RODI System Questions

[macyankee86]

Hello all!

I bought a reef buddy RODI system a while ago because I got tired of buying distilled water from the store. I only make 4-8 gal a month since I have a 4G Pico reef. In between water making sessions, the RO unit lives in a sealed, clean bucket disconnected from the supply.

 

A few questions:

- is this a good practice or should the RO machine be run continuously?

- does this static, wet storage affect the water chemistry or TDS?

- after it has sat for 2weeks, should I throw away the first gallon or 15m of produced water to “flush” the system?

 

Thank you for sharing your experience!

-Gordon

 

PS- I just bought a TDS meter and intend to test that aspect of the water soon. I’ve never tested it to date. My tap water source is 90-100 TDS, Boston city water.

[WaterBoxer]

I keep mine connected all the time, but I also have the convenience of being able to add a splitter to my washing machine's cold water line and mounting the rodi unit in my laundry room. I've definitely heard of people having to keep their system in a bucket or tote, though, especially if they have limited space.

 

As for letting the water sit, my rodi unit's instructions actually specifically mentioned flushing it out for a minute or so if it sat for more than a week. I usually make rodi water on the weekends, so if I happen to be able to skip a week, I just flush the system for a minute the next time. How long your system should be flushed, or whether you have any special valves for it or not, might vary so I'd definitely double check the instructions to see if there's any mention at all.

[seabass]

l disconnect my DI stage and just let the RO product water drain until the TDS comes down to normal operating levels (around 3 TDS in my case).  Then I'll hook the DI back up and start making RO/DI water.  Otherwise, the DI has to process all of the TDS present at startup (which will shorten its life).

[macyankee86]

Thank you all for the help! I just checked TDS today and it was at 0. 😊

[RaymondNoodles]

We have 360 tap TDS here in the south Chicago suburbs and we have an RO system for drinking water. Therefore the RO membrane and system are somewhat consistently flushed. I have s 3 way TDS meter and depending the last time someone used the drinking water I could have anywhere from 4 - 70 TDS entering the DI. So I’ll pour a tall glass of water, maybe even fill a 32 oz jug and throw it in the fridge to flush the RO membrane for a couple mins to save the DI resin. It really does make a difference. Before I started doing this my DI was getting depleted much faster. Then I realized this is why people install a flush valve. Our drinking water serves as the flush valve. The things you learn keeping reef tanks haha!

[Jakesaw]

I run mine every week or two to make 5 - 10 gallons through 4 stage RO/DI.  Haven't had any problems but I make sure to run water through system for 5-10 minutes before I start my water collection. 

 

Just disconnect the hose end from laundry room sink when not in use.  

 

Been using 2 years with orignal filters / etc.  Thought about changing the first 2 filters a few times, but haven't yet done so.  Water flow rate hasn't changed since it was new.