DIY Reverse Osmosis and holding tank

[Mushinronsha]

Im not sure where to post this but this seemed like as good as place an any. I am looking to add reverse osmosis for my next grow and it looks like they produce water very slowly and dont hold alot. So I am looking to get idea how others use RO water and store to refill your nutrient tanks when growing in hydro. I have a 20 gal nutrient tank I need to replace once a week.

So its looking like I will need the RO system, A water tank with a drain valve for storing the purified water and some sort of float system to shut the RO device off.

Does anyone have any recommendations of what to use or even a current system that works well for them?

 

[trickydicky]

How much water are you looking for? If you are like me with a dozen or less plants you dont need much. I rarely use over 15 gallons a week. I could easily buy a RO filter looking for 15-20 gallons a day and leave it on filling a reservoir, and check it once to disconnect it.

 

[Arthur]

Plastic 5 gallon water jugs. I have 8. Indoor I don't need much so only keep 4 full over winter. In the summer with outdoor they all stay full. I have it flow into one, with an over flow to the next, 1.5 hrs to fill both, I set a timer and switch if needed. I know a hassle for some, but I'm in the yard a lot when weather permits.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ro-float-valve.html

 

[davisgirl]

Amazon product ASIN B001B1C4G0

 

[Stranglehold]

I know it's an old thread, but maybe it will help someone else out. I had previously bought a RO system off of Amazon for my hobby of brewing beer. I mounted it to the wall in the laundry room. Used a Y adapter to split the water supply right before the washing machine. Then I took the waste water line from the RO system and stuffed it into the pipe for the washing machine drain. Here is the system I bought. There are many different ones out there. I know this one was priced right and works good. It is the Aquatic Life 50 gallon 4 stage

I was originally filling up 5 gallon water jugs. It worked but the downside was that I had to babysit them to keep them from overflowing. Or else my wife would get to wake me up in the middle of the night to tell me I flooded the laundry room again. So I went to Wally World and purchased a 32 gallon Rubbermaid trash can. I bought a 1/4' float valve from Amazon. I had the bulkhead fitting, valve, pump and hose left over from other projects.

Trash can with the hole drilled in it for the float valve.

Float valve installed in the trash can. I put mine too close to the lip and had to trim a little off to keep it from hitting.

Bulk head fitting with a valve. You can see the pump sitting in the bottom. The pump was left over from another project and has way more flow than I need. Going to install a T in the line to make a bypass with a pvc valve to turn down the output a little bit. Right now it's like filling my buckets with a fire hose.

Here is the outside of the inlet fitting. The kit I bought came with a little manual shutoff valve.

This set up works but I'm going to tweak it some. I ordered the valve and tee for the bypass but the tee that was sent was the wrong size. I'm also using a power strip to turn the pump on and off. Was thinking about buying a light switch and wiring it into that.

 

[Arthur]

My RO system is out back, I have 3 5 gallon plastic carboy, and I link them together when empty so they all fill. Takes about the length of a movie and I'm done for the week.

 

[KonopCh]

Those RO "machines" waste too much water and they're really slow.
If you have roof, use that water/rain. Save the planet.

 

[McDee]

Got mine on Ebay for $200.00 came with bunch of filters. I put it in my kitchen sink got a nice faucet that matches. It makes 1 gallon every 28 minutes, that fills a 3.4 gallon tank under the sink. It could be used with reservoir as well. Well worth it. Works well and I always have water, clean water for my plants and I.

 

[JayGeeCanuck]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I'm looking to do the same thing. I'm running coco, so I use a lot of water. By the time flowering rolls around , I using around 4-5gallons per day for 4 plants. Id like to buy an RO system, but they most arent 'on demand' enough , so this resevoir idea is very intriguing. Is it worth just buying a larger bladder based resevoir? How has the garbage bin system been working /Stranglehold?