Interesting observation with water quality and 0 tds. How often do you change your filters and should you be changing filters more often?

[LRT]

I have disgusting water from my tap around 5-600ppm. Use 7 stage system to get around 1-5ppm before sending to 3 stage deionization.
Got a little busy with work and lazy and let my membrane go to around 15ppm before sending to 3 stage but still sending 0 water to top off can.
Anyhow I noticed a brownish color algae start growing on my glass running like this. Also staining my filter socks with same nasty color. Ive come to conclusion that my burnt out pre-filters and membrane is in fact letting something through that has been causing this. Fixed the situation and after few days my socks aren't turning brown and the film algae is not growing any longer. Ive noticed this in the past as well but couldn't put finger on it.
From here on out ill be changing my pre-filter and membrane alot sooner. Def before 10tds or until when I see the brown overtaking the pre-filter.
Do you trust you 0 tds water?
I def feel like the burnt pre-filter where letting something through even though my top off water sits at 0 tds.

 

[fishguy242]

have you added a dedicated whole house string cartridge filter before everything ?
just your run of the mill Home Depot one, really helps.
i trust 0 tds, but leary on meters,
running 4
1 in and out of membrane
2nd out of membrane
last 2 inline after di.

 

[LRT]

have you added a dedicated whole house string cartridge filter before everything ?
just your run of the mill Home Depot one, really helps.
i trust 0 tds, but leary on meters,
running 4
1 in and out of membrane
2nd out of membrane
last 2 inline after di.

I have not done that. It seems like its the really fine particulates in 1-5 micron range that gets to my membrane and boggles it up that ends up getting past my dionization cans.
Ive tried both the 1 and 5micron prefilters before membrane and doesn't seem to make a difference on how fast I go through membranes.
I've also reconfigured my tds meters to dbl check if im getting 0 tds and they are all showing 0 tds after my mixed bed before top off.

 

[Woodyman]

I have not done that. It seems like its the really fine particulates in 1-5 micron range that gets to my membrane and boggles it up that ends up getting past my dionization cans.
Ive tried both the 1 and 5micron prefilters before membrane and doesn't seem to make a difference on how fast I go through membranes.
I've also reconfigured my tds meters to dbl check if im getting 0 tds and they are all showing 0 tds after my mixed bed before top off.

Run a 0.2 micron, that would be considered a sterilizing filter. I run one as my prefilter followed by the carbon blocks.

Another option would be a pleated 0.35 micron filter.

Meters are only as good as the calibration you perform on them. Eventually even the best meters drift and get buildup/bio films and will give false readings. Periodically cleaning the probes will eliminate that possibility, but they should still be periodically verified for calibration. Just ensure you follow th calibration procedure correctly. Doing it incorrectly will just mess you up further.

 

[Woodyman]

I have not done that. It seems like its the really fine particulates in 1-5 micron range that gets to my membrane and boggles it up that ends up getting past my dionization cans.
Ive tried both the 1 and 5micron prefilters before membrane and doesn't seem to make a difference on how fast I go through membranes.
I've also reconfigured my tds meters to dbl check if im getting 0 tds and they are all showing 0 tds after my mixed bed before top off.

How many and what type of DI do you run?

 

[LRT]

How many and what type of DI do you run?

I'm running Brs configuration for Di. Cation-Anion-Mix bed. My Anion depletes the fastest.
Also I have ran the .1 de chlorination blocks and feel like that helped. Come to think of it. This last time I used the standard .5 brs blocks because its what I had and was in hurry.
Where do you get the .2 blocks?

 

[Tamberav]

I change pre filters every 6 months. My TDS in is only 135ish but there is chloramines.

My spectrapure membrane lasted 6? years and my super max cap spectrapure silica buster/DI lasted 2 years.

Obviously with 500-600 you need to change more often. I use the spectrapure stuff because it is advertised to last much longer... and it does. I figure BRS buys their stuff in bulk somewhere cheap... and spectrapure specializes in this stuff. Obviously affordable for me since it lasts so long.

 

[Woodyman]

I'm running Brs configuration for Di. Cation-Anion-Mix bed. My Anion depletes the fastest.
Also I have ran the .1 de chlorination blocks and feel like that helped. Come to think of it. This last time I used the standard .5 brs blocks because its what I had and was in hurry.
Where do you get the .2 blocks?

Saltwater aquarium carries the Spectrapure ones or you can buy from spectrapure as well.

I'm sure Amazon and other retailers carry them as well. I'm honestly surprised BRS doesn't carry anything less than the 1 micron.

 

[Woodyman]

I change pre filters every 6 months. My TDS in is only 135ish but there is chloramines.

My spectrapure membrane lasted 6? years and my super max cap spectrapure silica buster/DI lasted 2 years.

Obviously with 500-600 you need to change more often. I use the spectrapure stuff because it is advertised to last much longer... and it does. I figure BRS buys their stuff in bulk somewhere cheap... and spectrapure specializes in this stuff. Obviously affordable for me since it lasts so long.

Can't agree more, the SpectraPure branded stuff is more expensive, but it lasts considerably longer.

 

[LRT]

Hahaha cool. Honestly been kicking myself for not going with spectrapure and may just upgrade here in the future. They designed there stuff around my nasty water and think main head quarters is about 15mins from my house in tempe!

 

[ZoWhat]

Just get liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen
... and mix them together to get pure
water

=

 

[LRT]

Just get liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen
... and mix them together to get pure
water

I have thought about this i wont lie!

 

[Woodyman]

Hahaha cool. Honestly been kicking myself for not going with spectrapure and may just upgrade here in the future. They designed there stuff around my nasty water and think main head quarters is about 15mins from my house in tempe!

If your system is in good shape no need to upgrade the whole setup. Just replace your filters out with the Spectrapure ones next time you change them.

If you go with the 99% membrane you should very easily see some cost savings on your resin consumption.

Couple that with the Spectrapure DI and I'm sure you'll be happy with the increased life and reduced change out frequency.

 

[rtparty]

0TDS doesn't mean there is nothing getting through. It's why I never rely on TDS from any manufacturer. I send off RO samples with my ATI ICP tests. It will tell me exactly when my filters need replacing.

I use a BRS 7 stage system. My old house was routinely 1100+ TDS because of the mine runoff. Never had issues or went through filters any quicker than the SpectraPure that it replaced. That filter was a pile of junk that leaked from day one and the customer service was pathetic. Wrote them off entirely after that experience.

 

[LRT]

0TDS doesn't mean there is nothing getting through. It's why I never rely on TDS from any manufacturer. I send off RO samples with my ATI ICP tests. It will tell me exactly when my filters need replacing.

I use a BRS 7 stage system. My old house was routinely 1100+ TDS because of the mine runoff. Never had issues or went through filters any quicker than the SpectraPure that it replaced. That filter was a pile of junk that leaked from day one and the customer service was pathetic. Wrote them off entirely after that experience.

Lol I though my water was bad!

 

[rtparty]

Lol I though my water was bad!

I swear you could chew it at times...lol

When we had soft water put in, the guy tested it at like 1300 that day. He knew exactly what it was and where it came from. People that didn't have soft water installed would lose appliances around 5 years. The build up was crazy.

Thankfully, my water now is like 2-300 at the new house. Filters have been lasting forever. I change them out based on time and not usage. They usually aren't used up by the time I need to replace them

 

[LRT]

I swear you could chew it at times...lol

When we had soft water put in, the guy tested it at like 1300 that day. He knew exactly what it was and where it came from. People that didn't have soft water installed would lose appliances around 5 years. The build up was crazy.

Thankfully, my water now is like 2-300 at the new house. Filters have been lasting forever. I change them out based on time and not usage. They usually aren't used up by the time I need to replace them

I can only imagine. My water has a distinct, desert, nasty dirty smell. Kinda like the air we breath here.
Id imagine yours smelling the same with super heavy minerals.

 

[Woodyman]

0TDS doesn't mean there is nothing getting through. It's why I never rely on TDS from any manufacturer. I send off RO samples with my ATI ICP tests. It will tell me exactly when my filters need replacing.

I use a BRS 7 stage system. My old house was routinely 1100+ TDS because of the mine runoff. Never had issues or went through filters any quicker than the SpectraPure that it replaced. That filter was a pile of junk that leaked from day one and the customer service was pathetic. Wrote them off entirely after that experience.

This a point many ignore, the meters we use are only so sensitive. If you really want to measure your talking meters in the hundreds to thousands. A resistivity meter would be nice and they aren't horribly expensive, but also not exactly needed for our purposes.

Also, once you start making that ultra pure water it will become immediately contaminated by compounds from your storage container.

If I remember correctly the last 100 gallon plastic vat we had installed affected the ultra pure water for ~6 months, it dimishes over time, but the minute impurities in the production, storage, and handling of the containers will contaminate ultra pure water for a time.

 

[Woodyman]

I swear you could chew it at times...lol

When we had soft water put in, the guy tested it at like 1300 that day. He knew exactly what it was and where it came from. People that didn't have soft water installed would lose appliances around 5 years. The build up was crazy.

Thankfully, my water now is like 2-300 at the new house. Filters have been lasting forever. I change them out based on time and not usage. They usually aren't used up by the time I need to replace them

Gross.

Glad I see ~150 TDS

 

[Woodyman]

One thing as well @LRT your water may have higher levels of organic carbon, which aren't easily removed by membranes. High levels of organic carbon through your system will lead to fouling of the system, and even undetectable levels of organic carbon could be fueling your growth.