The smart ass comments started with you sir.
these ??? ??? ??? little smile faces and telling me to do research came off and being sarcastic and a smart ass. Then again this is the internet and I may have interpreted it differently. Who knows, I'm not in front of you to read your facial expressions and tone.
And yes I believe I can get away with doing bi-yearly changes, because I'm building a FOWLR tank and using Aquaripure as a biological filter.
As for the RO unit, YES I have one in my Kitchen, which runs off a tap. It would be a pain to fill it up a bucket mix it with salt and dump and repeat. I'd rather go somewhere else and do the work for me and probably cheaper. I'm hearing quotes of $1 a gallon. Considering the price of water from my house and the salt, and the mess I have to make of the filter and the power consumption of running a powerhead in the bucket and having to wait a day for it to settle, I'd say this is a deal.