Hauling 1,000+ gallons per week, every week is simply not an option I'm willing to even consider right now. Even paying to have it delivered would be too great of a hassle. There are just too many options available for purifying the water on site. There is a solution, just need to figure the way to make the most water the fastest and have good quality. Hey, I don't want much.
If I can run almost 500 gallons and have the tds rise by 19, then if I reduce the tds going into the DI by 50%, that should double my DI's ability. An RO should reduce by more like 90%. I just need to have about four 100 gpd membranes in front of it.
kwl1763- Thanks for the kind words and suggestions. Glad to have you along. The more information floating around, the better off we all will be. I have already been discussing RO options with two suppliers and that is my next step in this battle. I knew my tap water was terrible from having it tested when I installed the RO in my house but was convinced that a DI of that size would give me about a month's worth of good performance- not less than 500 gallons. I have some pretty special relationships with most of the companies I buy supplies from so it won't be another grand, but it won't be cheap either. I'm thinking that four 100 gpd membranes would be adequate since they only get about 50-60% of what they are advertised for, unless you have heated and pressurized water for optimum performance. The sediment and carbon filters are already in place so I just need the membranes and housings. Premium Aquatics even has a two stage RO for sale (Stingray) with a carbon block and membrane rated at 100 gpd for about $99 retail.
kennethl- If a DI is separate beds, they can be recharged. If it is a mixed bed, they can't be recharged. (ok, I guess you could sit there for a week straight and separate all the + beads and - beads and then recharge them). With DI resins/ beads, the + bed of resin will absorb positive charged ions in the water (ie Fe++, Ca++, Na+, etc) and trade them for H+. The - bed of resin will absorb the negative charged ions from the water (ie Cl-, HCO3-, etc) and trade them for OH-. Then the H+ and the OH- quickly combine to form pure water. Eventually, the resins run out of H+ and OH- and the resins must be recharged. The + bed gets trickled through with muriatic acid and absorbs the H+ from the acid while releasing all of the other ions it has absorbed from filtering the water. The - bed gets trickled through with caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) and absorbs OH- while releasing all of the ions it has absorbed while filtering the water. Both beds must then be forcefully flushed. If you have a mixed bed of resins, there is no way to recharge both resins at the same time because you can't have a solution that is both acidic and basic. For most people running a RO/DI unit in the home. if it is a four stage, (has sediment filter, carbon filter, RO membrane, DI cannister) it can't be recharged. If it is a five stage (sediment, carbon, RO and two DI cartridges) it can be recharged. As long as you know which cannister is which and don't have two DI cannisters that are both mixed beds. With mixed beds, you just have to buy a new one.
DKKA- the live rock vat is a new tub but I am measuring the water coming out of the DI, not in the tub. My water is terrible, but this will be beat and the show will go on.
