posted on Jan, 13 2011 @ 10:07 PM
reverse osmosis is not all that expensive. The long term costs depend on the unit and the supply water quality.
I have a 6 stage system that I purchased specifically for a reef aquarium, and while I was at it, I added a 6th stage and a drinking water kit which
included a faucet and a storage tank. The system will produce 75 gallons per day and has a 4 gallon storage tank connected to an air gap faucet so I
always have water on demand. The entire system was around $250. You can get one cheaper as I went with one with a de ionizer for my reef tank. The
filter replacement costs really depend on your supply water quality. All of the stages with the exception of the actual RO membrane are cheap. A kit
to replace all of my filter is about $60 (for 2 sediment filters, a membrane, de ionizer resin , and 2 carbon blocks) Most of the ones you get from
big box stores or other outlets (unless you go whole home systems) have a significantly lower gallon per day rating, typically around 25. If you are
on city water and rates are high, it could get expensive as you process 3-5 gallons to achieve 1 gallon of filtered. The slower the gallon per day
rating, generally the more waste water.
The one I have removes pharmaceuticals, pesticides, heavy metals, etc. Not all of them will remove pharmaceuticals and pesticides, another reason I
went with one designed for a reef aquarium, higher quality membranes. I used a TDS (total dissolved solids) meter on my city water, it read 190 ppm
after the RO it read 2 ppm, after the De Ionizer, it read 0. However, you can not drink or cook with de ionized water as it will leech the minerals
from your body and cause some serious bad stuff to happen, unless you re mineralize it.
The system took me about 30 minutes to install and has an automatic turn off valve on it as well. That way, if i grab a glass of water, the unit will
fill the tank back up then turn itself off. The entire system is under my sink and leaves plenty of room in the cabinet for other things that normally
live under a sink
edit on 13-1-2011 by SM2 because: edit to add info