Help Very High TDS!!

kube

kube

Member
Hi Guys I need help getting 1050 TDS water down to zero.
After the RO stage I have TDS around 17-19 It seems to be killing the DI Resin rather quickly. I made maybe 100 gallon and its exhausted already.
Due to an accident with an RO Tank I accidently flushed maybe half a gallon of 150 TDS water through the membrane. It was over in less then 20 seconds. DO you think that qould have ruined the DI Resin?
Also is a 1 mircon Sediment filter going to help remove more TDS than a 5 micron?
What If i got a cheap RO system of SLeaze Bay and run the water thought two systems to get it down to near 0 before it goes through DI stage?
Any other thoughts?
 
kube

kube

Member
i've asked on other boards and heard of others with water just as high, but never got any feedback on how to tackle this problem.....sad part is this water coming from the "new" water treatment plant that they built less than two years ago.....guess it really just depends on what is in the water...
 
mkroher

mkroher

Member
My TDS is around 4 before it passes through the DI.
When I filled my 75gal, I had to replace all the RO filters after (they were all puke green).
I have yet to replace the DI filter.
 
johnr2604

johnr2604

Member
Originally Posted by mkroher
http:///forum/post/3155214
My TDS is around 4 before it passes through the DI.
When I filled my 75gal, I had to replace all the RO filters after (they were all puke green).
I have yet to replace the DI filter.
HUH,I'm pretty sure you should be replacing the DI resin long before the RO membrane.
 
truperc

truperc

Member
Originally Posted by Kube
http:///forum/post/3154096
Any other thoughts?
Have you looked into expanding your RO/DI with a dual membrane kit? It sounds like it would be a good fit for you.
There are expansion kits that take about 5 minutes to set up, and they reduce your waste water.
You will likely need a booster pump to keep adequate pressure.
 
kube

kube

Member
Originally Posted by DAVE2208
http:///forum/post/3155627
THERE IS SOMETHIMG WRONG either your test kit or your water maker!!!!!!
why do you say there is something wrong with my water maker/tds reader???
i have a 98% rejection rate RO membrane....
1050 x .02 = 21 TDS........looks mike my RO membrane is working a little better than 98% rejection rate......
The issue is i cant afford to change DI resin everymonth to keep my water at 0 TDS
 
kube

kube

Member
Originally Posted by TruPerc
http:///forum/post/3155286
Have you looked into expanding your RO/DI with a dual membrane kit? It sounds like it would be a good fit for you.
There are expansion kits that take about 5 minutes to set up, and they reduce your waste water.
You will likely need a booster pump to keep adequate pressure.

i dont understand how this would help...wasting water isn't the real issue here....the dual membrane kit would make matters worse set up in the manner recommend here.....piping my waste water which is higher in TDS than my initial first ro filter through another would result in water coming out that at 30 TDS or higher
now what I want to know does anyone feed there "good" water straigh into a second RO membrane...thus having two waste line going down the drain...but would it accomplish the following
1st RO membrane.......... 1050 x .02 = 21 TDS after first RO straigh into another RO membrane
2nd RO membrane......... 21 x .02 = .42 TDS after 2nd RO membrane then going to DI stage
 
kube

kube

Member
Originally Posted by Kube
http:///forum/post/3156482
2nd RO membrane......... 21 x .02 = .42 TDS after 2nd RO membrane then going to DI stage


also would this second stage reject as much water as the first stage since its only removing 21 TDS vs 1030 TDS or is this relation ship not proportionate to each other
 
truperc

truperc

Member
you are right that a second membrane used to save water would not help, but I figured you could just connect the good water supply instead.
I know someone who has 5 different chambers ending with his DI.
Not using the expansion kit I mentioned, but his own modified RO/DI.
It has been a while since I saw his set up, but i believe he set it up as
carbon, sediment, ro, ro, di
 
kube

kube

Member
yeah defiantly.....that conversion kit is the perfect thing for adding the filter....a was trying to decide if i wanted to pick up a whole nother ro system and prefiltes for sleaze bay
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
If you send the water through another RO membrane you'll probably need a pump to get the pressure up, otherwise the wate will just bypass the filter.
The second run through an RO is not going to remove 98% because all that's left is mostly Phosphate and Nitrate. I don't know what the new percentage would be but I would guess around 60 - 70%.
Sending 150 TDS water through the DI will definately use it up pretty fast.
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
using multiple prefilters will help remove TDS. what you want is something like
this is hypotheticle,
chamber 1: 5 micron prefilter
chamber 2: 1 micron prefilter
chamber 3: block(or granulated) carbon
chamber 4: RO membrane
chamber 5: DI
or if your inventive you can add a granulated crabon filter in between the 1 micron and the block carbon filter. carbon filtration is based on time elapsed in contact as well as surface area contact, and carbon molecule size rating. some things like Iodine carbon adsorbs really quickly (which is why carbon is generally rated with an iodine rating) others carbon adsorbs but not as quickly. so dual style carbon filters can greatly increase the effectiveness of an Ro unit. and of course the cheaper the carbon used in filters the more chance of soluble acids from the ash content being introduced to your "filtered" water actually increasing the work load for your di resin. there is very little available information on this when it comes to aquarium carbons and even less on the types of carbon used in various RO units. due to the fact that the carbons used in aquarium RO units do not have to be NSF 61 certified.
If you want to learn some crazy stuff about carbon filtration you can check this site out
http://www.norit-americas.com/adsorptive-test.html <-is not fish/reef related site and does not contain links to producs therin. just a great source of carbon information for the

[hr]
research junkie.
unfortunatly the DI portion is only Di resin there is little you can do to make your di last longer other than find a cleaner water source.
 
kube

kube

Member
Heres what I got in there for the three stages before RO
in the following order......
5 Micron Purtrex Depth Sediment filter
1-MATRIKX + CTO®/2 Carbon Block
1-MATRIKX® +1 Carbon Block
think it would beneficial to take on of the carbons out and move stuff around to do..
5micron
1micron
carbon
or just bite the damn bullet and run it through two RO membranes
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
if it were me I would keep both carbons and just add an addon cannister in front and put the 5 mnicron filter in that then a 1 micron prefilter where the 5 micron currently is.
 
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