950 TDS well water

[gabesreef]

Hi I would really appreciate some input. My well water is horrible and I just updated the whole home water filtration system. It first gets injected with hydrogen peroxide. Then it goes to a 50 micron sediment filter then it goes into my iron removal tank and lastly through my water softener. After all that I get about 950 TDS. Now I have it hooked up inside my house to an RODI system. The first time I used it I burned a brand new cartridge of DI in about 4 hrs. So after a lot of research I’m going to make RO water then use an air stone to remove the extra CO2. Then run it through my DI.

Soo did all of that and while I was at it I replaced all of my filters. 5 micron sediment, new carbon block and new RO membrane (75gpd). After changing the filters I’m getting about 120 TDS out of my RO. what the heck I was getting like 30 TDS which I thought was to high before my DI stage.

Please I could use some input here I’ve never had to deal with well water and it absolutely sucks.

 

[Fish Fan]

I know next to nothing about well water, and the water system you've described with the H2O2 injection and iron removal system. But I am wondering what you're using to test the TDS of your water, and what units is it reporting in?

Typically, TDS is reported in PPT or Parts Per Thousand, so when you say your TDS was 950, assuming that's PPT you're basically saying your water is 950 parts solid and only 50 parts water. That's like the poster child of liquid cement (what they call very, very hard water in freshwater aquarium circles). Unless that's 950 Parts Per Million (ppm), I wonder if you're teasing is accurate.

@Randy Holmes-Farley would you have a minute to check in here please?

 

[Gone Reefin’]

I think it is likely PPM. I think your membrane may not be installed properly, seated properly, or perhaps you have switched your product and waste lines.

 

[gabesreef]

I know next to nothing about well water, and the water system you've described with the H2O2 injection and iron removal system. But I am wondering what you're using to test the TDS of your water, and what units is it reporting in?

Typically, TDS is reported in PPT or Parts Per Thousand, so when you say your TDS was 950, assuming that's PPT you're basically saying your water is 950 parts solid and only 50 parts water. That's like the poster child of liquid cement (what they call very, very hard water in freshwater aquarium circles). Unless that's 950 Parts Per Million (ppm), I wonder if you're teasing is accurate.

@Randy Holmes-Farley would you have a minute to check in here please?

 

[gabesreef]

I have a 4 stage that is fed via a booster pump this is the reading in (911 PPM) then it goes through 5 micron sediment and carbon and then through my RO membrane (filtec 75gpd) out is 110 ppm. This goes to a collection bin where I was planning to do some aeration to get rid of CO2.

 

[Johnd651]

I have a very similar issue. Look up green sand filtration or Catalox resin. I use Catalox whole home which brings it down from 1000+ TDS, then into a softner. I come out of the softner at about 40 tds before going into the RODI.

My system is from these guys

Katalox Light Water Filtration (Color, Odor, Iron, Manganese & Hydrogen Sulfide Removal)

Katalox for high level filtration, color and odor removal, iron, manganese, hydrogen sulfide removal, efficient reduction of arsenic, zinc, copper, lead, radium, rranium and other radionuclides and heavy metals.

aquascience.net

Super helpful support

 

[gabesreef]

I think I have everything connected correctly. Water into the membrane via the single cap port, then waste on the right and product water on the left?

 

[Shirak]

I think I have everything connected correctly. Water into the membrane via the single cap port, then waste on the right and product water on the left?

Need a picture of the other end cap to see which is which. Something not correct though if your getting 110ppm out on RO. Should be between 18-30 ppm based on your starting tds. It’s possible something isn’t seated correctly inside the RO housing.

 

[gabesreef]

Need a picture of the other end cap to see which is which. Something not correct though if your getting 110ppm out on RO. Should be between 18-30 ppm based on your starting tds. It’s possible something isn’t seated correctly inside the RO housing.

 

[gabesreef]

Need a picture of the other end cap to see which is which. Something not correct though if your getting 110ppm out on RO. Should be between 18-30 ppm based on your starting tds. It’s possible something isn’t seated correctly inside the RO housing.

How do I know if it’s not seated correctly?

 

[gabesreef]

I’m pretty sure the RO membrane is seating because I pushed it all the was down and from what I see it’s hooked up correctly.

 

[gabesreef]

Is my RO membrane shot?

 

[gabesreef]

I just purchased another RO membrane in case this one is defective. If anyone knows how I can solve this problem I’d really appreciate it. I’m at a complete loss right now.

 

[Shirak]

Could be the RO membrane. There are usually two washers on the side that goes into the housing first. Make sure you wet them or put a little o ring grease on them before inserting and both are all the way in. Sometimes they can get pinched and not seal properly if installed dry. I think it's worth pulling the RO out and checking the O rings are not damaged or anything.
Also a seal on the input side. Double check it's sitting flush all the way around on the inside of the RO housing.

Connections look ok from what I can see. I think if you have the waste and RO mixed up your TDS meter would be crazy high RO reading.

How much water are you getting out of the red line vs the blue line? Should be about 3-4x more from the red line.

 

[gabesreef]

Could be the RO membrane. There are usually two washers on the side that goes into the housing first. Make sure you wet them or put a little o ring grease on them before inserting and both are all the way in. Sometimes they can get pinched and not seal properly if installed dry. I think it's worth pulling the RO out and checking the O rings are not damaged or anything.
Also a seal on the input side. Double check it's sitting flush all the way around on the inside of the RO housing.

Connections look ok from what I can see. I think if you have the waste and RO mixed up your TDS meter would be crazy high RO reading.

How much water are you getting out of the red line vs the blue line? Should be about 3-4x more from the red line.

Yes I’m getting much more out of the red line. I pulled the membrane out to see and as far as I could tell there no damage to the o rings. I’m going to buy some grease tomorrow. I have another new RO membrane coming tomorrow as well. I’m totally stumped right now. I’ve spent my entire day trying to figure this out :/

 

[Jamie814]

Yes I’m getting much more out of the red line. I pulled the membrane out to see and as far as I could tell there no damage to the o rings. I’m going to buy some grease tomorrow. I have another new RO membrane coming tomorrow as well. I’m totally stumped right now. I’ve spent my entire day trying to figure this out :/

Was the new RO membrane you installed vacuumed sealed? If it was allowed to dry out it may be bad.
When membranes lose moisture they become brittle can crack, and lose their ability to reject contaminants, leading to poor water quality and decreased flow.

 

[gabesreef]

So I just replaced my old RO filter and at first it was doing the same thing about 120 tds. But I left it alone for like 2 hours came back to it and now it is producing 30 TDS water which for my particular situation is pretty good. I don’t understand what changed…

 

[Johnd651]

So I just replaced my old RO filter and at first it was doing the same thing about 120 tds. But I left it alone for like 2 hours came back to it and now it is producing 30 TDS water which for my particular situation is pretty good. I don’t understand what changed…

Ro membranes do need to be flushed via the reject port

 

[Gone Reefin’]

They do need to be flushed, but mine usually takes 5-10 minutes. I believe there may also be a slight “break in period”, but could be off on that. You just may have seated something a tad different and are now good. I hope it falls lower, mine is about 10-12 coming out of membrane.

 

[gabesreef]

They do need to be flushed, but mine usually takes 5-10 minutes. I believe there may also be a slight “break in period”, but could be off on that. You just may have seated something a tad different and are now good. I hope it falls lower, mine is about 10-12 coming out of membrane.

Currently at 25 tds. I hope that the DI can take care of it now.