how do you top off?

[Radicaljbr]

It is hooked up directly from my RO/DI to my sump. I never mess with anything. I know when it kicks on because the water line used to run through the floor joists and when the water kicked on it would slap the floor. Kind of cool.

 

[Aadler]

I just run my ro/di into a 32g trash can, shuts off when i get about 25g in there and then let the ato do the rest. As long as there are redundant systems I would be able to sleep regardless of the set up heh.

 

[GROWSZOAS]

Tunze osmolator THE ONLY WAY TO GO

 

[itZme]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11353465#post11353465 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Radicaljbr
It is hooked up directly from my RO/DI to my sump. I never mess with anything. I know when it kicks on because the water line used to run through the floor joists and when the water kicked on it would slap the floor. Kind of cool.

If you are saying that your RO unit is hooked to your sump for top off then I can see a couple of potential issues. When your RO unit does not run for more than a few minutes at a time and it is on several times a day you will have what is known as TDS creep.

Here's a definition I found online to help describe the problem of cycling the RO unit often:

"What on earth is TDS creep? Membranes produce pure water with the aid of water pressure. Greater pressure, more water and better quality water to a point. When an RO is running up to full pressure the water quality can be really exceptional. However when an RO is in the off state with no water pressure the membrane is still sitting in water. The membrane continues to try to process this low pressure water. The water produced at this pressure level will have a much greater amount of TDS."

It is much better to run the RO unit to fill a large container and then use the container to top off. You can use a float switch with solenoid and gravity or a float valve with gravity feed or a pump to send the water to the sump.

If you are using a float valve and mechanical RO shut off and it cycles several times per day you are going to have water that has lots of impurities being sent to your sump.

The other problem I see is if you are using a float SWITCH to operate a solenoid that shuts off the RO unit even with 2 float switches if your solenoid fails in the open position it will overfill your sump and lower the salinity as well as covering the floor with a nice layer of water. You can use 2 solenoids inline that both open at the same time for redundancy and then if one fails open the other will still shut off. If either fails in the closed position it will not top off at all but that is much better than the alternative.

 

[Radicaljbr]

Thanks, I do understand the TDS creep, but never read that it has a ton more amount TDS.

This was the reason I put it on a bladder tank. The bladder tank is holding my water for top off and then when the bladder tank gets low, it takes several minuts to replenish it. I guess I thought this would take care of the TDS creep.

I have other issues to work out right now, but will deffently look at this down the road.

We just moved here to Hudson over the summer and my rock and sand are still in containers turning away with power heads and heaters. I just got my trim work done on my inwall setup and I should start transfering rock and sand this week.

SORRY....getting off topic. I will start my on thread.