RO/DI Question

B

Bryan

Lately I have had a GHA outbreak like i have never had before. My feedings are very light, my bulbs are changed regularly, and I do 3 20g water changes each month. Tank is 87g with 40b sump, have a 15g fuge, reef octo nw110 skimmer, and only 4 small fish. My problem really started as the temperature started to soar outside. I tried testing for phosphates in my tank but I never really got any results that were obvious (probably due to the GHA having a feast) Then I got to thinking about my source of water. I have a portable ro/di unit from air water ice and it is in my garage, and it feeds into a brute trash can for water storage and ATO use. Well we have had about 30 straight days of 100*+ , and I am wondering if the high temps could be damaging my filtration causing it not to work properly, or if maybe the trash cans are possibly releasing something into the water due to the heat. I didnt have these issues until it started to get really hot. I have not been able to test the storage water yet , i am picking up a new test kit this weekend for that.


Has anyone ran into a similar problem ?
 
The biggest cause of any algae is excess of nutrients. In your case, I suspect the cause is a nitrate spike in your tank. With this hot summer, our houses ambient air temperature is warmer and so it has raises the temperature within out tanks which in turn increases the metabolism all aquatic life. I would look at sanitation of your tank. Clean everything. Cut down on feeding till you got it under control. Use a power head to stir us deteris around your rocks where it might collect.
 
you really need to find our your TDS and storage containers need cleaning regularly as well.
 
@Wes wrote:
you really need to find our your TDS and storage containers need cleaning regularly as well. said:
+1... as it get's warmer the cities dump more crap in the water to guard against the algae increase's. Your filter and di resin may need changing more ofter but without knowing the tds of the water from the unit and inside your container, it will do no good just randomly trying stuff. [smilie=smile.gif]

Cheers,
Click to expand...
 
I know tap tds was ~160 last saturday when i looked at my inline meter and output was 6

I picked up a handheld unit and cal solution today and I will check everything again.
 
Also make sure you run you ro/di for 5 - 10 min before you start to collect it
 
@kuyatwo wrote:
Also make sure you run you ro/di for 5 - 10 min before you start to collect it said:
That is sort of an issue for me. My storage can has a float valve on it with the auto shut off kit, so as is, it just refills by itself. that prevents me from doing the 5-10min flush. might have to come up with something new so i can do that.
Click to expand...
 
That could be part of the source of your problem. You prob can put a T and couple valves before your float valve so you can run the ro/di before it goes into your ato container
 
You want the output to be 0, not 6. Get more DI resin. And yes, burn off the first minute.

It's best to let your RO/DI system run longer rather than short bursts daily. So fill up the brute, turn off the RO system for a few days until you need to refill the brute. Burn off the first minute (TDS creep) then start making water. You should be burning off the 60 seconds of water prior to the DI section. Grab a Tee fitting, some tubing, a ball valve and a 2-liter bottle. That will let you open the valve to collect the higher TDS water for that minute. Close the valve, water a plant and let the collecting commence.
 
Thanks for all of the input, where would some of us be without forums. LOL


also, are the protable systems really worth having ? Even with new filters I have never seen a reading below 3. Thinking about scrapping it and going for something better.

Now if we only had someone on this site who actually sold filtration systems. [smilie=thinking.gif]
 
Yeah, if only.... ;)

There is one in the raffle in the August meeting. We had one in the meeting last month as well.
 
I'm seeing reports in increase Ammonia in the tap water. http://www.dfwfishbox.com/forums/production/showthread.php?t=22455
 
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