Water for first fill

[Agnate80700]

In preperation for my 150 gal tank, I bought an RO/DI unit. After 4 hours of getting everything hooked up and leak free, I tested it and water barely trickled out. After letting it sit for a few minutes, a decent amount came out but nothing rushing. I figured I'd let it go a day just to see if there were any leaks, and today I hit the button and bam, lotsa water comes out now. Good stuff.

So I began to fill a bucket, 5 gal. About 3.5 gallons into it, the water stopped coming out fast and eventually turned into a trickle again. My unit is rated for 100 gallons per day, which I would guess at the rate it was coming out itd prolly take about 15 min to get a gallon so... I guess thats about right. Or should it be producing more water?

That being said, it brings me to this question:

Seeing that it would take FOR-EVER to put out 180 gallons for show tank and sump through my ro/di unit, what would you guys do? I hope Im not going to need to get 36 5gallon buckets of water my the LFS. My ro/di system will work a-ok for top off and pwc's, but for the 1st fill up if the city water checked out ok would it be acceptable to just used the garden hose for the initial fill-up? I guess I wouldnt care if there was amonia or nitrites in the water since the tank will be cycling anyway, right?

 

[MT79]

itd prolly take about 15 min to get a gallon so

Sounds about right, actually pretty good. 100 gpd is under ideal conditions(77 degrees, low-mid range TDS in source water, etc.), most applications will produce less.

but for the 1st fill up if the city water checked out ok would it be acceptable to just used the garden hose for the initial fill-up?

That is actually what I did when getting started. Honestly it's probably not something I'd do again. At least some of those "nasties" in the tap water will stay behind in rock, sand and could cause issues after cycling.
I never had to deal w/ such large quantities of RO, FWIW I just fill a garbage can(used only for RO/DI storage). Sorry I can't offer much advice on the easiest way to fill the tank. Maybe buy some extra tubing for the RO and run the output directly to the tank for a couple days? HTH

 

[Devilishturtles]

As you saw from the previous water post you posted in, Agnate, opinions will vary.

I won't comment too much because I don't use a RO/DI water (it runs the well dry) but I'm considering hooking it up at work and draining the city water supply instead of my own. Your water rate sounds about right, I agree with Mike. That was one reason I just couldn't use it here. We'll see. IMHO, I think you'd be fine with using hose water so long as your tap water isn't complete junk.

 

[roka64]

Mine comes out pretty well. I use a 32 G bucket with attached wheels. I wheel it to the sink, it takes about 20 minutes or so to fill it up and then wheel it to the tank, drop in my ph and pump it into the tank. One thing, if you got the one I linked, it has a "dump" valve to release the funky stuff, so make sure that is closed.

 

[Agnate80700]

As you saw from the previous water post you posted in, Agnate, opinions will vary.

I actually posted this first, then read that other one hehe.

And roka, your unit can fill up 32 gallons in 20 minutes? That doesnt sound right, maybe Im just understanding wrong.

Im going to test my water today and see if I can get away with using the hose, I cant fathom trying to make 150 gallons of water at the rate it makes it. Unless I monitored it 24/7 I worry that it might have trouble making enough to outrun evaporation lol. (im not living there yet, i gotta go accross town to workon getting it ready till end of july heh.)

 

[roka64]

It's not filled up to the top. If I had to guess it might be about 20-24ish gallons, and I think it takes more like 30 minutes (never really timed it).

 

[cmor1701d]

I use a 45 gallon brute for my top off water. I got 50' of tubing for my 100gpd rodi unit and run it from the kitchen to the brute. Depending on the temp of the water and the pressure it takes 12-24 hours to fill the trashcan. My house pressure is always around 50psi, though it hovers around 40 in the winter.

I originally filled my 125 up with tap. I would not do that again. Take the 2 days to run the rodi directly to the tank.

I can't seem to find them anymore, but Hagen makes a bucket clip (sold with some of their Marina gravel cleaners) that I bought as sperate items. They fit on the tank rim and hold the water line in place. I use it for my 30 gallon qt/water change tank.

 

[Agnate80700]

Still thats pretty fast, my thing runs out of steam after about 4 gallons and then it just trickles out. It'd take me about 5 or 6 hours to make 24 gallons.

See my problem is that Im not where my ro/di is so I could let it run and fill up a trashcan but if it overflowed Id never know until i got there the next day. I guess it comes down to how necessary it is to get the rodi water. If its really dire that I start out with rodi water then I will figure out a way to do it.

 

[madhatter208]

Ive got a 5 stage RO/DI w/ the 75 gpd compasity
this = 20mins per gal

a 100 gpd unit should be 15mins per gal.

HTH are you getting 20 gal or so in 30mins?

is it a 2stage? .. i dont know if that makes a time diffs. but wow 30mins is short i could only wish mine ran that fast

 

[roka64]

I dunno, maybe I'll time it next time. I know it doesn't take 5 hours to fill it up...It is possible the plummer didn't hook it up right.