RODI Issues since moving to the area

H

HowManyClowns

New member
My TDS is around 35 out of my new membrane and I am burning through DI every 2 weeks.

I am using a BRS 5 stage and I just bought a spectrapure membrane 90gpd.

I have adjusted the flow restrictor, replaced all of my prefilters, BRS even sent me a new membrane housing.

Any ideas? I have a water softner that is not being used, should I hook it up?
 
Use your water softener, sodium ions are much easier on the membrane then calcium.

Do you have a flush kit? I feel in AZ they are mandatory due to our water quality

What is your water pressure? IMO more the better. I feel 50 psi is the bare minimum, I presently run mine at around 100psi. IME the higher pressure improved both production of good water and reduced TDS levels

You are burning through DI as fast as you are due to the high TDS levels coming out of the membrane. With my Spectrapure Maxcap I have about 7ppm after the membrane ( using Spectrapure's 99% rejection membrane)

What was the rejection rate of your previous membrane? Improving the rejection rate 2% will double your DI life

here is a link to Spectrapure's page on RC, there is a lot of good information in the stickies
http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=229


I would start using Spectrapure filter elements they are a higher quality than most of the competitors
 
I had the same problem in goodyear, the local water has high tds and burned through it fast also. best to get better membrane and flush for 5-10 mins between use
 
I don't think its an ro/di issue, its just that the water here in AZ is high in tds. I'm in north phoenix and out of the tap I get ~476ppm where in Florida I was getting ~250ppm. Out of my dual membrane setup I get 14ppm so that means my membranes are working at 97% rejection which is pretty good. I have 1um sediment, 1um carbon block, 2 90gpd spectrapure membranes boosted to 75 psi and spectrapure maxcap and silica buster.

One thing you can also do is setup a 3 way valve right after your membrane and discard the initial water that comes out at startup and then turn back to production water after say 5min. The tds is usually around 50-75ppm for a few seconds till pressure builds up and the membrane start working efficiently. This way your DI resin never sees these spikes and should last longer.
 
RODI Issues since moving to the area

johanasu said:
I think he meant what is your tap water TDS so we can calculate your membrane rejection rate....
Click to expand...


Wow, 590 when bypassing my water softner which is how I have been running it (had no salt in it and have never used it)

I just flipped the bypass valve and j am seeing around 440. I bought some salt today so I am thinking this might improve things slightly

I haven't run this through my ro unit yet, I'm going to flush it and regenerate before I do
 
94% is not very good, I wouldn't accept less than 98%

A 2% increase in rejection will double the DI life

The Spectrapure Select Plus is the one you want ( 99% rejection) I also run the smallest micron size for the sediment and carbon filters ( these 2 filters serve to protect the membrane). Also get yourself a new flow restrictor even if the membrane is the same GPD so you can be sure the proper rejection is set up.
 
RODI Issues since moving to the area

I have a spare flow restrictor, I'll try that next. What do you recommend as far as DI goes? I have been purchasing BRS bulk color changing resin and changing it myself.

If I went with the spectrapure ones, which is best for our water here?
 
After hooking up the water softener and regenerating, I am now getting 18 TDS after the RO! So much better, I am going to get a better membrane and see if I can get that down some, but I feel like it's a great start
 
HowManyClowns said:
After hooking up the water softener and regenerating, I am now getting 18 TDS after the RO! So much better, I am going to get a better membrane and see if I can get that down some, but I feel like it's a great start
Click to expand...

If you have one canister for 1 DI I would go with the Silica Buster Super DI. They have a color indicating model that tells you when to change it out, but I have found it is not accurate so I just get the non color indicating and use a hand held TDS meter to tell me when to change them out

http://spectrapure.com/AQUARIUM/SED...r-DI-Cartridge-Non-Indicating-SuperDI-10-inch


If you have 2 canisters you can also get a Max Cap DI cartridge and place it before the Silica Buster

http://spectrapure.com/AQUARIUM/SED...artridges/MaxCap-DI-Cartridge-SuperDI-10-inch
 
I have a spare flow restrictor, I'll try that next
Click to expand...

In case you didn't know you will want to test how much good water you are producing versus the waste. You want run a ratio of 4/1 anything less and you will foul the membrane especially if you are not flushing. Shortening the flow restrictor will give you more waste to good water. My restrictor is pretty short about 1" long
 
Yea it's around an inch after I did the product water test I cut it. I need to get a flush kit, I am going to manually flush until I do by switching drain to one without a flow restrictor. TDS is around 13-14 now which is great for now
 
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