Reverse Osmosis help

I am buying a reverse osmosis filter for the house and the garden. The water is terrible. I have about 300 to spend on it and was wondering if anyone had any input as to the best systems. I was looking at the hydrologic stealth 200. Has anyone used this?
It seems legitimate, but will it suffice to use as drinking water too?

stacatto99 said:

I am buying a reverse osmosis filter for the house and the garden. The water is terrible. I have about 300 to spend on it and was wondering if anyone had any input as to the best systems. I was looking at the hydrologic stealth 200. Has anyone used this?
It seems legitimate, but will it suffice to use as drinking water too?

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Yes, I have it and it works great and is of very high quality. It can produce 200 gallons of RO water per day (according to the box) which is usually way more than I need. My water is mid 300's normally and with this filter it's 10ppm (supposedly 7 but my meter reads in increments of 10 so it rounds up?).

You can drink the water too if you'd like but those minerals in your tap water can be good for you so maybe a 50/50 mix of tap and RO for drinking water should suffice.

Spectrapure is the Cadillac of RO systems.



Which ever unit you choose to purchase, I suggest adding a booster pump. Even with that, making RO water is a slow process.

so i wouldnt be able to hook up the system to my house water because of lack of pressure?

I have two 5 gallon dwc systems, but i am primarily using soil. i just want clean water for the plants and for the house

You would be able to use the setup right out of the box. Couple things to keep in mind: Do you know the water pressure of your house?? Does it get cold where you live? Just about every single RO filter on the market intended for home use is rated at 70psi (ie: 98% rejection at 70psi). Where I live, the tap water arrives at 49psi; much lower than what the filter is rated (which means the filter will produce LESS.)

Cold water also affects RO filtering capability. Right now, the incoming water where I live is 56 degrees. I can max out at 120 gallons per day at 80psi with a 99% rejection rate. During the summer, I can make 180 gallons per day when the water is 77 degrees.


Doing some quick math, in the summer, I produce 1 gallon of RO water in 8 minutes (yes, this is the maximum output including a booster pump). In the winter, this falls to 1 gallon in 12 minutes. Your morning whiz will put out higher volumes in a shorter time.

The HydroLogic 200 is most efficient at 65psi but that doesn't mean your water needs to be 65psi coming out of your faucet. The system fits your faucet with a 1/4inch tube and the small diameter of the tube creates higher pressure. I can't imagine anyone needing a booster pump based on how little I actually need to turn my water on before it hits the desirable range for filtration.

As far as output goes, I use a brute trashcan with a floating shut-off valve. When the trashcan is full of water, the float valve is triggered and the system shuts off. Just turn your water on before you leave for work or before you head to bed at night and when you check on your collection tub again, it'll be full. Fyi, my Hydro 200 only needs a few hours to fill up a 45 gallon trashcan.

homebrewer said:

The HydroLogic 200 is most efficient at 65psi but that doesn't mean your water needs to be 65psi coming out of your faucet. The system fits your faucet with a 1/4inch tube and the small diameter of the tube creates higher pressure. I can't imagine anyone needing a booster pump based on how little I actually need to turn my water on before it hits the desirable range for filtration.

As far as output goes, I use a brute trashcan with a floating shut-off valve. When the trashcan is full of water, the float valve is triggered and the system shuts off. Just turn your water on before you leave for work or before you head to bed at night and when you check on your collection tub again, it'll be full. Fyi, my Hydro 200 only needs a few hours to fill up a 45 gallon trashcan.

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If you don't mind my asking, what is the TDS of your incoming tap water and of your RO water? I am curious as to the rejection rate of the RO filter (some are 90% which makes more water faster.)


Unfortunately, the lower size tubing does not create additional pressure; pressure builds upstream from the resistance to flow and can only be as high as the source. For this reason, all of our RO units have a built in flow restriction device.

CoralGrower said:

If you don't mind my asking, what is the TDS of your incoming tap water and of your RO water? I am curious as to the rejection rate of the RO filter (some are 90% which makes more water faster.)

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330ppm out of the tap right now. The ppm of the filtered water reads 10 but that's because my meter reads in increments of 10, supposedly it's 7. Doesn't matter either way really.

Unfortunately, the lower size tubing does not create additional pressure; pressure builds upstream from the resistance to flow and can only be as high as the source. For this reason, all of our RO units have a built in flow restriction device.

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The smaller tubing does create more pressure. Ever felt the exhaust coming out of a car before you put straight pipes on? Ever blown through a straw? Ever watered your garden and put your thumb over the end of the hose to water things out of reach?

I`m in between minds on which unit to get myself... PPM here is always 330 , 340 never really changes....

Does either one of these kits come 100 percent complete and how does one hook up the feed water to the pipe/tap, RO unit etc etc?

Plus my water pressure is only 35 cut in and 55 cut out.. Will I need a Booster pump That sure puts the price up on one of these if a pump is needed?

Wonder too, about just getting a 100 series instead of the 200 gal per day... Does the 100 make alot of water as well or advantages and cons one to the other?

Thanks Guys

stealth 100 awesome. i have it with the kdf85 sulfer and iron carbon filter. my pressure is 30 so i got the booster pump, ppm input 246 output 2-3ppm!

homebrewer said:

330ppm out of the tap right now. The ppm of the filtered water reads 10 but that's because my meter reads in increments of 10, supposedly it's 7. Doesn't matter either way really.


The smaller tubing does create more pressure. Ever felt the exhaust coming out of a car before you put straight pipes on? Ever blown through a straw? Ever watered your garden and put your thumb over the end of the hose to water things out of reach?

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I agree that it really doesn't matter if it's 7ppm or 10. I am using the filter that I use because at one time, I used to make RO/DI water and the lower the TDS going to the DI resin, the longer it lasts. Now that I have no need for DI water, I don't think I need to be making such pure RO water. I wouldn't mind making water a bit faster as well.


In 100% of the cases you sited, pressure is created upstream from the resistance. Its a fine line, and I wouldn't BS you; you offer too much good advice.



There are several ways to hook the filters up to the tap. I am not a fan of the method that taps a hole directly into your copper tube because it's permanent. I went to Dummy Depot and picked up a "Y" adapter for a dollar.

One does not need a pressure booster pump; I only recommend them because the RO process is quite slow and higher pressures generally make the RO filter more efficient.

CoralGrower said:

In 100% of the cases you sited, pressure is created upstream from the resistance. Its a fine line, and I wouldn't BS you; you offer too much good advice.

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How is the smaller tube not creating more pressure for the unit? Assuming the flow is constant out of the tap, forcing the water through a more constricted passageway increases the flow rate through the smaller tube, how is that not correct?

A few things to consider: Pressure and flow are inverse to each other; as one goes up, the other goes down. Also, pressure is like energy, it cannot be created nor destroyed, only converted. If your home water pressure is 65 psi, that is the maximum pressure you will ever obtain; to be otherwise is physically impossible.


Think about a garden hose. Unravel it, put a nozzle on, and open the spigot. For a few seconds, the hose is filling (there is flow) so the hose doesn't charge immediately. Once there is no place for the flow to go, the hose charges to the maximum pressure as supplied by the water company. The nozzle is the restriction; everything upstream is pressurized, nothing on the downstream. Squeeze the nozzle and water comes out. The pressure inside the hose drops and flow is increased. The restriction is still the nozzle and everything upstream is of higher pressure than what is coming out of the nozzle. When you feed those tomatoes growing in the corner, you are increasing the velocity of the water as it exits the nozzle because you are increasing the pressure differential on both sides of the restriction. There is still pressure upstream of the nozzle and none downstream. At no point will the pressure inside the hose ever exceed the supply pressure.


Getting back to our RO units. The 1/4 inch hose where it meets the spigot is the restriction. When you open your feed valve, you are supplying water to the filter. Because there is flow, there has to be a pressure drop. If you were to shut off all of your filter outputs, the pressure will eventually reach 65psi. The same instant that you crack open the output valve, the pressure is going to drop. We can maximize the pressure to 65psi inside the unit, but we make no water. As I stated before, every RO unit that I know of contains a flow restriction device inside the waste water line which also happens to be the most downstream component in your RO filter assy. This restriction causes the pressure inside the filter to increase (pressure is always created upstream of the restriction.) In your statement above, you are confusing flow rate with velocity. 100gpm exiting a 6 inch pipe isn't going to water those tomatoes in the corner. 100gpm coming out of a 1/4 inch tube, you can water your neighbors tomatoes as well.


This is much easier to explain in person. I only hope I don't confuse anyone.