Ro Units And More

[fatfishman]

Hello everyone,

As you may know from another topic i have recently won a 6x2x2ft marine tank on ebay, that i should hopefully have up and running later in the year after christmas, until then i am going to continue to do my research.

As christmas is coming up i thought it would be a good idea to ask people for some bits of equipment that i am going to need the first thing i looked into was a specific gravity tester and from some research have come to find that the cheap ones are just rubbish, so i thought i would ask all of you which one you would recommend.

I have also been looking at RO Units and thinking that investing in one could be a good idea as constantly buying RO water to do water changes for a tank this size will cost too much for me i think,

I was just wondering how many of you have an RO Unit and which one you use, also do you think it is worth me buying one.

Do you think one like any of these are adequate (see link below)

http/www.aquatics-warehouse.co.uk/acatal...SE_OSMOSIS.html

Thank you all for looking

 

[chrissaysyes]

Honestly if by "cheap ones" you mean hydrometers, then you sir are incorrect. I have a few that have come with certain bits of hardware and yes, I have owned and seen plently that arent worth a crap but I own atleast two that do work well, one of which has been working for over a year. It's made by instant ocean and I think it was like $12. It just needs to be rinsed after you're finished using it and it does a pretty swell job. Although I would rather have a refractometer and if you're wanting to step up then by all means you should get one.

 

[Musho3210]

i dont see how anyone can judge if their swing arm hydrometers are accurate without a more accurate tester to have a variable.

 

[chrissaysyes]

tested against my LFS' refractometers due to several paranoid occasions.

 

[fatfishman]

Ok thank you guys.

 

[fatfishman]

Didnt mean to post twice

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, there's one heck of a debate as to the accuracy, repeatability of measure, and resolution of common aquarium measures that I'll just touch on here breiefly. Hydrometers can be accurate, but they also have to be maintained and rinsed often as chrissy said. The one time you forget, it's gonna start drifting on you and you may not know it. Even cheap refractometers aren't the most accurate of sources, but at least they're reliable. Their calibration does not tend to drift like a hydrometer's does. However, the problem with cheap refractometers is that people cal them at 0ppt or 1.000sg with RO water. If the prism in a cheap refractometer isn't perfect (which few of them are), that cal can be slightly off by the time you get to 1.026 or 35ppt. However, a cheap refractometer that is calibrated with a known content of salt, is VERY accurate around the common measuring range. I'd suggest you go to the realm of knowledge sticky atop this section and look on page 2, I've linked two very good articles on refractometers and then another on calibration standards. Worth a read when choosing. I personally have a cheap refractometer that I calibrated with a cal solution mentioned in that 2nd article

As for an RO unit, Look to purchase one from either osmotics (a tff sponsor), or RO man. Make sure you get at LEAST a 100GPD unit (like this one) and make SURE it has a flush kit on it as a flush kit will prolong the life of the membrane. Second, make sure you get a TDS meter with it, as you need this to tell when a filter part needs replacing

 

[fatfishman]

Thanks SkiFletch

Ill take a look