Triton results from fresh salt mix (a lot of Silicon, Zinc, Iron!) And questions about RODI filter priority...

[smartwater101]

So my recent Triton test results show a high amount of Manganese, Silicon, Zinc, Iron, and a bit of phosphate. I'm using Tropic Marin Pro. I have a feeling these results could have come more from the RO water and not the salt mix, So I'll be sending a test in for just the water soon.

I have 4 chambers for my RO unit that goes: Filter - Carbon - Carbon - DI. I'm curious if you guys would prioritize 2 filters or 2 DI, instead of 2 carbon? The TDS with a new DI bock is usually still ~4, so I'm leaning towards dual DI but wanted to see what you guys thought first.

 

[Breadman03]

BRS did a video on DI resin stages. They recommend three stages in the following order cation>anion>mixed bed.

 

[smartwater101]

BRS did a video on DI resin stages. They recommend three stages in the following order cation>anion>mixed bed.

What is cation, what is a ion, what us mixed bed, and if you have a 4th chamber what woukd you double up on? Lol

 

[Breadman03]

What is cation, what is a ion, what us mixed bed, and if you have a 4th chamber what woukd you double up on? Lol

I forget the details, but the Cliffs Notes is cation resin pulls stuff with one type of charge, anion pulls stuff with the opposite type, and the mixed bed will polish out anything that slips by. This BRS video explains it pretty well.

Oh, I just snagged 2 extra chambers from BRS and set up the resins in the order they suggested.

 

[smartwater101]

BRS did a video on DI resin stages. They recommend three stages in the following order cation>anion>mixed bed.

I just meant in terms of Filter block, Carbon block, and DI block

I don't see them refered to much, how you labeled them.

I'll check out the vid

 

[Opus]

What is cation, what is a ion, what us mixed bed, and if you have a 4th chamber what woukd you double up on? Lol

DI is a mixture of cation and anion resins. They each pull out different things from the water. The idea is if you have a high concentration of 1 thing in your water, then which ever resin is pulling this out will exhaust before the other resin is used up in a mixed bed resin. This means your mixed bed resin will start letting things thru even though both resins are not used up. If you have them separated, then you just have to change the one that is exhausted.

I do think you have another issue. You shouldn't be seeing any tds out of a new DI cartridge. Do you know your tds at the tap and after the ro membrane? This will tell us if your RO unit performing within spec.

 

[Breadman03]

I just meant in terms of Filter block, Carbon block, and DI block

I don't see them refered to much, how you labeled them.

I'll check out the vid

I use 2 sediment and one carbon block because I'm on unfiltered town water. The first is 35 micron and the second is 5 micron. I might swap it up and run 2 carbon blocks if I plumb in a whole house sediment filter.

 

[Opus]

I just meant in terms of Filter block, Carbon block, and DI block

I don't see them refered to much, how you labeled them.

I'll check out the vid

The prefilters should go sediment then carbon then carbon if you are running 2. You should be running at least 5 micron with lower being better. I run 1 micron or .5 micron if I find a good sale. The prefilter's only job is protecting the ro membrane. The sediment filter stops any larger things from getting thru and clogging up the carbon block and ro membrane. The carbon blocks remove many chemicals with the main item being chlorine which will eat holes in a ro membrane. If you have chloramines in your water then it is usually best to get a carbon filter that is specifically made to remove those. The chloramines will not harm the ro membrane but they could make it all the way thru the ro/di process and then kill things in your reef.

 

[smartwater101]

Do you know your tds at the tap and after the ro membrane?

It was something like 220! 60 on a good day.

I just changed everything out and now have a DI on either side of the meter, so its hard to know whats coming out of the tap at the moment.
But, Im still getting 4-7 after the first DI and 0 (thankfully) after the second DI.

Before i changed out the blocks, I took a sample to send to Triton Labs. I'll do another test, with my current setup, to see what the differences are. Should be interesting.

 

[smartwater101]

My new setup is: Filter - Carbon - DI - DI

 

[Opus]

It was something like 220! 60 on a good day.

I just changed everything out and now have a DI on either side of the meter, so its hard to know whats coming out of the tap at the moment.
But, Im still getting 4-7 after the first DI and 0 (thankfully) after the second DI.

Before i changed out the blocks, I took a sample to send to Triton Labs. I'll do another test, with my current setup, to see what the differences are. Should be interesting.

My tap is over 400 and after my ro membrane it is 3 or 4.

If your ro membrane is not working correctly then you will go thru DI very quickly. With my tds of 4 after the ro membrane, my DI should make around 1100 gallons of 0 tds water. If you jump that up to say 10, then you are only going to get around 440 gallons of 0 tds water.

I always recommend having a handheld tds meter so you can check the water at any point in the system fairly easily. Plus handhelds compensate for temperature and the inline ones do not.

 

[smartwater101]

I always recommend having a handheld tds meter so you can check the water at any point in the system fairly easily. Plus handhelds compensate for temperature and the inline ones do not.

Ah! You just reminded me that I own one lol. I'm also ordering a second meter for my RO system. I'd like to have one for the tap water coming in. Not really needed since I have a handheld, but whatever. Redundancy ftw

Anyway, the handheld is showing 280 at the moment.

 

[smartwater101]

Its a good thing @Opus reminded me I have a handheld TDS meter. My fresh salt mix and my tank say 2115! And it has a little x10 next to it. Wut!? I double checked the tap and, again, it says 280. My RO holding tank shows 7. Those seem relatively in line.

I'm wondering if my pump or heater are leaching some major garbage into my brute bin? Holy wow 2015x10!? I might just replace all 3.

 

[Opus]

You can't measure the tds of saltwater, I mean you can, but the reading is useless for our purposes.. It is full of dissolved things from your salt mix.

What is the tds of your water after your RO membrane but before your DI cartridges.

 

[smartwater101]

What is the tds of your water after your RO membrane but before your DI cartridges

So the 2015x10 is definitely wrong?

As for the DI. There is no way to know now that Im using the previous chamber and am running two DI. Im ordering a second meter and and extra chamber. So next week ill prob set it up: Filter-Filter-Carbon-DI-Di

 

[Erasmus Crowley]

So the 2015x10 is definitely wrong?

This made me smile. I'll try to explain... TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids.

Pure water has nothing dissolved in it. It has a TDS of 0 on a TDS meter.

If you dissolve anything in that water, metals, chemicals, nutrients, salts, even some gasses, etc, then the TDS goes up. Your tap water has a TDS of 280 because it has some stuff dissolved in it, but not too much stuff because it's safe for human consumption. It's detecting things like calcium, flouride, phosphorus, etc.

When you make salt water, you are purposefully dissolving a TON of stuff in that water. If you measure it with a TDS meter, it's going to measure ridiculously high, because there is a ridiculous amount of dissolved stuff.

The measurement is correct, but saltwater has a high TDS because we dissolved salt in it.

A similiar question might be to ask if saltwater is supposed to taste salty.

 

[Silver14SS]

Just as an FYI, ATI includes 2 vials to test both your tank water and RODI. Might be worth trying them next time

 

[smartwater101]

This made me smile. I'll try to explain... TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids.

Pure water has nothing dissolved in it. It has a TDS of 0 on a TDS meter.

If you dissolve anything in that water, metals, chemicals, nutrients, salts, even some gasses, etc, then the TDS goes up. Your tap water has a TDS of 280 because it has some stuff dissolved in it, but not too much stuff because it's safe for human consumption. It's detecting things like calcium, flouride, phosphorus, etc.

When you make salt water, you are purposefully dissolving a TON of stuff in that water. If you measure it with a TDS meter, it's going to measure ridiculously high, because there is a ridiculous amount of dissolved stuff.

The measurement is correct, but saltwater has a high TDS because we dissolved salt in it.

A similiar question might be to ask if saltwater is supposed to taste salty.

After doing this for so long you'd think I'd retain this kind of info lol

 

[Opus]

So the 2015x10 is definitely wrong?

As for the DI. There is no way to know now that Im using the previous chamber and am running two DI. Im ordering a second meter and and extra chamber. So next week ill prob set it up: Filter-Filter-Carbon-DI-Di

If you have a hand held meter there is no need to order another in line meter. Unplug the line that goes from the ro membrane to the DI chamber @ the DI chamber inlet. Put it in a bucket and turn on the RO unit. Let it run for a few minutes to get rid of the tds creep and then run some into a clean cup. Test the RO water that is in the cup with the handheld tds meter. If your tap water is 280 then I would suspect it to be in the range of 3 to 6 if you have a good ro membrane.

 

[smartwater101]

If you have a hand held meter there is no need to order another in line meter. Unplug the line that goes from the ro membrane to the DI chamber @ the DI chamber inlet. Put it in a bucket and turn on the RO unit. Let it run for a few minutes to get rid of the tds creep and then run some into a clean cup. Test the RO water that is in the cup with the handheld tds meter. If your tap water is 280 then I would suspect it to be in the range of 3 to 6 if you have a good ro membrane.

I dont need half the stuff i buy for this hobby. Hasn't stopped me yet

Membrane was replaced 2 months ago so it better be in good shape! I'll check later.