New aqua fx octopus problems

[slaughlin79]

I’m trying to setup my new octopus from aquafx but I can’t get any water to flow into my di canisters. When I plug it in and after it does it’s prechecks the pressure builds rapidly to 130 psi before I unplug it. 80 is max safe pressure and says right in manual not to go over 80. There is a valve right after membrane that has wires going to it and also had one or two adjustment screws but not sure what they do, possibly flow are pressure. Not sure.
I bought this bc my cnc machine coolant needs ultra pure di water so im shut down until I figure this out and figured what better place to ask this. So if anyone can help me out or if they have are familiar with this thing I’d appreciate your insight.

 

[blaxsun]

Have you tried contacting the manufacturer directly?

 

[Gtinnel]

I have never used that exact filter but providing pictures may be a big benefit to getting help. You don't have the final output blocked off anyway do you? What lights are lit up on the controller when it's running? Have you tried backing the restrictor off to keep it at 80psi, which should help with not going over pressure (which I doubt the higher pressure would hurt anything anyway)?
Here is a pretty good video that shows some of how to get it working.

 

[slaughlin79]

I meant to update this and forgot. Yes I did call but it was on a Saturday and I think they were closed and I left a message and they eventually got back with me but I had already figured out why it wasn’t producing water. The check valve between membrane and di canisters was installed backwards and as soon as it was flipped around water started to flow and with that there is leak where the tdi meter SCREWS or really MELTED into a push to connect tee so I just removed it and installed 1/8 brass coupling. The. I noticed that no matter how much screw out on the flow valve pressure never drops below 85-90. 80 is max from what they say. And also no matter how much I close off the waste water line the product water stays the same but pressure just goes up to like 150.

when I bought this I bought ut bc it said it was a 1:1 rodi unit but is no where even close to that.it takes 4 times the amount of time to fill a 5 gallon bucket vs the waste water line. I got on the website and it says in clear English 1:1, one of their most efficient units but when I talked to them they said “ oh yeah that’s a 4:1”
I didnt say anything bc I wanted to check myself and see if I read something wrong and lo and behold I read it correct, it says 1:1. I don’t like wasting a 1,000 gallons or really it’s more to get
My 275 gallon tote filled.

I haven’t got back with them yet but I’m expecting them to make it right.

 

[Gtinnel]

4:1 is pretty standard as the waste to production water ratio for any rodi filter. You could've bought a much cheaper unit and added on a second membrane and got less waste water than what you are getting from that one.
I had never even heard of that filter before you posted, and I don't know anything about it other than watching a few videos on it. Other than having a built in pump, a fancy controller, and an adjustable waste water restrictor it just seems to be a normal rodi, it still just forces water through each stage like any other filter so it's hard for me to understand why it would get a better ratio. Also, 80psi seems low to me, I have a cheap aquafx barracuda filter and I've been running it at around 100psi without any issues, unless it's something to do with the controller that can't let you go over 80psi. The cannisters should hold more than 80psi easily.

 

[Dbichler]

I also have the barracuda I added another ro filter and production more than doubled used to be 4-1 now probably around 1.5-1.

 

[Gtinnel]

I also have the barracuda I added another ro filter and production more than doubled used to be 4-1 now probably around 1.5-1.

I really need to look into adding a second membrane.

 

[Dbichler]

Yes with the money make sure to set it up so you only have one waste line though or your just increasing production and waste

 

[slaughlin79]

Then why advertise the unit as 1:1 bc others are getting it and my city turned out to be not so bad at all. I could understand if In the description they would say it’s capable of 1:1 but you need to add this or do this but there is nothing. Its the first thing they say when they list the highlights of the octopus. Even if that just screwed up and weren’t being deceptive which I’m leaning towards deceptive, calling it 100 gallons a day when it took over 100 hrs to get l around 180 to 210 and that’s being generous is pretty messed up. 4-1/2 days it took to get less than 200 gallons. If any of y’all bought a 300 gallon from them for 800 dollars or maybe more after shipping would you be okay if it only produced 100 gallons in a day?

 

[slaughlin79]

Yes with the money make sure to set it up so you only have one waste line though or your just increasing production and waste

I only have one waste line

 

[slaughlin79]

Mine is an octopus by the way I don’t know if I said that or not

 

[Gtinnel]

Yes with the money make sure to set it up so you only have one waste line though or your just increasing production and waste

Assuming this was meant in reply to me mentioning adding a second membrane I actually started another thread to not take over the OP's thread. If you would look at my first post and see if my plan looks right to you I would appreciate it.

Adding a second rodi membrane

A response to another thread just made me realize I really should add a second membrane to my rodi filter. I currently use a dow filmtec 100gpd membrane, if I add a second membrane do I just make it the same membrane so they have matching gpd or does it matter? Also I have an old membrane...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Dbichler]

Yeah I would be upset I would have returned it to be honest. With my barracuda with extra ro and chloramine buster and two extra cannisters I only sent 225 or so. Produces 200 gallons in a day.

 

[Gtinnel]

Then why advertise the unit as 1:1

Because it convinces people to buy it. I'm sure under the right circumstances it will be a 1:1 ratio but that is usually at the expensive of quickly ruining the membrane. Usually the waste ratio of 4:1 is needed to keep the membrane properly cleaned off. Usually the best way to improve your ratio is to add extra membrane so the waste water is being filtered also. But there are some caveats to that like your supply water can't be over a certain tds and your pressure has to be high enough.

 

[slaughlin79]

T

4:1 is pretty standard as the waste to production water ratio for any rodi filter. You could've bought a much cheaper unit and added on a second membrane and got less waste water than what you are getting from that one.
I had never even heard of that filter before you posted, and I don't know anything about it other than watching a few videos on it. Other than having a built in pump, a fancy controller, and an adjustable waste water restrictor it just seems to be a normal rodi, it still just forces water through each stage like any other filter so it's hard for me to understand why it would get a better ratio. Also, 80psi seems low to me, I have a cheap aquafx barracuda filter and I've been running it at around 100psi without any issues, unless it's something to do with the controller that can't let you go over 80psi. The cannisters should hold more than 80psi easily.

I wish it did control the pressure bc I came out in me morning and the gauge was showing 140 so not sure how long it was at that pressure but I’m not really worried about bc 80 psi is being extremely cautious. Unless defective it should be able to hold 130 140. I know the canisters on my cnc machine can hold that anyways and they are just A.O. 4.5”

 

[Gtinnel]

I can get over 100 gpd out of my 100gpd membrane because of the pressure I put through it, which is around 100 psi. And that is on a cheap rodi unit and a pump though I bought about 20 years ago.

 

[Dbichler]

Assuming this was meant in reply to me mentioning adding a second membrane I actually started another thread to not take over the OP's thread. If you would look at my first post and see if my plan looks right to you I would appreciate it.

Adding a second rodi membrane

A response to another thread just made me realize I really should add a second membrane to my rodi filter. I currently use a dow filmtec 100gpd membrane, if I add a second membrane do I just make it the same membrane so they have matching gpd or does it matter? Also I have an old membrane...

www.reef2reef.com

Yea that illustration is correct just make sure to have a flush valve so you can push a ton of water through the ro membranes and not your di so you eliminate tds creep your waste water will be extremely fast when your flushing it and your pressure will drop to like 10 with it on and back to normal when off.

 

[Dbichler]

Aqua fx also recommends 70*f for water temp going through their filters colder water takes longer to make.

 

[Gtinnel]

Yea that illustration is correct just make sure to have a flush valve so you can push a ton of water through the ro membranes and not your di so you eliminate tds creep your waste water will be extremely fast when your flushing it and your pressure will drop to like 10 with it on and back to normal when off.

I actually have a micro controller setup to control a group of solenoids to automatically open a valve to bypass the restrictor at the beginning of startup and then once every 30 minutes. I also dump the first few minutes of water that comes out of the membrane to prevent the higher tds water from going into my di and then I dump the first few minutes of water coming through the di (which is probably unnecessary). In total my start up procedure takes about 5 minutes before any filtered water is produced.
Thanks for looking at my other thread.

 

[Dbichler]

I actually have a micro controller setup to control a group of solenoids to automatically open a valve to bypass the restrictor at the beginning of startup and then once every 30 minutes. I also dump the first few minutes of water that comes out of the membrane to prevent the higher tds water from going into my di and then I dump the first few minutes of water coming through the di (which is probably unnecessary). In total my start up procedure takes about 5 minutes before any filtered water is produced.
Thanks for looking at my other thread.

No problem it confused the crap out of me at first too.