New Ro/Di...output was 0 now its 1 (under 36 hours use)

1Der9_3hy · Mar 20, 2011

I have had my ro/di up and running now for about 36 hours straight (its a 50 gpd coralife unit, I got a real good deal on it new). I bought a dual TDS meter from buckeyefieldsupply.com, and i have it installed so it shows TDS heading into the DI and TDS heading out of of the DI. When i first set it up friday night, i was getting 15-20 TDS after the membrane, but before the DI. I was also getting 0 TDS after the DI.

Now ive made about 40 gallons with it (yes i discarded the first 5 or so gallons), and my TDS reads 15-20 (like before) and 1 after the DI cartridge! I cant be wearing the resin out that quick can I?

Does anyone know if coralife uses a real low quality resin or something? I cant believe im getting 1 TDS after less than 50 gallons of output.

Could this have anything to do with running it for 1.5 days straight? If i give it some down time will i increase the DI resin's ability to remove the last little bit of solids?

1Der9_3hy · Mar 22, 2011

I just checked it, im still producing 1-2 TDS water. Ill see if this negatively affects my tanks, and just hope i can get 100-150 gallons out of this cartridge.

1Der9_3hy · Mar 27, 2011

Ive made about 100 gallons out of this DI cartridge and its confirmed to be toast. The membrane is kickin butt, taking 700+ TDS down to 5-6...then the DI is taking it down to 4-5. Should be getting in on a BRS group order tomorrow, so some inexpensive DI will be on its way soon enough.

Tabasco1 · Mar 27, 2011

Wow. That seems real fast to be going through di. Have you talked to coralife to see if that is outside of the norm?

CJO · Mar 27, 2011

That sounds weird. I've heard a few things that can kill your DI, but can't remember what.. Possibly hot water?

CJ

DarkSephiroth · Mar 27, 2011

One of the thing that kill DI is the cartridge not packed right. From what BRS said, you have to tightly pack the DI and make sure you stuff it real good, otherwise the DI resins will get loose and grind on each other and kill it fast.

I bought some premade cartridge from aquacave for my Vertex 100GPD and used it in 2 days. I took it apart and realized it wasn't packed tight. So i ordered from BRS and stuff it pretty good. That one got about 2 months life out of it.

AZDesertRat · Mar 27, 2011

Yes Coralife uses low quality resin plus it was probably sitting on a shelf for months before you bought it. Resin, even when properly vacuum sealed and stored in the refrigerator still only has a shelf life of about 6 months. DI resin is plastic beads so it does not grind itself like granular medias. If not packed tightly though, water can short circuit receiving poor contact and treatment.
No one blends DI resin like Spectrapure who blends all their resins daily in house for reef specific problems like silicates, nitrates and phosphates.

CO2 is what kills DI resin and you usually don't even know you have a CO2 problem as its not easy to test for.