Ro/DI water tests. HELP!

[fish keeper 7]

I have a Lifereef 4 stage 50gpd and my readings were

RO/DI Water
Phosphates ~ 2.0-5.0 ppm
Nitrates ~ 0-5.0 ppm
Ammonia ~ 0 ppm
PH ~ ? low.. (lowest color is a light green, test was yellow, its an old test though, will retest new water tomorrow)

Using API test kits (i hate them, wanting to order all Salifert tests, going to do some research on what tests i should use for what. (any opinions would be nice, or what you use) sure i casn just google it or search the forums but any information i can get ill use. =]

why would the phosphates be so high? replaced cartridges 1 month ago

Carbon, DI resin (color changing) and the other thing, forgot what its called,

MR member who i recieved it from said he changed the Membrane 6-12 months ago.

I havent used it much until recently, all together made about 75 gallons worth of RO/di water with it in 2 months. but only used it for 1 month.

 

[BILBO913]

the water line on the api test tubes are off, take a sirenge fill it till it says 5ml ull see it should be past the line. test again youll get a lower reading, i learned this the hard way with these kits, and make sure there not out of date

 

[fish keeper 7]

Thank you. that helped a lot. i dont have a syringe since i dont know how to go about getting one of those, but now that i know that im going to use my Hagen test tubes instead, even though i only have two of them =/ i used the Hagen test tube and my Phosphates were practically zero lol. you just saved me a lot of stress and water changes my friend. thank you =] still going to order Salifert as soon as i get the money. There expensive though =/

 

[reefman]

i hate to b the bearer of bad news, but some things do cost quite a bit with this hobby.

tip: is it always cheaper to test with accuracy.

 

[fish keeper 7]

ll thanks reefman. believe me, i think i know stuff is expensive, dont have to tell me that. its still okay to complain about it sometimes though

 

[masterswimmer]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news as well. Your RO/DI filtration will not remove phosphates, nitrates or ammonia from your water. That's not what it is intended to do. RO/DI filtration is designed to lower your TDS, chlorine, impurities, etc.

It always helps to start with good pure water. However, to lower your phosphates, you'll need to use GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide), evaluate your lighting, feeding, food, flow, husbandry (water changes), etc.

If you don't use your RO/DI filter every other day, you should flush the filters for a good 10 minutes/a couple of gallons worth (sometimes longer if it wasn't used for more than a couple of weeks) before using any of the product water it produces.

I also find that API tests for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates aren't that bad. Salifert are better kits IMO, but if you're short on cash, save up to purchase the Salifert kits for calcium, magnesium, alk/dKh first. The API Saltwater Master kit with ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH should be fine until you can afford all of them.

Go to any pharmacy and ask the pharmacist or technician for a few syringes. They'll give them to you for free or maybe charge you $.25 each (yes, that's 25 cents). They do this to prevent the spread of communicable diseases in the illegal drug community

HTH,
Russ

 

[TonyHNY]

Here an article on RO/DI filters. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/rhf/index.php
Russ, where are you getting the info that RO/DI does not remove phoshates, nitrates or other ions?

For the OP, you should consider getting a TDS meter to see the amount of dissolved solids on your RO water. Your carbon, membrane AND DI should remove ALL ions in the water resulting in more or less pure water.. If any of the ions are dissolved, then your TDS reading would go up. On my unit, the TDS is always zero....

The good news is that it should remove all phosphates, nitrates or ammonia. The bad news is, something may be wrong with your cartridges or your test kits...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news as well. Your RO/DI filtration will not remove phosphates, nitrates or ammonia from your water. That's not what it is intended to do. RO/DI filtration is designed to lower your TDS, chlorine, impurities, etc.

It always helps to start with good pure water. However, to lower your phosphates, you'll need to use GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide), evaluate your lighting, feeding, food, flow, husbandry (water changes), etc.

If you don't use your RO/DI filter every other day, you should flush the filters for a good 10 minutes/a couple of gallons worth (sometimes longer if it wasn't used for more than a couple of weeks) before using any of the product water it produces.

I also find that API tests for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates aren't that bad. Salifert are better kits IMO, but if you're short on cash, save up to purchase the Salifert kits for calcium, magnesium, alk/dKh first. The API Saltwater Master kit with ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH should be fine until you can afford all of them.

Go to any pharmacy and ask the pharmacist or technician for a few syringes. They'll give them to you for free or maybe charge you $.25 each (yes, that's 25 cents). They do this to prevent the spread of communicable diseases in the illegal drug community

HTH,
Russ

 

[Buckeye Field Supply]

Tony is on the right track - your RODI should be removing phosphates, nitrates, etc.

What is the tds of your DI water? It may just be that your DI resin is exhausted.

The other thing to think about - make sure you allow the system to run for a couple of minutes before you ake a smple for testing.

Russ

 

[NL146]

For this application you don't need a syringe with a needle.