Poll: Premade Cartridge or Pack your own DI Resin

[dbl]

I stumbled on a thread the other day (for which I can no longer find) discussing the topic of DI Resin. It got me wondering how most of the membership here handle the replacement of their DI Resin in the RODI units. I for one purchase premade/prepacked cartridges. But I know many buy bulk resin and pack their own cartridges. Figured I would do a poll to see how folks handle it.

 

[Katieandjon]

Pack my own

 

[Crabs McJones]

I buy the big bag and repack mine ones it's been depleted.

 

[cracker]

another good poll. I buy the small bags & pack myself. every so often the sponge ring flattens out & doesn't give a tight fit. So I will but the packed cartridge.
I have tried the bulk but didn't go thru it all before drying out.

 

[andrewkw]

I usually buy the single refills but there is usually about 1.2ish cartridges per pack if you don't spill. When I used to change my DI a lot I'd buy say 6 and get 7 refills but where I'm living now I only need to change my DI about once a year so I usually just keep one extra on hand since I don't really have to worry about running out.

 

[Pntbll687]

I use the aquatic life twist in cartridge RO unit. It was easy to install, and replacing cartridges takes 1 min to replace them all.

Do I pay more in the long run because I have to use specific brand cartridges, yes. Does it save me time, and give my wife one less "fish" thing to complain about, YES!!

 

[madweazl]

Heck, I didnt even realize pre-packed cartridges were available LOL.

 

[DSC reef]

I've always packed our own. I liked trying different DI resins. The longest lasting resin I used was aquaforest. Don't know why but we would get a noticeable difference between other resins.

 

[dewy]

I use a lot of DI resin so I buy in bulk and pack my own.

 

[WWIII]

I buy pre-packed spectrapure max cap di cartridges. They, for me, seem to last much longer than when I packed my own. Guess they should for the price! I'm not against buying loose resin and packing my own again, but would need it to last much longer than the mixbed resins I packed myself before. I was replacing di resin every month or less. Now I get 4 months or more from the dual spectrapures. Open to test some more resins, just haven't gotten around to it.

 

[dbl]

I buy pre-packed spectrapure max cap di cartridges. They, for me, seem to last much longer than when I packed my own. Guess they should for the price! I'm not against buying loose resin and packing my own again, but would need it to last much longer than the mixbed resins I packed myself before. I was replacing di resin every month or less. Now I get 4 months or more from the dual spectrapures. Open to test some more resins, just haven't gotten around to it.

Same here...I too buy the Spectrapure Max Cap cartridges. I have since day one primarily for convenience sake.

 

[WWIII]

BRS timing impeccable as they are at it again with this di stuff...

 

[Water Dog]

I buy Spectrapure MaxCap and Silica Buster premade DI cartridges. I’ve purchased bulk in the past but found that I never packed it well enough, resulting in channeling and because I don’t have a vacuum sealer, as well as I tried to purge out all the air and store in the fridge, it would still dry out before I needed it again.

 

[Adele]

I pack my own. Much more cost efficient since I’m changing it every 100 gallons or less due to high co2 in my well water and I have not arrived to the point where I want to set up a degassing operation.

 

[Forsaken77]

I was talking with Ryan from BRS on their YouTube channel about this. He called the "buster" types of silica cartridges a gimmick in the video.

For reference, I exclusively use the Spectrapure High Capacity Silicabuster catridges and they last me 3x's as long as a regular BRS mixed bed resin.

I don't know if it's true or not, but he said the Spectrapure has a layer of Anion resin on the bottom for Silica. So it would be cheaper to use a cartridge of Anion with another cartridge of mixed bed after it. Makes sense if I wanted 2 DI canisters, but I don't.

I consider Spectrapure one of the best in water filtration and don't know if it's as simple as just added Anion resin or it's a proprietary blend. I do know that the Spectrapure resin is smaller than the blue resin from BRS. Don't know if surface area has anything to do with longevity in resin.

Anyhow, I buy pre-packed resin cartridges. I hate putzing around with resin. I seem to get it all over and it sticks to everything.

 

[Sleepydoc]

I pack my own - it only takes me 5-10 minutes to empty and re-pack a cartridge. I've never tried the pre-packed cartridges, but packing your own is so quick and easy it just never seemed to make sense to me to buy them.

One thing I'm I'm not clear on is using DI resin if it has dried out. As mentioned above, when I buy a small bag of BRS resin, there's more than I need to pack one cartridge. I started saving it, mainly because I hate throwing away something that's perfectly good if I don't have to. After I had enough saved up, I used it to pack the cartridge. I don't know if it lasted as long or not, but it seemed to work (at least my TDS meter read '0.')

 

[Shaummy]

Anyone have good tips for getting the DI media packed to maximum degree? I usually tap the cartridge on a hard surface as I go and when it gets full i put just a tad more. That last bit seems to help compress the media a little more when the end cap is screwed on. Sometimes it seems to take a bit to reach 0 TDS after changing.

 

[Larry L]

Anyone have good tips for getting the DI media packed to maximum degree?

The 100ml measuring cups that BRS sells (or anything roughly the same shape and size) are really handing for tamping down the resin as I'm packing the cylinder.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/graduated-measuring-cup.html

 

[PhreeByrd]

I've always packed my own. I keep several refillable cartridges on hand so I can fill 3 or 4 at the same time -- reduces the inevitable cleanup. I keep each filled cartridge in its own ziplock freezer bag so they don't dry out. The price of prepacked cartridges can be ridiculous, IMO, and I don't need dozens of empty DI cartridges filling my drawers, recycling bins, or the landfill.

 

[Captain Quint]

Anyone have good tips for getting the DI media packed to maximum degree? I usually tap the cartridge on a hard surface as I go and when it gets full i put just a tad more. That last bit seems to help compress the media a little more when the end cap is screwed on. Sometimes it seems to take a bit to reach 0 TDS after changing.

I simply pack with CCNGDI resign, use RODI fresh to pour atop the stage chamber I am packing, let it settle, repeat until it is full and it saves a step as I'm rinsing as well. No mess, no fuss and only takes about 10 minutes or so.

I store my remaining resign in bags, wrapped in a towel and dark closet and don't have an issue with dry out.