[Mirkle]

what do u guys thin of this item??

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Tap Water Filter

[patrick1234]

it looks like a waste of money you can get the same thing at wal-mart lows homedepo

[patrick1234]

if you are going to use this you can just thro a bag of carbon in a bucket with your tap water in it

[Jeremy0322]

That sounds like a great idea to me..lol. From what i have heard that is one corner you do not want to try and cut. Just grit your teeth and get an actual RO/DI unit, you can get a good one for around 100 bucks, and you will thank yourself for it someday.

[Mirkle]

might sound a lil "newbish" but all this is new to me.. how exactly does a RO system work? do u hook it up to a forcet, and just let it filter into a bucket for water changes or have a tube goin to your tank??

[pogodzib]

The water filter you posted above does work to create good water, but the filter cartridges get used up very fast so it gets very costly. The cartridge essentially contains a sediment filter to remove the large particles followed by DI resin to remove the small contaminants and purify the water. Since there is no RO membrane in between, the DI resin gets used up fast and once that is used up you should replace the cartridge.

A RO/DI unit contains multiple sediment/carbon cartridges (to remove the large particles), followed by a RO membrane (to remove 90%-98% of the remain particles), followed by the DI cartridge/resin. Since the DI costly, removing the majority of the sediment before it is a huge cost savings. A RO/DI unit can be tapped into a water line or hooked up to a faucet if you have the right adapter for the water supply. The also "waste" about 4 gallons of water for every gallon of pure water they create, so they also have a waste line that needs to be tapped into a sink drain line or ran to a drain. You'll want to do some research to determine what unit would suit your needs the best. I prefer units that have a drinking water kit so that you have a faucet to get drinking water out of it. Also, since they produce water slowly, getting a water storage tank is very nice. I would never plumb the RO water directly into the tank, just incase something would fail, you won't flood your tank or change the water salinity and kill everything off. I prefer to just fill a 5 gal bucket (or trash can) depending on tank size, and adding that water when needed for water changes or tank top off.

[Jeremy0322]

Dont worry, i dont know how any of the water filtration stuff works either.