RO placement

pskorf

New member
going to install my RO filter and wondering if i should place it before or after my water softner.
the water softner i could place it after is the one for my koi pond so the salt i use is good for them and does not include rust remover or anything bad for the fish.
 
I am not familiar with water softeners, I do not have one but if you have hard water it will make your RO membrane last alot longer.
 
after the softner. The softner is removing the calcium and magnesium so the RO membrane has less to remove, therefore the membrane lasts longer.
 
SpectraPure® recommends the use of a Water Softener ahead of the Reverse Osmosis System for efficient water purification production and operation, water saving and longer life of the membrane. The Water Softener will replace the hardness (mineral, calcium and magnesium) in the water with sodium. This prevents mineral-scale buildup on the RO membrane.
 
Well, to be fair, adding a softener before the RO membrane will likely raise the TDS out of the RO because calcium and magnesium are actually easier for the RO to remove than is sodium. So that isn’t the reason to put the softener first.

As Joel indicates, the reason many suggest having it before the RO is that it reduces the calcium and magnesium carbonate precipitation onto the RO membrane (often called fouling or scale formation) and so the water softener can extend the lifetime of the RO membrane before it is too clogged to be useful. :)
 
Well, to be fair, adding a softener before the RO membrane will likely raise the TDS out of the RO because calcium and magnesium are actually easier for the RO to remove than is sodium. So that isn't the reason to put the softener first.

As Joel indicates, the reason many suggest having it before the RO is that it reduces the calcium and magnesium carbonate precipitation onto the RO membrane (often called fouling or scale formation) and so the water softener can extend the lifetime of the RO membrane before it is too clogged to be useful. :)


okay so does this mean you want it in front or behind.
i have well water ,it goes through an iron filter and then through a carbon filter then i can either put ro on here or after softner(i have 1 softner for house and 1 for pond so much for free water with all that equipment)
 
i second that...before the ro. get with a sponsor that deals with nothing but ro/di units. there god about getting back to you.
 
Also, think about adding a DI unit on the end of the RO, it will ensure that you have nothing but pure H2O available for your tank.
 
Unless your tap water is very clean (which would beg the point why would you need a water softener?), install it after the softener.
 
Unless your tap water is very clean (which would beg the point why would you need a water softener?), install it after the softener.

the water softner for the pond is to help lower the gh which in turn will hopefully help the red color and stop them from shimi on my koi but that is for another hobby forum:bigeyes:
but if you really want TMI the outside pond does not get the softner so it will help the black color on the koi.
 
I have about 1300 TDS straight from my well... (Ewww)

After my softner (trying to remember to be accurate) it's somewhere in the 250-500TDS range (Can't remember off hand)

So, ya, in many cases AFTER softner would be much easier.
 
You must be doing something to that water aside from softening it to reduce the TDS like that. The swapping of sodium for calcium and magnesium does not reduce the TDS that much. Only a little as the sodium ions released are just a tiny bit less conductive than the proportional amount of calcium and magnesium. There is no removal of total ions by a softener.

Maybe it is just a mismeasurement? :)
 
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