DI cartridge alternative?

[Contractor_Chris]

So I know it's a common occurrence that folks on wellwater can fly thru anion resin in their rodi setup. I have okay well water, and a good softener system. So I thought. For my personal drinking water we use a ro setup. Out the tap, I'm getting about 300tds.

I purchased the brs 7 stage rodi and a booster pump. So cation, anion then a mixed bed in the 3 di setup. After the ro membrane I get about 3tds. Incoming water temp is aprox 55 degrees. The next reading isn't untill after the cation & anion and that give me 0tds then goes thru mixed bed. Issue is after making aprox 160ish gallons of water the anion is fully depleted, changed colors and now reads 1tds before the mix bed. The cation & mixed bed haven't changed color at all yet. I have two packages of anion to replace, but when those are gone, do I have other options besides this 3 resin setup for long term money savings?

I'm extremely new to the salt hobby, and don't even have fish or water in a tank yet. Just staying proactive to make everything as easy and stress free as possible with a side of trying to save money. I also know if heat & aerate it will help. I don't wish to go that route. Much more work then what it's work. Time & cost to do such would be a net zero or worse.

Thanks in advance, Chris.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The CO2 in the well water, which is not altered by a softener, will deplete the anion resin undesirably fast.

Some ways around that include degassing the well water before it enters the RO/DI, and recharging the anion resin yourself. The latter doesn't change the depletion rate, but makes it less costly.

 

[SWFT]

The CO2 in the well water, which is not altered by a softener, will deplete the anion resin undesirably fast.

Some ways around that include degassing the well water before it enters the RO/DI, and recharging the anion resin yourself. The latter doesn't change the depletion rate, but makes it less costly.

I’m also experiencing this issue on well water. I have two sediment filters, water softener, and air oxidizing iron and other particle remover. Water entering my RODI is about 230 TDS. I blow thru my resin very fast.

How do you recommend degassing the well water?

I also have a UV filter for the whole house but my RODI is pulling water before the UV. Does RODI filter out all the bacteria as well?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I do not have a specific method that I prefer since I've never looked into the details, but there are many threads where folks use them, such as this one:

DIY CO2 Degassing Chamber for RO/DI

Well, I learned the hard way that the water coming out of my well has a high CO2 content. I burned through a pound of DI resin and only got 40 gallons out of it.... To keep this from happening again, I could either buy lots of RO/DI water or remove the CO2 from the RO water before I pass it...

www.reef2reef.com

An RO/DI will remove any bacteria coming in with the source water since they cannot pass the RO membrane, but bacteria can still grow on the downstream side of the RO membrane and can get into the effluent.

 

[Contractor_Chris]

From my understanding it's as "simple" as filling a container, adding an air stone to it for some period of time then using a pump and putting it thru the rodi. But at a 3:1 waste to use ratio. That's a huge container needed to fill just a 65 gallon of rodi. Also would be pretty time consuming and again doesn't seem costly. Electricity for the pump. Electricity for the air, while your at it may as well heat it so Electricity there.

 

[KStatefan]

I chose to make a degassing chamber for my water to lower the CO2.

Out of my membrane water flow into the bottom of a piece of 4" pvc stood up and overflowc into a 5 gallon container that has a pump to pump thru the di.

 

[KStatefan]

From my understanding it's as "simple" as filling a container, adding an air stone to it for some period of time then using a pump and putting it thru the rodi. But at a 3:1 waste to use ratio. That's a huge container needed to fill just a 65 gallon of rodi. Also would be pretty time consuming and again doesn't seem costly. Electricity for the pump. Electricity for the air, while your at it may as well heat it so Electricity there.

I do not degass the supply water only the water coming out of the membrane. Why degass what you are going to send down the drain.
My air pump draws 2.9 watts so if I make water once a week for 24 hours that would cost about 12 cents per year.
I am using a Tunze ATO pump to pump water thru the DI and do not know what it draw but not much and it does not run long each time so minimual electricity cost there also.
I do not heat the water so no cost there.

 

[Contractor_Chris]

I do not degass the supply water only the water coming out of the membrane. Why degass what you are going to send down the drain.
My air pump draws 2.9 watts so if I make water once a week for 24 hours that would cost about 12 cents per year.
I am using a Tunze ATO pump to pump water thru the DI and do not know what it draw but not much and it does not run long each time so minimual electricity cost there also.
I do not heat the water so no cost there.

How many gallons of rodi were you getting per lb of anion? Im not sure what city water people get. But as stated i got about 160 gallons vs others who don't even get 40. Even so another 65 gallon holding container. Plus an ato pump, isn't cheap nor do I really have room for a 3rd barrel. Wife would shoot me also probably hah

 

[KStatefan]

How many gallons of rodi were you getting per lb of anion? Im not sure what city water people get. But as stated i got about 160 gallons vs others who don't even get 40. Even so another 65 gallon holding container. Plus an ato pump, isn't cheap nor do I really have room for a 3rd barrel. Wife would shoot me also probably hah

I do not know. I was using up one mixed bed cartridge to to make 50 gallons of RODI water.

 

[Contractor_Chris]

I do not know. I was using up one mixed bed cartridge to to make 50 gallons of RODI water.

And how many gallons do you get now thay you arate it?

 

[exnisstech]

What size tank are you planning and what will your WC schedule be? I run 3 tanks totaling over 300g combined and 160g of RODI would last 5 weeks but I only do 30g of changes a week accross all 3 tanks. Not sure what size tank your planning but unless your going very large you may be making this out to be a bigger issue than it really is. JMO

EDIT : also always pack your own cartridges.

 

[Contractor_Chris]

What size tank are you planning and what will your WC schedule be? I run 3 tanks totaling over 300g combined and 160g of RODI would last 5 weeks but I only do 30g of changes a week accross all 3 tanks. Not sure what size tank your planning but unless your going very large you may be making this out to be a bigger issue than it really is. JMO

Setting up a 180 gallon display with a 45 a 44 gal sump and a 30gal frag tank next to it. As far as wc schedule I have no clue. I'm a less is more kind of guy so the less I have to the better. (I have a 300 gal fresh tank and only do a wc every couple weeks to once a month).

 

[exnisstech]

Setting up a 180 gallon display with a 45 a 44 gal sump and a 30gal frag tank next to it. As far as wc schedule I have no clue. I'm a less is more kind of guy so the less I have to the better. (I have a 300 gal fresh tank and only do a wc every couple weeks to once a month).

My largest is a 180g with a 125g as a basement sump about 220ish g total. I do 20 gal a week changes but not religiously. I'm a less is more type of person as well. Really, not counting the initial fill if you do 10% weekly changes which is somewhat of a standard in the hobby (tho many do more or less) 160 gallons of RODI would last you around 6 weeks which seems pretty good but math isn't my strong point

 

[Contractor_Chris]

Yep that sounds about right. It also seems most who post about the issue are having the anion last less then a 3rd of what I expierenced. I was just curious what if I just ran all mixed beds. I know the guys with a 1 or 2 canister di. That's all they run is mixed. So wasn't sure the pro for well water people to run cation & anion vs just mixed. (I don't even fully get what it does vs mixed)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How many gallons of rodi were you getting per lb of anion? Im not sure what city water people get. But as stated i got about 160 gallons vs others who don't even get 40. Even so another 65 gallon holding container. Plus an ato pump, isn't cheap nor do I really have room for a 3rd barrel. Wife would shoot me also probably hah

How long a DI resin lasts depends entirely on the TDS of the incoming water (ignoring CO2 issues). That can easily range over more than a factor of 10 from place to place.

My incoming water had a TDS of about 92 ppm, and I got hundreds of gallons from a single cartridge. These things can be calculated from the TDS if one wants to.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Yep that sounds about right. It also seems most who post about the issue are having the anion last less then a 3rd of what I expierenced. I was just curious what if I just ran all mixed beds. I know the guys with a 1 or 2 canister di. That's all they run is mixed. So wasn't sure the pro for well water people to run cation & anion vs just mixed. (I don't even fully get what it does vs mixed)

CO2 depletes only the anion resin, whether alone or in a mixed bed, so if you lead with an anion only cartridge, you can swap that out when needed.

if you used a mixed bed only, you will deplete the anion part first, and will be replacing the mixed bed when only the anion part is depleted.

 

[SWFT]

How long a DI resin lasts depends entirely on the TDS of the incoming water (ignoring CO2 issues). That can easily range over more than a factor of 10 from place to place.

My incoming water had a TDS of about 92 ppm, and I got hundreds of gallons from a single cartridge. These things can be calculated from the TDS if one wants to.

Isn’t most of the dissolved solids being filtered by RO membrane? The DI membrane filters out the remaining few TDS right?

 

[Contractor_Chris]

CO2 depletes only the anion resin, whether alone or in a mixed bed, so if you lead with an anion only cartridge, you can swap that out when needed.

if you used a mixed bed only, you will deplete the anion part first, and will be replacing the mixed bed when only the anion part is depleted.

Makes sense exactly what I was curious about. Silly maybe question, and slightly off topic. Are all the other resins that change color extremely evenident? I.e. the cation & mixed bed how the anion completely turns a different color? I only ask as I'm partly colorblind and feel maybe should have asked the wife to take a look at them before use lol

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

For your Drinking water Tap off the RO Membrane, before the DI. Use a Re-Mineralization Block before your RO Compression Tank. If you Store Raw RO/DI Water in your Compression Tank, you are going to go through them quickly, as the RO/DI Water is going to eat away at the bladder. There are Tanks that are more resistant to the RO/DI Water $$$$$

 

[Contractor_Chris]

For your Drinking water Tap off the RO Membrane, before the DI. Use a Re-Mineralization Block before your RO Compression Tank. If you Store Raw RO/DI Water in your Compression Tank, you are going to go through them quickly, as the RO/DI Water is going to eat away at the bladder. There are Tanks that are more resistant to the RO/DI Water $$$$$

I have a completely different ro setup for my home drinking water with a little pressure tank. It was installed by the seller shortly before we bought the home. Then I had the company come out and replace all the ro filters.. my rodi setup for fish is a completely separate system in the basement