RO vs. RO/DI

[totalimmortal363]

My current water filtration setup doesn’t have a deionization cartridge. It’s a five stage system, Sediment, GAC, CTO, RO Membrane, then another Carbon block after the storage tank. I’ll be replacing all the filters before I get the tank running. I’d venture a guess that I could add a DI cartridge, but how necessary is it considering I already have an RO setup. Currently water is coming out @ 14 ppm, as I said I’ll be replacing all five of the filters before I get started. 

 

Thanks! 

[Clown79]

The Di stage removes everything that's left over from which the membrane doesn't remove. That's chemicals, tds, etc. 

 

Ro water is considered good for drinking but not the greatest for reefs as the tds levels are still higher than what we want in our tanks.

 

My Tds in my tap water are very high 300-500, after membrane 8, after DI - 0.

 

Most hobbyists will allow up to 2ppm before changing out di. 0 tds is the best.

 

So the DI chamber is important, it's the stage that makes the water pure.

[MrObscura]

As mentioned most of the time RO alone won't remove everything. 

[totalimmortal363]

Thanks for the replies. Like the noob I am getting back into this, I didn’t think to search before I posted ha. Found some good info with the search button last night as well 😁

[Rob22]

Do you have a pic of your setup? The extra carbon block at the end doesn’t seem necessary. The sediment filter takes the biggest impurities out of the water, followed by the carbon block then the ro membrane. Di resin takes out the final smallest particles and chemicals. Anything that would make it through the ro Membrane would likely not be affected by another carbon block. Im thinking you could probably get one of the refillable di resin cartridges from BRS, switch the location of the last canister and upgrade to the di for about $20-$30. 
 

last question though, what is a CTO?

[Clown79]

52 minutes ago, totalimmortal363 said:

Thanks for the replies. Like the noob I am getting back into this, I didn’t think to search before I posted ha. Found some good info with the search button last night as well 😁

The best thing is getting your municipal water report.

Depending where you are will depend on treatment methods and that alters filtration choices.

 

My area treats with chlorine and chloramines. Chloramine is the hardest to remove, they make special carbon for it.

 

I have a 4 stage and added an additional stage.

So my set up is 

Sediment

Reg carbon

Chloramine carbon

Membrane

Di

 

[totalimmortal363]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

The best thing is getting your municipal water report.

Depending where you are will depend on treatment methods and that alters filtration choices.

 

My area treats with chlorine and chloramines. Chloramine is the hardest to remove, they make special carbon for it.

 

I have a 4 stage and added an additional stage.

So my set up is 

Sediment

Reg carbon

Chloramine carbon

Membrane

Di

 

Being in Denver it’s nice that they publish that on their website. I’ll have a look. 

 

https://www.denverwater.org/sites/default/files/water-quality-report-2019.pdf

 

2 hours ago, Rob22 said:

Do you have a pic of your setup? The extra carbon block at the end doesn’t seem necessary. The sediment filter takes the biggest impurities out of the water, followed by the carbon block then the ro membrane. Di resin takes out the final smallest particles and chemicals. Anything that would make it through the ro Membrane would likely not be affected by another carbon block. Im thinking you could probably get one of the refillable di resin cartridges from BRS, switch the location of the last canister and upgrade to the di for about $20-$30. 
 

last question though, what is a CTO?

 

It’s this setup, bought it years ago with drinking water in mind. https://www.123filter.com/ac/ispring-rcc7-5-stage-residential-under-sink-reverse-osmosis-water-filter-system-wqa-certified-75-gpd

 

Based on their website it looks like I can add a DI Cartridge. 

[Rob22]

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/6-stage-75-gpd-drinking-reef-ro-di-system-brs.html

 

looks like you basically have this type of setup without the di canister. BRS sells the canister with a full di cartridge to add to it for $40. Should be pretty easy. 
 

 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/single-deionization-canister.html