What? An RO Unit for less than $50???

[ryanp]

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...839/cl0/aquariumpharmaceuticalstapwaterfilter

Does it really work? I saw it at petsmart the other day for somewhere around $26. It's from API, so I would think it would be fairly decent. Does anyone have experience with this? I'm probably going to be starting a "salty" tank sometime soon, and eventually turn it into a reef system, and I'm wondering how this would work. Would I be better off just biting the bullet and getting an all out "real" RO/DI system?

Thanks for your input!!!

 

[evercl92]

I had this for a while. It did a decent job. It's not an RO unit though... just a filter system. My tap water usually has a GH = 15, so each cartridge got me about 30 gal of 'cleaner' water. Resulting water usually had GH = 1 or 2, KH=0, pH = 6.2 - 6.4

It's decent if you are thinking about a small tank, say 20gal or less. Becomes cumbersome, and expensive for anything bigger.

 

[smn723]

Agree with evercl92....a lot of replacement on this item. More economical to buy ro/di units if you're dealing with a larger tank. Furthermore you will get much better results out of a ro/di unit...this is just a filtering unit. IMO it would be worth all costs to splurge for a true ro/di unit. As with most items in saltwater aquaria you have to spend a little more to achieve the results you expect. HTH

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

It's actually just the DI stage of a RO/DI unit. If you run the water through it real slow, it should give you "pure" water. But not for very long. The one nice thing about it though is that there's no waste water produced. As others have noted, unless you're dealing with a really small tank, it's more economical to go with a RO/DI in the long run.