Spotlight on Bulk Reef Supply DI Resin | BRStv

[randyBRS]

Hey there Reef2Reefers!

Today on BRStv Spotlight, Ryan takes the reigns and gives us the rundown on BRS DI Resin. In this video he shares what each resin does and shares ways that you can implement them to create a more effective polishing stage for your RODI unit!

 

[TheEngineer]

Another great explainer. Thanks guys!

 

[revhtree]

Yes great video! I have never thought about using a dual DI cartridges. Gonna implement that today!

 

[Shawn Dahl]

Great video. Question, what is the difference between the blue bulk color changing mixed bed di resin and the purple pro series color changing mixed bed di resin? I ask because I've always used the blue, but is there any additional benefits to using the purple pro series over the blue bulk resin?

 

[TheEngineer]

Blue is the caption changes color, purple is the anion changes color. Or that might be backwards.

 

[D805]

Great video. Whats your take on refillable inline DI filters?

 

[randyBRS]

Great video. Question, what is the difference between the blue bulk color changing mixed bed di resin and the purple pro series color changing mixed bed di resin? I ask because I've always used the blue, but is there any additional benefits to using the purple pro series over the blue bulk resin?

Here's a snippet from the description on our site. Basically the purple is predominately cation mixed bed while the other is predominately anion, each of which approach specific removal of charged ions differently.

Mixed Bed Cation Resin (purple) - Most commonly used after single bed resins to polish any remaining contaminants. It contains both positive and negatively charged ions and will change from purple to amber as the cation resin is depleted. It is also perfect for single canister DI systems that have an excess of positively charged ions like calcium, magnesium, aluminum, ferrous and ferric iron.

Mixed Bed Anion Resin (blue) - The most commonly used resin in single or dual canister RODI systems and contains both negative and positively charged. The anion beads contain a blue color changing indicator that will turn to an amber color when it is exhausted. This resin is excellent for systems that have an excess of negatively charged ions that are not removed by the membrane, like phosphates, nitrates, sulfates, etc.

 

[jah-hoeva]

Ive been running your 6 stage 150 gpd system going on 2 plus years now with out changing a carbon block or di canister out. My first di canister has not even changed color 1/4 of the way up but I still get 0 tds. Should I change a carbon and di canister out just based on time usage alone?

 

[Actuarious]

Ive been running your 6 stage 150 gpd system going on 2 plus years now with out changing a carbon block or di canister out. My first di canister has not even changed color 1/4 of the way up but I still get 0 tds. Should I change a carbon and di canister out just based on time usage alone?

This is a great question and I would also like to know. I am on a well and have 0 chlorine and chloramines based on testing. I was thinking changing them out every 12 months to be safe but didn't know if there was another way to tell if they needed changing.

 

[randyBRS]

Ive been running your 6 stage 150 gpd system going on 2 plus years now with out changing a carbon block or di canister out. My first di canister has not even changed color 1/4 of the way up but I still get 0 tds. Should I change a carbon and di canister out just based on time usage alone?

It sounds like you are one of the lucky ones with very low TDS in their supply water! I would imagine that your DI resin is able to filter out any remaining contaminates even if the carbon block is exhausted. That said, personally if I were in the same situation I'd probably opt to change my prefilters (sediment/carbon) at least once per year as a preventative. At such a low yearly cost, I would rather rest assured knowing that my filters were fairly new.

 

[jah-hoeva]

It sounds like you are one of the lucky ones with very low TDS in their supply water! I would imagine that your DI resin is able to filter out any remaining contaminates even if the carbon block is exhausted. That said, personally if I were in the same situation I'd probably opt to change my prefilters (sediment/carbon) at least once per year as a preventative. At such a low yearly cost, I would rather rest assured knowing that my filters were fairly new.

Thanks Randy! That is all I’ve really done to maintain the system. Typically I get 0 tds entering my first di stage. I do worry my membranes may be doing a lot of the work. Maybe look into replacing those at some point?

 

[randyBRS]

Thanks Randy! That is all I’ve really done to maintain the system. Typically I get 0 tds entering my first di stage. I do worry my membranes may be doing a lot of the work. Maybe look into replacing those at some point?

At some point yes, but the great part of having a TDS meter after the RO membranes is that you will be able to more easily ID when they are becoming exhausted as you will eventually see the output TDS rise. In your case, maybe swap them out when they read 1ppm-2ppm on the output.

 

[gobble]

Hey BRS guys, I have a question for you. I have your dual DI canister set and ordered a second dual set today. If I simply load all 4 canisters with the regular mixed bed resin, don't I accomplish the same thing as running separate cation and anion resins?

For example, on my dual system I swap from position 2 to position 1 as the second canister is near depleted. That canister would then be used again in position 1 and further deplete the second compound while the position 2 canister is being depleted.

Let's say I expand this to 4 canisters. Once the position 4 canister starts to deplete I'd move it to position 3, and the same with the canisters in other positions (slide each down a position). By the time a canister moves to position 1 it's likely been fully depleted of both compounds.

Make sense? What am I missing with this approach? It would be interesting to put a TDS meter after the RO membrane and after each DI canister to see how much each one removes (does a canister that's survived to reach position 1 still remove any contaminants).

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Ive been running your 6 stage 150 gpd system going on 2 plus years now with out changing a carbon block or di canister out. My first di canister has not even changed color 1/4 of the way up but I still get 0 tds. Should I change a carbon and di canister out just based on time usage alone?

Just to clarify, your final TDS after DI resin will often never show when your prefilters, carbon blocks or membranes need to be changed. The prefilters protect everything in the system from large particulate matter. The carbon blocks protect your membrane from being ruined by chloramines and chlorine. Chloramines are tough on a membrane, while regular chlorine will ruin a membrane in short order.

You should be replacing the prefilters and carbon blocks every six months on a schedule, regardless of your end TDS. Again, this is mainly to protect your RO membrane from the harmful stuff in the water, not to produce purer product water. You should only replace your RO membrane(s) when it is no longer capable of meeting the specified rejection rate (in the case of most Dow 75GPD membranes, that's 96% or greater). You should only replace your DI resin when the final product water is higher than 0 ppm TDS.

 

[Actuarious]

Hey BRS guys, I have a question for you. I have your dual DI canister set and ordered a second dual set today. If I simply load all 4 canisters with the regular mixed bed resin, don't I accomplish the same thing as running separate cation and anion resins?

For example, on my dual system I swap from position 2 to position 1 as the second canister is near depleted. That canister would then be used again in position 1 and further deplete the second compound while the position 2 canister is being depleted.

Let's say I expand this to 4 canisters. Once the position 4 canister starts to deplete I'd move it to position 3, and the same with the canisters in other positions (slide each down a position). By the time a canister moves to position 1 it's likely been fully depleted of both compounds.

Make sense? What am I missing with this approach? It would be interesting to put a TDS meter after the RO membrane and after each DI canister to see how much each one removes (does a canister that's survived to reach position 1 still remove any contaminants).

The problem I see with this is that you still will not know for sure how much of the Cation is depleted. If you have 4 canisters it is much more prudent to use the Pro series DI. They cost the same as the regular mix. This way you can tell for sure when they need replacing.

 

[gobble]

The problem I see with this is that you still will not know for sure how much of the Cation is depleted. If you have 4 canisters it is much more prudent to use the Pro series DI. They cost the same as the regular mix. This way you can tell for sure when they need replacing.

Although don't you think there's a pretty good chance it's all been depleted before reaching position 1 and also pretty good chance it's doing some good in positions 2 and 3 (where the anion is depleted already)? At least do it this way until I use up all the regular mixed bed I have on hand? Also, BRS always seems to be out of the pro series stuff. I wanted to buy during black Friday and again last weekend and can't.

 

[randyBRS]

Although don't you think there's a pretty good chance it's all been depleted before reaching position 1 and also pretty good chance it's doing some good in positions 2 and 3 (where the anion is depleted already)? At least do it this way until I use up all the regular mixed bed I have on hand? Also, BRS always seems to be out of the pro series stuff. I wanted to buy during black Friday and again last weekend and can't.

The cation depletion rate is probably going to rely heavily on what exactly makes up your particular water source. You could absolutely run several mixed bed DI resins in series and trust that your water is being adequately filtered, the difference on that approach versus separating the cation and anion would most likely come down to the consumption rate of cation resin and really you may want to run a trial to see for sure. Although, if it were me and I wasn't bothered by rotating my 4 chambers of mixed bed resin, I wouldn't bother with fiddling with what works.

I'd bet that @Ryanbrs can add some more in-depth advice on this one as well.

-Randy

 

[Ryanbrs]

Although don't you think there's a pretty good chance it's all been depleted before reaching position 1 and also pretty good chance it's doing some good in positions 2 and 3 (where the anion is depleted already)? At least do it this way until I use up all the regular mixed bed I have on hand? Also, BRS always seems to be out of the pro series stuff. I wanted to buy during black Friday and again last weekend and can't.

There are few things to cover here.

First purchasing just had no idea how popular this would become, and they are continually trying to get ahead of the resin purchases. I think we will have it in stock consistently fairly soon.

The sperate resins also perform better on some hard to remove elements because the pH is both very low in the cation and very high in the anion rather than neutral in the mixed bed. Contaminants like silica also are removed in high hydroxide environments like the anion resin cartridge.

You could run four bulk mixed beds in series however you would still have zero insight into the cation performance. I think there is almost no benefit to running four over two.

Lastly, the resins create bands of contaminants based on how strong the affinity is for a particular contaminant. So once the resin goes, it isn't just letting any old TDS through, it is dumping a band of the contaminant with the weakest bond. In the case of the anion it is often silica, and with the cation, it can be ammonia. So we really don't want to dump one into the next cartridge because that band just gets thicker and thicker.

If I personally had a four canister DI system it would go cation -> anion - Purple pro mixed bed with the cation dyed - bulk mixed bed with the anion dyed. Ultimate water quality and a visual insight into almost every element of performance. Nothing to know here other than change the one that changes color, tons of redundancy and back up. Ultimately lower cost as well.

 

[gobble]

If I personally had a four canister DI system it would go cation -> anion - Purple pro mixed bed with the cation dyed - bulk mixed bed with the anion dyed. Ultimate water quality and a visual insight into almost every element of performance. Nothing to know here other than change the one that changes color, tons of redundancy and back up. Ultimately lower cost as well.

Then this is how I shall fill my four canisters. Thanks for the input.

By the way, just this week I installed the flush valve on my system. Doing a 30 minute flush dropped TDS out of the RO membrane from 6 to 2. The input TDS from my well water is about 360.

 

[chicago]

Can you explain please what you mean by creating lowest bands. Are we saying for example. If I have like three mixed cartridges. If one is depleted or two is depleted. But third is still not exhausted is it bad to not change out the depleted two right away??