Good Morning,
I posted this in the chemistry section, but since the post includes a filtration component to it, I thought I'd post it here as well. In that regard, maybe you can help tweak my whole house filtration and RO/DI configuration to better complement one another (and perhaps address chloramines at the whole house filtration-level, rather than just the RO prefilter level).
Does anyone know whether Salifert's nitrate test kit is compatible with freshwater? I tested my post-RO (but pre-DI) water and obtained a nitrate reading of about 10 which doesn't make sense given the number and quality of filters I'm using. I tried two Salifert nitrate test kits. My filtration consists of: (1) a whole house water filtration setup that involves 3 stages of large canister filters (i.e. 4.5" x 20" blocks), including 1 x 5 micron sediment, 2 x 5 micron carbon blocks, 1 x electronic water descaler and (2) a BRS 6 Stage RO/DI, including 1x 5 micron sediment filter, 1 x BRS Chlorine & VOC 5 Micron Carbon Block, 1 x BRS Universal 1 micron carbon block, 1 x 75GPD Dow Filmtec RO, 1 x Omnipure Inline Carbon block (post-RO) and 1 x DI stage. I have a bypass immediately before the DI (which is for tank use only).
Please keep in mind, for the nitrate tests above, the tests were one water produced post whole house filtration system and post RO system, but pre-DI.
I have an inline 3 stage TDS meter I haven't got around to plugging in yet, so I cannot speak to TDS, but historically, TDS is about 350-ish in this area. Rejection rate should be high 90s. Nevertheless, measurable nitrate doesn't sound right given the filters I'm running. All filters (pre-filters, RO and DI are about 3 months old and have been used to produce a relatively nominal amount of water, all things considered - 500 gallons, maybe).
My second question, since we're on the subject, is should I change one of the whole house filters by replacing one of the 5 micron blocks (1 sediment, 2 carbon) with a 1 micron block? If so, should I do that at the sediment level (first position) or the (carbon level) second or third position? I'm worried that a 1 micron block may clog prematurely. However, keep in mind that the whole house filtration is utilizing 4.5" x 20" blocks (rather than the small pre-filters hobbyists tend to use pre-RO for their systems). The municipality also adds chloramines to our water, so a chloramine specific-block at the whole house-filtration-level (i.e. 4.5" x 20") may make sense if anyone has a specific recommendation at optimizing this system (even though at least 1 of the RO prefilters includes a filter that can handle chloramines). Thoughts?
Thanks,
Rick
I posted this in the chemistry section, but since the post includes a filtration component to it, I thought I'd post it here as well. In that regard, maybe you can help tweak my whole house filtration and RO/DI configuration to better complement one another (and perhaps address chloramines at the whole house filtration-level, rather than just the RO prefilter level).
Does anyone know whether Salifert's nitrate test kit is compatible with freshwater? I tested my post-RO (but pre-DI) water and obtained a nitrate reading of about 10 which doesn't make sense given the number and quality of filters I'm using. I tried two Salifert nitrate test kits. My filtration consists of: (1) a whole house water filtration setup that involves 3 stages of large canister filters (i.e. 4.5" x 20" blocks), including 1 x 5 micron sediment, 2 x 5 micron carbon blocks, 1 x electronic water descaler and (2) a BRS 6 Stage RO/DI, including 1x 5 micron sediment filter, 1 x BRS Chlorine & VOC 5 Micron Carbon Block, 1 x BRS Universal 1 micron carbon block, 1 x 75GPD Dow Filmtec RO, 1 x Omnipure Inline Carbon block (post-RO) and 1 x DI stage. I have a bypass immediately before the DI (which is for tank use only).
Please keep in mind, for the nitrate tests above, the tests were one water produced post whole house filtration system and post RO system, but pre-DI.
I have an inline 3 stage TDS meter I haven't got around to plugging in yet, so I cannot speak to TDS, but historically, TDS is about 350-ish in this area. Rejection rate should be high 90s. Nevertheless, measurable nitrate doesn't sound right given the filters I'm running. All filters (pre-filters, RO and DI are about 3 months old and have been used to produce a relatively nominal amount of water, all things considered - 500 gallons, maybe).
My second question, since we're on the subject, is should I change one of the whole house filters by replacing one of the 5 micron blocks (1 sediment, 2 carbon) with a 1 micron block? If so, should I do that at the sediment level (first position) or the (carbon level) second or third position? I'm worried that a 1 micron block may clog prematurely. However, keep in mind that the whole house filtration is utilizing 4.5" x 20" blocks (rather than the small pre-filters hobbyists tend to use pre-RO for their systems). The municipality also adds chloramines to our water, so a chloramine specific-block at the whole house-filtration-level (i.e. 4.5" x 20") may make sense if anyone has a specific recommendation at optimizing this system (even though at least 1 of the RO prefilters includes a filter that can handle chloramines). Thoughts?
Thanks,
Rick
