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| RO/DI TDS |
 Feb 13 2006, 12:14 PM
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#1
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 Nano Reefer Posts: 221 Joined: 30-January 06 From: Cat City Member No.: 18,465  |
just got my ro/di system up and running a few questions:
1. TDS going in in the 350...coming out about 6 should it not be 0?? will tds of 6 be ok? 2. i have plumbed it to not be a continous system...any harm in this? do i just run it for about 10 min to clear it out when i hook it up again? 3. does it take chlorine out of the water? or should i use a product like PRIME in it prior to adding to my system? |
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Feb 13 2006, 12:27 PM
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#2
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Nano Reefer Posts: 1,033 Joined: 19-October 04 From: Louisiana Member No.: 10,941 |
it will take the chlorine out, what brand is it, most units you have to run a few gallons through them before it drops to zero.
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Feb 13 2006, 12:57 PM
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#3
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Nano Reefer Posts: 221 Joined: 30-January 06 From: Cat City Member No.: 18,465 |
dvoneb aqua 6 stage unit from e bay seller
I ran the system for about 2 hours before i started filling containers, then threw out the first 10 gallons after that |
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Feb 13 2006, 01:00 PM
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#4
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 Jelly 3 months before Katrina wrecked the N.O. Aquarium Posts: 1,464 Joined: 19-December 03 From: Silver Spring MD..20 min from D.C. Member No.: 5,935 |
My RO unit (no DI as of yet) gives me a TDS of between 0-1. I would think 6 would be OK. Check out some of the RO water for sale at teh local grocery stores. Unless you can find it RO/DI, some water will come out between 5-10, and even with RO/DI units, older units with older filters will not come out to zero. What are your tank inhabitants? Sensitive corals and inverts may prefer it cleaner but I wouldnt think it would be much of a problem...
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Feb 13 2006, 01:01 PM
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#5
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Nano Reefer Posts: 1,033 Joined: 19-October 04 From: Louisiana Member No.: 10,941 |
ok heres what you need to do. take off the last stage white cylinder on top and run the water right from the DI. You should drop close to 0. The last stage is supposed to be to improve taste for drinking but it will raise the TDS.
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Feb 13 2006, 03:08 PM
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#6
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 Sofa King Reefy  Posts: 14,331 Joined: 1-July 02 From: Livingston, NJ Member No.: 1,446 |
shag,
i've always wondered about that last stage "to improve drinking taste". is that to re-oxygenate the water or something? it's usually a carbon stage (charcoaled coconut pieces), right? but i've always wondered why the DI would have a "funny taste" is it stripped the water of everything left (or it's supposed to). never tried it/drank it though. miller, that's amazing RO results. is that a 50-gpd or lower unit? namebrand RO, e.g. Dow? i get 7~10 TDS after my RO but 2~4 TDS after the 6th stage (5th is DI). maybe i'll disconnect the 6th for reef water and re-connect for drinking, like shag suggests. -------------------- |
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Feb 18 2006, 02:56 AM
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#7
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Jelly 3 months before Katrina wrecked the N.O. Aquarium Posts: 1,464 Joined: 19-December 03 From: Silver Spring MD..20 min from D.C. Member No.: 5,935 |
QUOTE(tinyreef @ Feb 13 2006, 03:08 PM)  shag, i've always wondered about that last stage "to improve drinking taste". is that to re-oxygenate the water or something? it's usually a carbon stage (charcoaled coconut pieces), right? but i've always wondered why the DI would have a "funny taste" is it stripped the water of everything left (or it's supposed to). never tried it/drank it though. miller, that's amazing RO results. is that a 50-gpd or lower unit? namebrand RO, e.g. Dow? i get 7~10 TDS after my RO but 2~4 TDS after the 6th stage (5th is DI). maybe i'll disconnect the 6th for reef water and re-connect for drinking, like shag suggests. Hi Tiny, I know..i was amazed when I read it. I actually took the TDS meter to work and tested it on our large RO/DI unit in the lab to make sure it was reading accurately. It tested just fine. The water unit is actually a Kent 24 GPD unit that I just outfitted with new filters all the way round. I never used to get this good of water in michigan. But here in MD, the water comes out quite good. Of course you just cant drink the water around here lol!..too close to DC.  Ill keep checking it to see how long it takes for the filters to start to wear... -Terry |
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Feb 18 2006, 11:41 AM
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#8
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Sofa King Reefy Posts: 14,331 Joined: 1-July 02 From: Livingston, NJ Member No.: 1,446 |
24 gpd?
 wow, that's sloooow!  i thought my 75 gpd (i think) was slow. i keep flooding because i walk away and forget i have the unit on. made 16 5-gal. bottles and wasted/flooded 9 5-gal bottles! d'oh! the auto shut-off back-pressure is too much for some of my seals so i just go 'manual'. maybe your kent RO membrane is really that good, i.e. name-brand versus my cheapo oem-type. maybe i'll switch my RO stage to theirs after this one is expended. i think i could do that, not sure. i would'nt mind the slow down in yield as i'm not using 24-gal./day anyway. i could just dump it into a big rubbermaid container, which is what i'm thinking of doing anyway. i was hoping for a reply to this thread as i'm curious on the before and after 6th stage reading. i'll probably test that myself today and post some results. maybe others can do the same for a good comparison basis. -------------------- |
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Feb 18 2006, 01:19 PM
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#9
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Nano Reefer Posts: 1,033 Joined: 19-October 04 From: Louisiana Member No.: 10,941 |
the company I got mine from actually said the TDS after the 5th stage will be lower than after the 6th for a while until it flushes out, there really is no point in using it though if youre not going to drink the water
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Feb 18 2006, 02:38 PM
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#10
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Sofa King Reefy Posts: 14,331 Joined: 1-July 02 From: Livingston, NJ Member No.: 1,446 |
QUOTE(shag26272 @ Feb 18 2006, 01:19 PM) the company I got mine from actually said the TDS after the 5th stage will be lower than after the 6th for a while until it flushes out, there really is no point in using it though if youre not going to drink the water i'm just concerned about the "taste" factor. supposedly, the 6th stage removes a certain funky taste(?) so i'm thinking it's removing something.but it could be adding something(?), like aerating the water or something similar. could the higher tds reading after the 6th stage just be from minute carbon particulates? but then wouldn't it not register as a "dissolved" solid? i.e. a 0-TDS doesn't necessarily equate to uber-pure water, right? or is the TDS meter more of a conductivity meter? which i thought was a more sensitive/accurate reading of purity. are you running only up to the 5th stage? i'm going to try it when i get home today and see how the meter reads. -------------------- |
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Feb 18 2006, 03:00 PM
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#11
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Nano Reefer Posts: 1,033 Joined: 19-October 04 From: Louisiana Member No.: 10,941 |
im sure its only carbon particles and it probabally causes no harm, almost none of the commercially sold units like the typhoon and kent do not use the 6th stage, they end with the DI
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Feb 18 2006, 08:28 PM
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#12
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Jelly 3 months before Katrina wrecked the N.O. Aquarium Posts: 1,464 Joined: 19-December 03 From: Silver Spring MD..20 min from D.C. Member No.: 5,935 |
Yeah, 24 gpd is pretty slow.
 But I can easily let it go while away at work without worrying about the unit flooding out. Plus I only need 5 gallons or so water at a time and since I dont have much room to store it, figured it would do me OK. Of course, if I were to get a bigger setup, I'd be looking at a much faster system. Any suggestions on faster systems that wont force me to donate blood for cash?
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Feb 19 2006, 11:54 PM
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#13
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 Nano Reefer Posts: 237 Joined: 16-May 05 From: Albany GA Member No.: 14,625 |
I just hooked up a Water General 100gpd 6 stage unit. I read some threads that had reported great results and suggested for the price and customer service of Filter Direct, why double your the for name brand.
After a little snafoo with the drainage restrictor (I figured out that it was wide open all night. I just couldn't understand why my tank wasn't filling and the drain sounded like a fire hose was spraying inside). I did the customary dumping of the first 3 gallons which tested 39 on the TDS unit. I let the storage tank fill back up then checked the the TDS from the drinking spigot after the 6th stage and was horrified when I saw 16! This is was better then the 39 before the system was flushed out and down from the 126 from our tap but certainly not tank worthy water. My wife had overheard me talking about an RO DI unit for my tanks and had decided she wanted it for drinking water because our water tastes like it was strained through an ashtray. Well she got her drinking water but it was worthless for my tanks. Then I rembered the output before the 6th stage and having read something about leaving the 6th stage off for the tanks. Well I tested the water after stage 5 and voila 0!! -------------------- "Most wild animals get into the world and out of it without being noticed. Nevertheless we at last sadly learn that they are all subject to the vicissitudes of fortune like ourselves." John Muir
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Feb 19 2006, 11:59 PM
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#14
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Sofa King Reefy Posts: 14,331 Joined: 1-July 02 From: Livingston, NJ Member No.: 1,446 |
yah, freak. i did the switcheroo today (disconnected the 6th stage) and got some marginally better results. went from 4~5 tds to a 3 tds. my readings have fluctuated from 2~5 since i started the unit.
maybe i've got crap in my lines or something but it won't go to zero. eh, it's good enough. -------------------- |
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