Ro 5 stage

[g_acosta_02]

Is this drinking safe to use for water changes? I think if it is safe to drink why not use it in are tank

 

[splitting_lanes]

You should add a DI canister to it.

RO water is not 0 tds, but RO/DI should be 0

 

[g_acosta_02]

You should add a DI canister to it.

RO water is not 0 tds, but RO/DI should be 0

I will look into that

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The exact unit would be helpful to know.

 

[g_acosta_02]

The exact unit would be helpful to know.

Was told that if I get a 0 tds reading I can use the water or can just add a di canster. Because what I use now is distilled water but my pocket is not looking happy lol so was asking if I can use my home filter thanks for your help

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

A reverse osmosis will often be adequate, but not always, IMO. If you wanted to be sure, passing the effluent through a DI filter will ensure it is OK. You can DIY a DI that adds on to that system just for reef use.


It won't be 0 ppm TDS coming out of that unit unless your tap water is quite low TDS to begin with (which isn't necessarily good). It is not the TDS you care about, the TDS as an indicator that it is removing things like copper. So you want to see a big drop in TDS before and after, not just a low value.

 

[Intense37754]

if Using city water you would also need to know if they use chlorine or chloramines

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

if Using city water you would also need to know if they use chlorine or chloramines

I think that system will break down chloramine, but may leave ammonia in the effluent if there is chloramine. That is a reason to use a DI.

Both chloramine and ammonia are easy to test for. Copper is not.

 

[g_acosta_02]

A reverse osmosis will often be adequate, but not always, IMO. If you wanted to be sure, passing the effluent through a DI filter will ensure it is OK. You can DIY a DI that adds on to that system just for reef use.


It won't be 0 ppm TDS coming out of that unit unless your tap water is quite low TDS to begin with (which isn't necessarily good). It is not the TDS you care about, the TDS as an indicator that it is removing things like copper. So you want to see a big drop in TDS before and after, not just a low value.

Ok so I should test before and then after the di canster to see the difference in drop,my city water is drinkable but we dont take the risk to drink before it gets filtered. Thanks for the info I will look into the diy di and add it to the system

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Ok so I should test before and then after the di canster to see the difference in drop,my city water is drinkable but we dont take the risk to drink before it gets filtered. Thanks for the info I will look into the diy di and add it to the system

What I meant was the drop from tap to final product. 0 ppm TDS after a DI will be good regardless.

 

[g_acosta_02]

What I meant was the drop from tap to final product. 0 ppm TDS after a DI will be good regardless.

Yeah got it have been doing research on it thanks again, I will be posting as I go

 

[4theluvofcoral]

What I meant was the drop from tap to final product. 0 ppm TDS after a DI will be good regardless.

Randy,

I know this is off topic but I don't have a means of directly contacting you but it's in regards to a publication you wrote some time ago titled "Silica In Reef Aquariums" on Advanced Aquarist in Reefs.com. https://reefs.com/magazine/silica-in-reef-aquariums/ You can pm me so this thread doesn't go off topic but I'm new to the forum too so maybe that's why I can't reach out...

My boyfriend and I are having a hard time raising silicate in our 125 gallon reef aquarium. We’ve tried Sponge Excel by Brightwell and after reading this article have tried the Chemistrystore.com Sodium Silicate 40% solution. After doing the conversion for our system at 1.55 ml and testing, using Salifert, it’s not even past 0.03 mg/L. We were also confused as to how we dilute and and add it to the tank.

Do we use “freshwater” or “fresh” saltwater for marine systems? We currently have a blue sponge that has started to show signs of breaking down which we think is a result of not having sufficient levels of silicate. We have not gotten to the recommended level of 1.0 ppm since we started adding silicate…we don’t know what we’re doing wrong or not doing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy,

I know this is off topic but I don't have a means of directly contacting you but it's in regards to a publication you wrote some time ago titled "Silica In Reef Aquariums" on Advanced Aquarist in Reefs.com. https://reefs.com/magazine/silica-in-reef-aquariums/ You can pm me so this thread doesn't go off topic but I'm new to the forum too so maybe that's why I can't reach out...

My boyfriend and I are having a hard time raising silicate in our 125 gallon reef aquarium. We’ve tried Sponge Excel by Brightwell and after reading this article have tried the Chemistrystore.com Sodium Silicate 40% solution. After doing the conversion for our system at 1.55 ml and testing, using Salifert, it’s not even past 0.03 mg/L. We were also confused as to how we dilute and and add it to the tank.

Do we use “freshwater” or “fresh” saltwater for marine systems? We currently have a blue sponge that has started to show signs of breaking down which we think is a result of not having sufficient levels of silicate. We have not gotten to the recommended level of 1.0 ppm since we started adding silicate…we don’t know what we’re doing wrong or not doing.

I do not recall if I ever used it, but some folks think the Salifert kit does not correctly measure silicate. I'd suggest any followups be added to that thread or start a new one.

Silicate test doesnt measure anything

So my Salifert silicate test doesnt measure any silicate even after adding sodium silicate (water glass). Why? I tested my tank and it read 0ppm silicate. I dosed 5ml of sodium silicate to 200 gallons and waited 5 mins for it to circulate, and it still read 0ppm. Why?

www.reef2reef.com

 

[g_acosta_02]

A reverse osmosis will often be adequate, but not always, IMO. If you wanted to be sure, passing the effluent through a DI filter will ensure it is OK. You can DIY a DI that adds on to that system just for reef use.


It won't be 0 ppm TDS coming out of that unit unless your tap water is quite low TDS to begin with (which isn't necessarily good). It is not the TDS you care about, the TDS as an indicator that it is removing things like copper. So you want to see a big drop in TDS before and after, not just a low value.

Well installed my ro system with the di filter added to the system and it goes from 117ppm to to 12ppm tds do you think i should add another di filter to try to get to 0

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well installed my ro system with the di filter added to the system and it goes from 117ppm to to 12ppm tds do you think i should add another di filter to try to get to 0

12 ppm TDS tap water is a risk, yes. I would add at least one DI.

 

[g_acosta_02]

12 ppm TDS tap water is a risk, yes. I would add at least one DI.

I already have one on the question is should I add a second one

 

[Dr. Jim]

As a veterinarian, I am occasionally asked if it is recommended to provide RO/DI water to pets. IMO, it is not a good idea and I would think the same would apply to humans. RO/DI can be thought of as distilled water, lacking essential minerals because they were stripped out of the water. (Of course minerals can be supplemented back into the diet in various ways but there are too many unknowns with this approach, IMO).

If you are filtering city water, which is relatively "safe" in the first place, then I always recommend just using a 2-stage system (fiber filter and carbon). However, (in case anyone has pet birds), I do not recommend these filters for these pets because some cases of recurring bacterial infections in birds have been traced back to bacteria growing in the carbon granules. To my knowledge, this has not been an issue with humans though.

 

[redstorm6]

It won't be 0 ppm TDS coming out of that unit unless your tap water is quite low TDS to begin with (which isn't necessarily good). It is not the TDS you care about, the TDS as an indicator that it is removing things like copper. So you want to see a big drop in TDS before and after, not just a low value.

Randy, can you elaborate on why you wouldn't want low TDS water out of the tap? Our local water source is a large man made lake and the average TDS out of the tap is between 40 and 60 ppm depending on time of year. I thought the only advantage of this is my RODI filters will probably last longer. Thanks!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I already have one on the question is should I add a second one

If it is 12 ppm after a DI, the DI is either depleted, or is not functioning properly for some other reason.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy, can you elaborate on why you wouldn't want low TDS water out of the tap? Our local water source is a large man made lake and the average TDS out of the tap is between 40 and 60 ppm depending on time of year. I thought the only advantage of this is my RODI filters will probably last longer. Thanks!

My statement was not that TDS being low in tap water is bad, but that i t "isn't necessarily good", by which I meant that it isn't necessarily usable as is. Certainly it helps a DI last longer.

Some people assume low TDS tap water is better "as is" than high TDS tap water, and that isn't true, and that's the point I wanted to make.

For further discussion...
TDS is not a measure of the suitability of water. It might be 1000 ppm TDS and be fine, or 1 ppm TDS and be bad, depending on what the TDS is caused by.

If you somehow have 1 ppm copper in your incoming water from your own pipes (some people do, that is not above the EPA limit; it is not from the source water but your pipes) and an RO drops the TDS from 100 to 2 ppm TDS, it might still contain 20 ppb copper, and I would not want that much copper in my top off and water change water. If you started with 2 ppm TDS source water from an ultrapure lake, and ran it through your pipes, it might have way higher than 20 ppb copper and still be 2 ppm TDS.