CoraLife RO/DI

[wanecek]

Hi there,

I bought a Coralife RO/DI unit from Premium Aquatics in August. This is the 4 stage one. I have a lot of algae problems so I have been investigating the cause since I only have 5 small fish in a 300 gal system. At first I thought it might be the system was just breaking in, but now that the aquarium has been up and running for several months I have been trying to figure out why I have so much algae.

So I thought maybe there is a problem with the RO/DI unit. My question is that I noticed the DI canister is not filling completly with water. You can see the water pouring in from the carbon canister but the water only fills up about 1". Is this normal?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[jasonfrey]

Hi Michael,

Sometimes the canisters not filling up is normal with all Ro/Di's. The main water is pushed through the inside of the filter. So i don't think that is the problem.

Do you have a TDS meter or probe though? I would recommend testing the TDS to make sure it's producing good water. Ideally, you should have a TDS of 20 or below, would say up to 35 is acceptable, but 20 or less is closer to normal and less then 10 is ideal. Just depends on the membrane, DI and local qualily. Most local water is around 350, so they are getting a lot of out of the water.

So that is where i would start. If it's really high, possible your DI is bad or membrane is bad.

thanks

 

[wanecek]

Hi there,

I went out and bought a TDS meter and I first measured the water out of the faucet. It was measuring at 60ppm. That surprised me but then again, I do live a brand new neighborhood and house so that might make a difference.

I then measured the RO/DI water and it came out at 20ppm. Conversations with local reefers they said it should be at 0ppm.

Like I said before I have never had this much algae problems with past aquariums. I have 4 fish in a 320 gallon system. I would hope I would not have this much algae problems. In the past I had a Spectra Pure RO/DI and the only time I got algae was when the membrane and filters needed to be changed. This time I got the Coralife RO/DI and had numerous problems.

Has anyone else had similar problems to this RO/DI product?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[jasonfrey]

Hi Michael,

60ppm for local water is great. 20 coming out is at the high acceptable limits. Getting a zero reading is pretty tough. Usually the more standard membranes get you around 15-20. The SpectraPure membranes are bette quality and give you a lower reading most of the time. Often 20ppm or less for RO is normal, the DI often will zero it off though. I think the problem most likely is the Coralife DI resin. It seems quite a bit different then Spectra and Kent DI resins, so I have a feeling there DI resin is just not very good.

I think a good starting point would be jsut getting Kent or Spectrapure DI cartridge and using in your Coralife system. I think that would get you down to close to zero levels and you wouldn't have to replace any of your other parts.

 

[wanecek]

Will the Kent or Sprectrapure catridges fit the Coralife?

Thanks,

Michael

 

[jasonfrey]

Yes, you can use either brand in those.