confused :(

[vsnsofadrgn]

im very confused about whats goin on with my water. i have been battling algae for awhile now. when i used distilled water from walmart, i didnt have any problems, but i was tired of lugging water so i got my ro/di unit up and running again. this seemed to be going ok, but i couldnt get ahold of the problem. it would come less and less, but still came. (i did have a bunch of snails die, which caused ALOT of problems, but i did plenty of water changes with the distilled water and it was a LONG time ago. i did 30-40% water changes every week for about 3 weeks or so) i finally got a tds meter because i was confused. well the tap water tests at 288. i tested the ro/di water and it tested 309. i changed the filters and its at 355 now. does that make sense??? im very confused. i feed every other day, sometimes every 2-3 days (i feed frozen mysis and formula one, which i rinse in ro/di). my bioload is very light, only a yellow watchman goby and a maroon clown, along with about 10 hermits, 2 pep shrimps, and a cbs, in a 55. i have 30 lbs lr and 30 base. please help!!!

 

[beachbumin]

if you can find it one an urchin will help battle the alge. Besides that Ill leave the other tank parameters to the experts...HTH

 

[Hara]

Did you change out the prefilters only? Or did you include the expensive ro filter too?

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

well its a 6 stage unit and i get the pack that the "guy" sells, which are 5 filters. i change them every couple of months, i havent even had the unit a year yet. its these http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=160030404212&rd=1&rd=1. i thought i was getting everything i needed. maybe not??

i have thought about an urchin (or other algea eatin critter) and a debris eating star, but i dont want anything ot die on my account. i want the water quality to be at its best first.

 

[melosu58]

You`ll probably need to change the RO membrane also.

 

[ellisz]

Wow. I can't imagine the membrane failing that soon. Mine is over 2 yrs old and my TDS tests at 1.

Are you sure your not catching the discharge water?

 

[rubikcube]

Does the "post-polishing" activated carbon filter make sense to anyone else? Wouldn't this result in less pure water?

You might try testing the water immediately after the DI resin stage.

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

according to his site, the filters are supposed to last a year, but i thought i had really bad water, so i changed them every couple/few months. i dont think im catching the discharge water... ill have to double check. ill also have to check the post polishing thing too.

 

[melosu58]

You should have a line coming from the unit that has water you cannot use. I just run that line out in the yard to water the grass.

 

[ellisz]

The carbon filter after the DI chamber is for taste only. I do not use mine at all since I use the RO/DI for the fish tank only. I have an aquasafe canada unit and I bought my filters from them. They recommend changing the filters every 6 months. I have gotten more from mine though.

Are you getting a fast steady stream or a thin slow stream? This will vary depending on water pressure but the discharg line will be alot faster than output line.

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

well the thing is that the unit has a flow rate thing on it, so i make the one that i think is the good water go faster, of course! ill check the water from the "discharge" line and see what its measurement is, i guess that will tell me, if not ill have to take a pic and let someone id it for me. i really hope i havent been putting the bad water in there this whole time...

 

[melosu58]

I was going to say maybe you can get a pic of it and we can tell from that.

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

ok, so i tested each outline, one is at 366, the other at 355, so that didnt help much. here is a pic. the blue line is the one that i thought was the good water, the orange the drainage line. tap water, 288. i just dont get, how can that be? and is that pretty bad for tap water? i guess i know where my issues are, so thats one good thing!

 

[ellisz]

I don't think 288 is all that bad. Not good but should not be hard for a RO/DI to get it down to 0. Try your pic again.

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

oops, i forgot to put it in, sorry ..... here it is. when i was just using the tap water for top offs, the next day, the tank would be COVERED in algea. i thought it was real bad, lol. i thought the ro/di would take care of it, but it looks like its even worse some how.... im confused.

 

[melosu58]

the blue line is the one that i thought was the good water, the orange the drainage line.

I only have a 4 stage but mine is the same way you describe. Could a defective meter be the problem.

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

i thought so too, so i bought some distilled water and tested that, its at 12. so its not the meter. i dont know whats goin on.... any ideas? could it be the ro filter? where would i get one? it does sit there, the only time i use it is for my weekly water changes. its hooked up to an adapter to the faucet. would it just sitting there cause a problem? i dont know, maybe its jst a peice of junk.... ????

 

[reefbound]

Do you see how your DI unit is on its side and where the water is bypassing the resin? I had the same problem with my resin chamber... What I did is put longer water lines on the DI chamber a made a holder for it out of a 2x4 and plumbers strap and stood it on end. My TDS went from 100 to 0 after that.

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

hmm, that sounds like something simple enough. i know this is a dumb question, but which one exactly is the di?? the clear one?

 

[reefbound]

hmm, that sounds like something simple enough. i know this is a dumb question, but which one exactly is the di?? the clear one?

Not dumb at all,Here is a pic of what I did and yes its the clear one,total cost for me was less than 15$ (xtra line,2x4,plumbers strap)

Also what color is your DI resin in the clear chamber?