Can an RO/DI system that needs the filters changed leak contaminates into the water at a concentration? The manufacturer of the system I have recommends changing the filters every 6 to 12 months. If I’m making large quantities of water at a time this recommendation is inapplicable. How many gallons can an RO system produce before the filters need to be replaced?
RO/DI filter replacement question.
- Thread starter Farquhar55
- Start date
I think it depends on the quality of your mains water supply.
The turbidity of the water where i am is terrible and i have to change my filters at half the manufacturers recommended time, just one of those things.
Hopefully i'll get more life out of them when i get round to putting the whole house water supply through a filter
Get a TDS meter and check the output of your RO and see, i was following the manufacturers recommendations until i started getting algal blooms, got a tds and found my RO/DI filters were in need of urgent replacement.
Least thats what it was for me
HTH
Anton
The turbidity of the water where i am is terrible and i have to change my filters at half the manufacturers recommended time, just one of those things.
Hopefully i'll get more life out of them when i get round to putting the whole house water supply through a filter
Get a TDS meter and check the output of your RO and see, i was following the manufacturers recommendations until i started getting algal blooms, got a tds and found my RO/DI filters were in need of urgent replacement.
Least thats what it was for me
HTH
Anton
Read the silicate series by Randy in AAOM, you may change your view about it.
Anyway, if your TDS goes up, it is always a indication that the membrane and/or prefilters need to be replaced. All types of ions will come thru with the silicates, so if you keep your eye on the rest of the gang, you should be fine.
Anyway, if your TDS goes up, it is always a indication that the membrane and/or prefilters need to be replaced. All types of ions will come thru with the silicates, so if you keep your eye on the rest of the gang, you should be fine.
Whatever you do, don't let your carbon filter run out. We did that once and the chlorine (or something else in the water) killed the RO part of the filter. The water it put out smelled like pool water. We had to replace an almost new RO filter because we forgot to change the much cheaper carbon filter.
I don't know why it taste metallic to you, but usually there is some organics in it due to the manufacture process of the DI resin, so it should taste "plasticy."
DI resin used in the hobby are not NSF certified for drinking water due to the leaching issue above. You are just wasting your money if you drink DI water on a regular basis since the extra filtration step buys you nothing. RO is more than sufficient for clean, safe water.
DI resin used in the hobby are not NSF certified for drinking water due to the leaching issue above. You are just wasting your money if you drink DI water on a regular basis since the extra filtration step buys you nothing. RO is more than sufficient for clean, safe water.
Bucktronix":2q1ei6ck said:
Dude, I have such respect for Randy Holmes-Farley. That guy really knows his field of chemistry, and never tires of explaining things in easy to understand language for reef keepers. I think he is a very valuable source of information to us.
Of course, you always have to use your own judgement when deciding who to believe, but for me, if RHF says something, I take it under serious consideration.
Bucktronix":24xy1nuq said:
Me dose silicates? No, I am not much for dosing anything.
I was just shocked to see such a disrespectful and mean comment ("I think he's on crack") about someone who I consider to be a very valuable source of information to the reefkeeping community, that's all.
I would suggest getting a TDS meter. They are pretty cheap ($30 range). the higher your TDS is in your source water, the faster your RO membrane will burn out and the more often your filters will have to be changed.
Consider that most RO manufacturers base their filter change estimates on a consumption of about one gallon per day. An RO supplier gave me this rough figure to find out how often I should change mine. So lets say you have about 300 gallons per filter change. Now if you source water is dirty, then you have to change more often. If it is very clean, like mine, you have to change less often.
The final test is to taste the water. Taste it with fresh filters. Remember that taste. It's sort of sweet because of the lack of salts. When filters get dirty, there will be the taste of "old" water...like water that has sat in a bottle for too long. Hard to explain, but you get a feel for it.
Consider that most RO manufacturers base their filter change estimates on a consumption of about one gallon per day. An RO supplier gave me this rough figure to find out how often I should change mine. So lets say you have about 300 gallons per filter change. Now if you source water is dirty, then you have to change more often. If it is very clean, like mine, you have to change less often.
The final test is to taste the water. Taste it with fresh filters. Remember that taste. It's sort of sweet because of the lack of salts. When filters get dirty, there will be the taste of "old" water...like water that has sat in a bottle for too long. Hard to explain, but you get a feel for it.
manny":3nr5t7xc said:
Isn’t a membrane basically a bag with microscopic holes that allow water through and solids to be held and washed out in the disposed water? And if this is what a membrane is wouldn’t an old membrane only become clogged and less efficient in it’s usage of water?
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