RO filter died :-(

[jhale]

Back on track:

new 75gpd RO membrane: $45.00
5 pounds of fresh DI resin: $29.95

having DI water the measures 0.01 on the hanna meter after 3 gallons of initial production= $87.95 including shipping



did you think I was going to say priceless :dead1:

well 0.01 is not yet perfect, but it's far better than the .6 of
yesterday :party:

the problem for me could have been the DI resin was exposed to air for too long.
the instructions I got with the resin specified any unused portions must be kept in a sealed glass container to prevent CO2 from reaching it. CO2 kills the DI resin it seems. I put my extra in a sealed flour container, it should be good .
The resin I had used was stored in little zip locks for a long time.
I learned something new today, thanks filter guys

 

[gnatp2]

Jon,
I'm gunna bet the issue was your salt with your recent .14 reading.

After reading this thread, I bypassed my RO as well and did a 20g water change last week. Today I decided to go ahead and do another water change just cuz it was SO quick now.

I tested my tank water for phosphates with the hanna and came up with .07. Not the best, but not awful. I made a batch of mixed saltwater and tested it for phosphates. .14. Crap.... This was AFTER putting in some brand new prefilters and DI resin. Well I figured that the issue was the fact that I bypassed my RO. I made a new batch of freshwater and came up with .04. Then I added the salt and came up with .18!!! I'm convinced that my salt contains po4 which I'm guessing was your issue.

I know you're getting .01 after the new RO and DI resin, (which is amazing. I've never been able to get less than .03 ever on my hanna no matter what) but have you checked the PO4 after adding salt?

Nate

 

[bigbris1]

Wow. Nate, what brand salt mix was this?

 

[gnatp2]

Wow. Nate, what brand salt mix was this?

Tropic Marin Pro Reef
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum...81-high-phosphates-tropic-marin-pro-reef.html

 

[jhale]

hey Nate, I've not made any new salt water yet.
I just tested the water after the TDS meter read 0 on the DI output, it took about 3 gallons for this to happen.

I have a new bucket of IO that says in big letters it's PO4 free!
I will make up a batch of ro/di, add the salt and test. If I get the .14 reading again then IO is getting a real angry letter.

note the .01 reading I got is with brand new resin and membrane, I was really hoping for a 0.00

 

[bigbris1]

If you get the .14 reading with the new batch of IO water, it'll be a class action!

 

[prattreef]

Perhaps this should become a thread on its own, but I was just re-reading the instructions for the Hanna meter and noticed much to my surprise that the accuracy is listed as +/- .04 mg/l at 68F. Now, I'm not sure what the temp.difference translates too, but +/- .04 is a huge difference in the precision we are looking for. A reading of .03 for example could be 0.0 or .07. I can't possibly be the 1st one to notice this can I? None of this concerns me greatly personally, but when you start hoping for .01 differences as being meaningful, I'm not sure the Hanna meter is going to provide that degree of assurance.

 

[jhale]

The +-.04 was discussed in matt's hanna meter thread.
it was hard to find a testing meter that had less of a possible range without spending much more money. your talking lab bench equipment at that point.

given that, I'd rather see a 0.01 on the meter than a .14 - .17 at least I know it's at the low end and in the range I want to be in.

 

[prattreef]

Agreed. My point was simply that people shouldn't drive themselves crazy over .01 or so differences in readings.

 

[gnatp2]

hey Nate, I've not made any new salt water yet.
I just tested the water after the TDS meter read 0 on the DI output, it took about 3 gallons for this to happen.

I have a new bucket of IO that says in big letters it's PO4 free!
I will make up a batch of ro/di, add the salt and test. If I get the .14 reading again then IO is getting a real angry letter.

note the .01 reading I got is with brand new resin and membrane, I was really hoping for a 0.00

Ok, cool. Dude, don't be upset with .01, I can't get below .03 on my ro/di!!!! Nice work.
Let me know what you get after mixing up the IO. I'm on the hunt for new salt.

Nate

 

[jhale]

people shouldn't drive themselves crazy over .01

Randy, remember (like others) I'm an obsessive SPS keeper :redface:

 

[Bob 1000]

Do you think you could achieve a .01 with just di???

 

[jhale]

sure, with enough DI resin and the proper flow through the canister (slow enough) it should come out to 0.00...

I don't what that is yet. I want to test the salt first, then I'll try going back to the DI water only. Maybe Randy can tell us how much DI resin he uses and the flow rate.

 

[Bob 1000]

okay thanks still wondering...But let me know when you find out... Until then I'll keep an eye on this thread......

 

[jhale]

Test Results

I took some time and tested the IO salt with my RO/DI water this morning.



I used one gallon of the RO/DI , a 1/2 cup of IO salt, my refractometer, and the PO4 hanna meter. The half cup IO recommends gave me a .031 on the refractometer. I did not fix it as I just wanted to know the PO4 levels, I figured if anything it would give me a stronger solution to work with.

The RO/DI gave a 0.00 reading on the hanna.

this is the vial of RO/DI water with the regent mixed in it.
it was as clear as could be,

I hand mixed the salt with an acrylic rod, I did not want to take the chance of introducing anything from an old powerhead or airstone.
once I mixed in the reagent with the saltwater it looked clear as well.

It was! the IO came out at .02 on the hanna , I'm pretty happy with that.
while not perfect, this was a far better result than my last test.

to verify the results (and for Randy :hug I tested the IO salt mix with a Merc D&D PO4 kit.

It's very hard to "show" you the results, but the kit read between .015 and .03 , which pretty much lets me believe that the hanna meter is dead on and not suffering from a +-.04 reading :Hydrogen:

I feel better knowing the water I'm placing into my tank has a much lower phosphate reading than what's in there at the moment. I'm going to do several large changes to lower the PO4 then I'll test the DI resin by itself.

 

[prattreef]

Nice going Jon. I suspect as you already have, that your DI resin was not stored properly and thus not functioning at optimal capacity.

 

[bigbris1]

Yes! Even tho batches of IO are known to fluctuate, I think we have found a winner (on the phosphate issue), huh Nate?

Thank you very much Jon, this has been extremely helpful.

 

[gnatp2]

BRILLIANT!!! (like those guiness guys say)
Nice work Jon, thanks for being so thorough.

I'm going to be ordering some good old trusty IO today.

Thanks again,
Nate

 

[jhale]

I agree, but I will add testing for PO4 to the list for what to test for in a new bucket of salt. hey you never know...

I might be switching from IO due to the low amounts of MG that were in this present bucket. It was below 1100, by the time I buffered it up to 1300 with ESV MG it would have cost less to buy one of the balanced reef salts :arg:
I like how the Red Sea Pro is looking, it got some good comments in Nate's tropic marin thread.

 

[bigbris1]

Please refresh my memory on the effects of low Mg in reef aquaria (Randy, feel free to chime in with a link )