Chloramine ro/di filters

[toddmau5]

setting up an ro/di unit to run on chloramine. I thought it was simple, just add a chloramine filter in the front and your good. Looking at the filter kits and upgrades on BRS they use the chloramine/carbon block followed by loose activated carbon. Is there a specific reason for this? Is It possible to just trade out the carbon block for the chloramine block on a 4 stage? Or when making it a 5 stage can you just add the chloramine block followed by a carbon block? Or is the loose activated carbon very important for some reason?

 

[MJNTWise]

Roger has a good understanding on this....Get with him,

 

[Egkid]

From the little research that I've done the regular filters do well enough to remove chloramine from our water.

 

[toddmau5]

I know roger ran into an issue running regular filters when the county switched to chloramine

 

[sirrealism]

There are different opinions on this. To me its worth it just to be safe. Before i got the carbon blocker I would use a little prime or other product in my RODI water just to be sure. Some very smart reefers say no you dont need it, I am just not willing to take that chance. Also i put my Carbon blocker after my regular carbon. The blocker cost more then the regular carbon so this way I dont need to change it as often. If you have a 4 stage make it a 5 stage.

 

[janes_mw]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=200056

There is some good discussion in this thread by Spectrapure on the subject also (so you can get more confused!!). John (FAOIS) is up on this stuff as well.

 

[toddmau5]

My main question is why the loose carbon as opposed to a carbon block after the chloramine

 

[ichthyman]

The "loose" carbon should be a catalytic carbon specifically designed to have a greater affinity at breaking the bond between chlorine and ammonia (chloramine). Because of the catalytic carbon's softness particulates are released during it's use. A submicron carbon block is recommended downstream from this "loose" carbon to catch the fines prior to reaching and then clogging the reverse osmosis membrane.

Do you need this special type of chloramine busting carbon? Probably not if a decent submicron carbon block (ie not the cheapest you can find) is already employed in the system. In some situations catalytic carbon may make economic sense but it is not absolutely mandatory.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-11/rhf/feature/

More generalized info on RO/DI system
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/rhf/

It is ashame that despite the correct information being easily available that there are those trying to profit of the fears of hobbyists.