Just watched Reefbuilders….thoughts on going RO water only

[msjboy]

Totally agree where you live..some places the water can be so hard and chlorinated. I am lucky in Vancouver bc, we also have some of the cleanest mountain water around and quite a few reefers just let it stand a few days before mixing it as is. Certainly I would not use Jakes method in Mexico.

 

[Lousybreed]

TDS is actually a terrible way to test how pure your water is. ICP is a better way as you've already done.

Silica will not show on a TDS meter and carbon will not fully remove it. This is just one element.

I run a 7 stage BRS unit with the pro resin setup. Cation, anion, mixed bed. My TDS is routinely over 300. I replace my anion about once a year, maybe even longer on this current cartridge. I sent in my tap water for an ICP and silica is crazy high in my area. Carbon alone won't filter it out to my knowledge. Could be wrong.

My mixed bed and cation are over 2 years old and never replaced. I replace my sediment filter every 6 months or so. I rotate and replace a carbon filter every 3 months. Meaning the oldest filter is 6 months old. I do this in case my city ever switches to chloramines and I don't know. They don't have to report this when they do it.

In the end, a lot of things can get past the carbon and RO membrane that we won't see on the TDS meter. I use ATI for my ICP for this very reason. I know pretty quick if my filters need any replacing.

You are getting record life time out of your DI beads. I go thru about 75lbs of DI a year. I also aerate my ro water before I push it thru my DI. I am not sure if high silicates are an issue. The reason I say that is there are several published articles about studying silicates and the results were inconclusive if they are good or bad.