RO water users

[meadeam]

Do you find yourself overrun with wastewater, or are you able to put it to use?  I intend to save the waste water for plants, but I don't have enough for the amount I will likely generate.   Maybe in the summer months for watering outdoor containers, but definitely not in the winter.

I'm not going to use a ton of RO water.  I currently have a 20 long that is converting to blackwater, and I've started mixing in distilled, but will soon be using my newly purchased RO filter.    I've cut the GH in the tank by half from my tap, from 14 down to 7.  KH has been halved as well, down to 2.  

 

[Gannon]

On 11/1/2022 at 8:31 AM, meadeam said:

Do you find yourself overrun with wastewater, or are you able to put it to use?  I intend to save the waste water for plants, but I don't have enough for the amount I will likely generate.   Maybe in the summer months for watering outdoor containers, but definitely not in the winter.

I'm not going to use a ton of RO water.  I currently have a 20 long that is converting to blackwater, and I've started mixing in distilled, but will soon be using my newly purchased RO filter.    I've cut the GH in the tank by half from my tap, from 14 down to 7.  KH has been halved as well, down to 2.  

 

I have never used RO waste water for anything. Though if you find a good use for it I'd love to know, have always felt bad about wasting it. 

[meadeam]

yeah, I hate to waste it as well.  Definitely will water some plants but even in the summer months I will have more than I can use.   My GH is so high there aren't may fish I could keep that would want it mixed in with their water.  They'd have to grow legs and walk on it.

 

[flyingcow]

Mine has arsenic in it, so unfortunately, it goes outside. I would love to set up a gray water system for toilet flushes, but that's a serious undertaking that requires actual skill. 

[Gannon]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:10 AM, flyingcow said:

Mine has arsenic in it, so unfortunately, it goes outside. I would love to set up a gray water system for toilet flushes, but that's a serious undertaking that requires actual skill. 

Mine has a ph of 9.6 before RODI, genuinely afraid of seeing what the composition of the waste water is haha. 

[flyingcow]

On 11/1/2022 at 12:11 PM, Gannon said:

Mine has a ph of 9.6 before RODI, genuinely afraid of seeing what the composition of the waste water is haha. 

Hot dang! I thought my 8.8 was bad! I can at least run my water through the pipes. I use under sink filters since I hate the idea of a whole house RO.

[Gannon]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:17 AM, flyingcow said:

Hot dang! I thought my 8.8 was bad! I can at least run my water through the pipes. I use under sink filters since I hate the idea of a whole house RO.

I just hook up my RODI to a laundry room sink faucet that none of my roomates use anyways. Easy peasy. 

[flyingcow]

On 11/1/2022 at 12:20 PM, Gannon said:

I just hook up my RODI to a laundry room sink faucet that none of my roomates use anyways. Easy peasy. 

Yeah, I just moved mine to the basement on a tap next to the furnace. No drain down there, but the previous homeowner drilled a hole in the outside wall to run a generator cable, so my waste hose goes that way.

[Gannon]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:26 AM, flyingcow said:

Yeah, I just moved mine to the basement on a tap next to the furnace. No drain down there, but the previous homeowner drilled a hole in the outside wall to run a generator cable, so my waste hose goes that way.

Thank god I have a drain, I overfill bins and buckets and spill often mixing everything together, Unfinished laundry room in the basement for the win. 

Edited November 1, 2022 by Gannon

[flyingcow]

On 11/1/2022 at 12:27 PM, Gannon said:

Thank god I have a drain, I overfiull bins and buckets and spill often mixing everything together, Unfinished laundry room in the basement for the win. 

My buckets are on a big yellow drum spill containment platform from Grainger with a flood sensor in it attached to my Home Assistant to yell at me when I overflow.

[Gannon]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:28 AM, flyingcow said:

My buckets are on a big yellow drum spill containment platform from Grainger with a flood sensor in it attached to my Home Assistant to yell at me when I overflow.

Smart! I need to figure something like this out. 

[tolstoy21]

You can double stack the RO filters in what's called a 'water saver' configuration. The waste water from the first membrane discharges into the second RO membrane housing and gets a second pass at being cleaned and turned into RO. This will double your RO output and cut your waste water output by 50%. Another benefit of this is that it cuts the time to create RO water in half. The only drawback is that it will increase the TDS coming out of the unit, exhausting your DI resin a little quicker.  So if your post membrane water has a TDS of 10, it will now have a TDS of 20 (as an approximation) before being fed into any DI canisters, if you have them.

Edited November 2, 2022 by tolstoy21

[B7gwap]

Tomatoes need lots of calcium, so I pour it in my tomato bed, all year. Even in winter, the calcium’s not going anywhere fast. 🙂

[meadeam]

On 11/1/2022 at 8:56 PM, tolstoy21 said:

You can double stack the RO filters in what's called a 'water saver' configuration. The waste water from the first membrane discharges into the second RO membrane housing and gets a second pass at being cleaned and turned into RO. This will double your RO output and cut your waste water output by 50%. Another benefit of this is that it cuts the time to create RO water in half. The only drawback is that it will increase the TDS coming out of the unit, exhausting your DI resin a little quicker.  So if your post membrane water has a TDS of 10, it will now have a TDS of 20 (as an approximation) before being fed into any DI canisters, if you have them.

Very interesting.  If my needs for softer water grow I will consider this an option.  

[Ruud]

I have a separate thread on some issues I encountered while setting up and getting my RO unit to run efficiently. But a question that would also fit in here - do you RO users run a pump or an airstone in your RO storage tank, or does the water sit still? Does it matter? 

Thanks

Ruud

[Mmiller2001]

On 11/2/2022 at 10:28 AM, Ruud said:

I have a separate thread on some issues I encountered while setting up and getting my RO unit to run efficiently. But a question that would also fit in here - do you RO users run a pump or an airstone in your RO storage tank, or does the water sit still? Does it matter? 

Thanks

Ruud

Mine sits still but covered and no light exposure.

[meadeam]

Hooking this up is going to be more involved than I originally hoped... but isn't everything?

I'm actually reconsidering plans for the 120 gallon tank I plan to put in a room addition that is going on my house right now.  I'd planned on an Amazon biotope inspired tank, but my water doesn't favor it.  We'll see how challenging the 20 long is to soften/acidify.   I may have to opt for harder water fish in the 120.

Edited November 2, 2022 by meadeam