burning through DI resin; replace RO canister?

quackenbush

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
In past year or so, I have been burning through a DI cartridge every 200 gallons or so. I've replaced my particle and carbon blocks twice and it's still happening. I've contact my city water people (Golden) to ask if they switched from chlorine to chloramine, and I received a very informative response about runoff and TDS and seasonal changes, but no substantial answers to my problem.

So I'm left with changing out my RO membrane, which isn't all that expensive a fix, but I'm less than convinced that's the issue. (It's been a few years, but I don't run a heck of a lot of water through that thing, maybe 500 gallons a year...? )

I have, in my absent mindedness, left the BRS RODI system in RO flush mode for extended periods of time (several hours) and have changed carbon and particulate blocks "as necessary." Still, even if the carbon was spent and the RO membrane blown out, I can't imagine burning through a DI cartridge so quickly. I can practically see it changing colors.

Has anyone else experienced this? I'm perplexed.
 

Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#2
No experience but would imagine you need a new to membrane. How many years have you had it?


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Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#3
I do know they like to be run often rather than seldom. Not sure the science behind it but...


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SynDen

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#4
So the first thing I would check is that the RO system is plumbed correctly. I know in the past I have hooked it up in the wrong order and doing so always made the DI expend more quickly.
Check to be sure that the water flows in to carbon and sediment chambers first, and then flows to the membrane and last stage is the DI. If the flow is going through the DI before the membrane, then changing that will make the DI last a lot longer
 

Balz3352

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
I make a good amount of water and was burning through di like no ones business. Eventually I started to run 3 stage di with individual cation and anion and mixed I did that probably 4 months ago and I don't even have color change yet. Where as I was changing out probably every 3rd month with color change after my first some making water (75 gallons or so.)

Might be an option
 

SkyShark

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
So the first thing I would check is that the RO system is plumbed correctly. I know in the past I have hooked it up in the wrong order and doing so always made the DI expend more quickly.
Check to be sure that the water flows in to carbon and sediment chambers first, and then flows to the membrane and last stage is the DI. If the flow is going through the DI before the membrane, then changing that will make the DI last a lot longer
I second this.


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quackenbush

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
It's a BRS system that's been plumbed in for a few years - no changes to the plumbing since it was installed at that time.

Something happened about 6 months ago ... I will change the RO canister and cross my fingers.
 

SynDen

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#8
If it is plumbed correctly then I would try adding another DI stage, as RJ suggested. I know at my house in Denver, our water is pretty high in silica, likely due to old water main pipes. I had a bad dino outbreak a while back and I ended up tracing the source to the high silica, and because I was only running one stage it was getting through and also caused the DI to expend a bit faster then it should. Once I added the extra DI canisters neither problem has been an issue since
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9
Call a real water specialist and skip BRS. Get a dow 99% and this will really help. Your GPD might/will go down, but who cares if you don't spend a fortune on RODI.

Our water is pretty good here in Longmont, but I can get down to 1-2 TDS after just the sediment, carbon and membrane... the DI lasts a long time.
 

scchase

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#10
Call a real water specialist and skip BRS. Get a dow 99% and this will really help. Your GPD might/will go down, but who cares if you don't spend a fortune on RODI.

Our water is pretty good here in Longmont, but I can get down to 1-2 TDS after just the sediment, carbon and membrane... the DI lasts a long time.
Just rub it in, I miss the days of using tap in my reef in Loveland, dang water here in Aurora is somewhere around 900 TDS out of the tap and I can get it down to around 5-10 after RO, and that is with an oversized chloramine/carbon black in front of everything.
Do get a 99% filter though, doesn't really matter where you get it the majority are made by Dow anyways and than repackaged for reefing.
 

quackenbush

Clown Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
I ended up changing out the RO canister with a DOW 99% and that did the trick. DI consumption is now near minimal.

I'm shocked the canister needed replacement after only a couple years. I was in denial....
 

flagg37

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
I ended up changing out the RO canister with a DOW 99% and that did the trick. DI consumption is now near minimal.

I'm shocked the canister needed replacement after only a couple years. I was in denial....
It can go quick if you have chloramines in the water.
 
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