water quality

[Henry Colf]

I thought i'd share something i've been going through. I am very religous when it comes to doing water changes. I usually do between 20-30 gallons a week. When I do this I also vacuum my substrate every other week to keep it looking decent. As of late I have been fighting with green algae. I know it wasn't my lighting as the bulbs are about 4 months old. I run them from 10am till 8 pm. My parameters have been all over and have been fighting to keep my Alk. up. My Ca. is at 450-480 and my Mg. is around 1300 with my salinity between 1.024-1.026. I didn't notice that the color in my DI had changed and have been making water like I always do. I went and bought batteries for my tds meter and found that the bucket of fresh water I just made on fri afternoon had a reading of 400. Our water comes in from the city at 160. I just changed the DI resin and let it run for 15 min and it is back to zero. I just thought i'd share this as it may help someone out in the future.....

 

[toddmh]

eek 400 thats crazy lol..

But yes a TDS meter is a very cheep, but very useful tool

 

[jfl14609]

Wow Henry your right I just checked mine as well and had 280 after di 16 before thats interesting I never knew that once di resin goes bad it leaches

 

[dreaminmel]

Thanks for sharing Henry! I haven't changed the batteries on my TDS meter since I bought it but am tempted to see if new ones will affect the reading at all. Glad you were able to pinpoint the problem. :thumbsup:

 

[jfl14609]

I dont think he means is meter was off its just been a while since he checked it cause the batteries were dead

 

[talon4x4]

This is why I love those in-line TDS meters. One of the best tools recommended to me when I first started. The color changing resin is nice too!!

 

[Henry Colf]

I was trying to point out that sometimes when we get into our routines we can over look things. I hadn't noticed that my DI resin was shot. That was my point a tds meter is def a hand tool to have for the hobby and keeping fresh batteries is a plus....

 

[dreaminmel]

That's what I read too. Just made me think it wouldn't hurt to replace mine is all. I know the TV remote will still operate w/ low batteries but it gets "glitchy". If new batteries show same reading then hey, I'll just have backups for when they're needed.

 

[Sir Edward]

Henry, I have been dealing with the green hair algae problem too. I also could not find anything different. All my test come back good. I do not have a DTS meter, But it has been awhile since I have changed any of the R/O filters. So I just changed the Sediment, Carbon, and DI cartridge last week. Dave from ABC ordered me the RO membrane and I am going there this afternoon to pick it up. I have put a sticker on the R/O with the change date of the filters so I know when I've changed them last. This algae bloom is very disturbing to me.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

sheesh... I've never used DI resin and I no longer have a TDS meter.

What brand TDS meter do you have, Henry?

 

[Henry Colf]

Milwaukee, the reading of 400 may have been off not sure if the bucket had any residual salt in it.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Milwaukee, the reading of 400 may have been off not sure if the bucket had any residual salt in it.

Thanks. Residual salt could cause a problem.

 

[jfl14609]

Gary I have two if you need to use one

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

thanks for the offer, Jeff.
I'll pass.... for now. It's probably something I should own (again!)
The last one I had was a no name piece of junk.

 

[tmz]

Sorry to hear that Henry. You're lucky there was no damage to your corals from released metals like copper. Post di tds is worse than post membrane tds even at low numbers because the most loosely bound ions like ammonia and silicate are released first.I ran some hi tds 60 or so for a while several years ago with very bad results.

I now run 2 di canisters with and in line tds meter between them .( I use the cansiters and di refillable cartriges from Bulk Reef Supply. There not very expensive. They have good pricing on bulk mixed anion and cation resin too). When the water entering the second one reads more than zero I change the resin in the first one and rotate them. In addition to the obvious purification assurance, using 2 canisters actually saves some money by eliminating the guesswork about when a resin is exhausted and some premature changes. Color changing resins may give you a hint but they are largely unreliable in my experience.

i also have a hand held tds meter ( about $20) which is very handy.

 

[Henry Colf]

I did have one loss from this, it was my acropora horridia and half of the urs red planet colony growing on my overflow. I also added phosguard to the sump via a LifeGuard Fluidized Bed filter and a small Rio pump(100 GPH) which I have turned way down...

 

[tmz]

I'd try some polyfilter. Sorry for the loss.

 

[superkat]

the horridia? and half the growth on the overflow???? wow....so sorry.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

Milwaukee, the reading of 400 may have been off not sure if the bucket had any residual salt in it.

If you are taking a reading from DI water in what was a salt bucket, there is a very high liklihood that your reading is incorrect.

Instead, use a very clean glass container (as in right out of the dishwasher), and don't touch the inside surface with your fingers.

Fill the glass with DI water right from the DI output tube after the system has been running for a few minutes.

TDS meters read in parts per million (ppm), so even a very little bit of contamination with change the reading.

Russ

 

[Willistein]

Henry, do another clean reading (if you can) with the old resin and let us know. It would be interesting to know that DI resin can leach after being used up.