Managing TDS for ATO

[dreadhead]

Hello,

I am trying to figure out how best to manage my ATO water. Currently I am sending RO/DI water directly from unit into a water holding container (3 gallons) where it is then pumped into tank as needed by an icecap ATO unit.

The RO/DI water that is sent to the water holding container is controlled by an auto shutoff valve/float to maintain water level in holding container. My problem is that my ro/di water does not reach 0 tds for a min or 2 after it is activated, rather it hovers between 10 - 14 tds and slowly climbs down. So therefore I am feeding my system with less than optimal ato water...

I have designs on this tank being an sps tank with emphasis on montipora species so ideally I want to make best use of my RO\DI unit ( 5 stage spectrapure maxcap 90gpd) and ato water purity.

I didn't know if my best course of action would be to manually fill the water container to ensure 0tds or if there was a secret to better managing this aspect of the hobby.

Any thoughts are very much appreciated.

 

[mcgyvr]

A time controlled bypass valve could be used to dump water for a set time before sending it to the ATO container..

Or add a lower float so the RO/DI system does not just short cycle all the time and fills up the container completely each time the 2 minutes of "higher" TDS really isn't going to be an issue there as its diluted down by lots more 0 tds water to come...

I just manually turn mine on when the tank gets low.. Just easier for me and certainly not a hard or annoying chore..

 

[vhuang168]

Spectapure has an auto flush ro/di unit. Unfortunately it is not retrofittable.

Take a look at the ro/di buddy. It is a stand alone booster pump/auto flush unit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ktownhero]

Flushing the RO membrane is really key for maintaining the life of DI resin. People complain of DI resin only lasting <100 gallons, but that's because they never flush the RO membrane and end up sending high TDS water through the resin for a few minutes. It takes me about 2 minutes to get my RO membrane flushed and the water under 10 TDS before turning on my final stage. I don't know the exact number, but I've easily made somewhere between 200-300 gallons on the same resin. TDS still 0.

So, like the others said, you need to get some method of auto flushing prior otherwise you'll just have to be diligent about testing and changing your DI resin.

 

[dreadhead]

Thanks for the input guys.