Does anyone knows a company or individuals who make or sells RO DI filter that does not produce any waste water at all? Thanks
As of now no one to my knowledge.
There is a new spectra that does 2:1 RO to waste though… Not too shabby but very expensive 
If you could find one, and I am not sure you will it will likely cost 4-5 times as much as a regular unit. If you’re looking to save money on the water bill this would not be the way to go as you’ll spend more money on the unit and filter cartridges.
Also from an environmental stand point any RO unit capable of coming close will have to have a continuously running pump.(the electric it uses would also cost you more than the savings on your water bill)
You WILL likely find claims and gimmicks out there. If you want close to RO water for a FO system which will have very dim lighting and you don’t care if you fish live in high nitrate, high phosphate,(and for that matter high estrogen, tetrachloroethylen (carcinogen), and so on) there are water filters out there with 0 waste water, but they are not RO units. I don’t want to publically blast specific manufactures water filters, but if you think you find something post.
If you want both fish and corals you want an RO/DI unit which makes 0ppm TDS water, not just a filter that claims it is as good as an RO unit.
Do you know what your water pressure is where you want to hook it up? If your PSI is low enough you might be able to push water through a couple of membranes and increase your efficiency with out the added cost of a booster pump.
Thanks fellas, I am running RO DI system right now but, I read somewhere that there is an RO DI filtering unit that can produce 0 TDS with no waste water at a reasonable cost. I was just wondering if any body have ever seen one. Sure would be nice to save on the water bill.
Happen to come across it PLEASE let me know. I looked about 8-10 months ago and gave up.
All true RO units by nature have to waste water to keep the membrane from packing up with crud. They are feed and bleed systems. the one you may be thinking of is the Poly-Bio-Marine Kold-Ster-Il fitration system.
Poly-Bio-Marine - Featured Brands - Bulk Reef Supply
they cost more, and use the Poly filter resin impregnated disk media to remove most of the unwanted, harmful stuff in tap water. 0.5 Micron carbon blocks and seive filters remove harmful micro organisms, but it lets the good natural carbonates, calcium and magnesium compounds through. so you get soft water for discus. full of natural buffer and minerals. this makes a better base water for making reef salt water. because you have the good stuff, carbonates, calcium and Mg left in to add your salt onto. you get a boost over pure RO water.
The Kold ster-il makes no waste. a gallon in produces a gallon out, minus nitrates, chlorines, ammonia, heavy metals, toxins, phosphates, stuff like that. it does all this at faucet speed. 2-3 GPM. it does not remove silica. you need to fill the last chamber with silica removal media. they have a proprietary aluminum oxide bead media. ore use GFO or something. It doesnt need much pressure like an RO. but the media is expensive, not sure how long it lasts. Unlike DI resin, which removes everything, even the good stuff, and burns out rapidly in hard or soft water, this media is selective, removes only the unwanted stuff, and should last longer.
Is that what you heard about?
Inccidentaly, I like to always have a chunk of Poly Filter in the over flow or trickle filter somewhere. it removes any incidental pollutants that may come in airborne. Like when you spray for ants, fertilizer or pesticide the lawn. exhaust fumes, cleaner products… stuff like that. its a catch all.
The one I heard about is a three stage filtration with no RO canister and with the fourth as being DI resin. Supposely the water coming out from the third canister measure 10 to 15 ppm and then goes through the last DI canister and comes out 0 ppm without waste water at all. I will continue searching and let everyone know if I find anything.
The Poly-Bio-Marine Kold-Ster-Il fitration system seems nice to have as it is out of my price range. Wonder how much money would it save in a long run.
Something seriously wrong with that and if you were to purchase one I’d suggest first buying significant stock in a company that makes DI resin.(oh and as far as buying it in bulk to save money, there is a such thing as cheap resin, they are not all created equal and all of it has an expiration date) I would be wrong, but if your pumping 15ppm TDS into a DI resin I could see getting 0ppm waste water for maybe a week if you’re not using a lot of water. I think water that jumped up coming out of whatever filter came before it will eat holes through the DI quickly.
Also as pointed out there is no sure thing as an absolutely 0 waste water RO unit, or one that won’t cost you an extreme amount of cartridges and not really be environmentally friend at all. RO= Reverse Osmosis and if you look up the definition of Osmosis it would be hard to picture it without waste. It may be best while examining the possibility of finding a product that does this if you read up a little more on how one works.
I’d be real happy to help examine and test the logic and science between any claims you might find. I spent a lot of time examining this back when I purchased my unit. I ended up buying an RO/DI that had three pre-filters, a 75gpd membrane, two DI filters, and I added a drinking water attachment and a float valve. If my water pressure was high enough I would have gone with two 75gpd membranes.
Is your motivation for looking into this environmental or long term costs savings? Do you know your water pressure where you are going to hook it up? Two key question.
like Jon said. a straight DI unit will give you 100% pure water, straight through with no waste water,. But its gonna cost you in DI Resin. you waste the resin by running raw water through it. usually its after an RO filter. the RO filter by nature only passes 25% of the water flow through the mebrane, to the last stage DI resin filter. the other 75% passes by and goes down the drain as waste concentrate. the RO membrane will exclude up to 99% of the non H2O compounds in the water, and then the DI resin removes the last 1%. thats how RODI units work.
Now maybe you are thinking of ZeaWeed filters?
http://www.wateronline.com/product.mvc/ZeeWeed-1000-Membrane-Media-0001?VNETCOOKIE=NO
good stuff, just not in the reef tank world yet.