
different classes (e.g., histatins, statherins, lysozyme, amylases, etc.) all of which are highly
soluble in water. The moment water enters the mouth, saliva dissolves and the mixture could not
possibly qualify as pure water. Furthermore, the mechanism for leaching “essential” minerals
from the body is most commonly stated to be through the small intestine, as water and nutrients
are absorbed by the body. Again, this does not make any sense because prior to getting to the
small intestine, any water would have to pass through the stomach, and the stomach adds
substantial quantities of gastric acid and other chemicals as part of its digestive function. To
consider that any water is pure or aggressive after passage through the stomach requires
unbridled imagination, particularly if one considers the effect of mixing such water with pieces
of hamburger or a banana.
Conclusions
Ultra-clean water contains ions, although few of them. The minerals that we need come
mainly from the food we eat, not the water we drink. And pure water does not leach minerals
from our body because as it enters the mouth it mixes with our natural fluids and ceases to be
aggressive.

 

 

 

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Since I am very new to this hobby, I thought I would ask all of you for some advice. I am looking at an RO/DI system so that I can stop buying water from the store. When I was looking at the reviews for a 100 gallon per day unit, someone ask if it is safe to drink and one of the replies stated that RO/DI is not good/safe for human consumption since all of the trace elements are removed and you would need to add them back in. This person also stated that this would also apply to aquarium use... Obviously, that stumped me since I was planning on using the filtered water for water changes and water top offs for a 120 gallon reef tank that I started back in July. I am sure mixing it for water changes would take care of the trace elements, but what about the fresh water top off? If this is true, would it be better to go with an RO system only? I do know that the store where I purchase my water from sells RO water only (both fresh and salt). Thanks for the advice! :D

 

I have had an RO system for 16 yrs (put in when we built the house). Plumbed to 2x refrigerators for RO water and ice. We almost never buy bottled water anymore and have BPA free water bottles that we just refill. Almost all refrigerators have a bypass plug for the internal water filter so no more changing those $15 filters as well. Finally by using RO water for my coffee, I have not had to "de-scale" the coffee maker at all. my coffee maker is also 10yrs old. Same with my clothes iron, use RO water only and you don't have the hardwater/calcium buildup, iron is 10yrs old as well.

 

For house drinking water you will need a RO pressure storage tank (under my QT in the picture below).

 

QTTank.jpg

 

Added the DI for water that goes into the mix tank and the ATO topoff.

IMG_1441_zps5224a528.jpg

 

Fishers water INPUT TDS (note not all that TDS is probably bad stuff... But........)

IMG_1437_zps3b9f7034.jpg

 

RO output TDS (what we drink)

IMG_1439_zpsb5fda270.jpg

 

RODI output to mix tank and ATO

IMG_1438_zps856c3103.jpg

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