haze152 Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Recently I battled a high Phosphate promblem in make tank. I tried everything to get it under control. Finally someone asked me what the levels of the source water was. I just assumed all RO/DI water was the same man was I wrong. I statred testing water from all the Local fish stores and I was surprised to say the least phosphate test came back as low as .20 and as high as .65 so I statred testing every level Nitrates was another big issue range 0PPM -15 PPM. Then I did a chlorine range was 0- almost pool levels. I am not the type of person to talk bad about a company so I will not say any names please do not PM and ask store names. I will say the good there was 1 local fish store the scored a 0 including both grades of saltwater on all test Phosphates,Nitrates and Chlorine that store was River City ( In know way to I work for them or did they ask me to post this).Thank you River City for providing good clean water at a good price.The reason I could not get my levels down I was adding more then I could take out. My advise to anyone getting into this hobby is DON'T put it in your tank until you know whats in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Lets be very specific about the methods you used here. What test kits for each parameter? 0-15 for nitrate makes it sound like maybe you used the API kit which is neither precise nor accurate in terms of the quantities of nitrate one could expect from RODI. For chlorine, you shouldn't be getting ANY reading for chlorine, unless it's total chlorine. City of Austin (which i believe is the source of all three LFS water) is treated with chloramine and not chlorine. Which test kit was used here? I'm all for knowing what you put in your tank, but before you start blasting stores (you said which one was good, leaving the other two out to dry, simple process of elimination tells you the remainder), let's make awfully sure that your testing methods are precise. I'd be happy to duplicate these tests and see if they match what you've found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Interesting. Some salts have extra stuff. And different areas have some crap in their water that some rodi units can't take care of. Definitely and interesting find though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haze152 Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 Keep in mind there is more then 3 local fish stores. I used Hanna for phosphates and red sea for nitrates I did also state the nitrate range was 0-15. 2 of the 3 LFS you are talking about did test 0 nitrates. My main goal here was phosphates which only 1 tested 0. As far as clorhine goes I also didn't think Austin used it till I tested my work water I also tested my home water I'm round Rock which was through the roof. I just used my pool test kit for that. If that test was wrong I apologize for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesreyn Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Thank you for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haze152 Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 And I would love for someone else to do same test I am not perfect by no means. I will say this the 3 stores you are talking about we're the best in Austin area that is all I will say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Keep in mind there is more then 3 local fish stores. I used Hanna for phosphates and red sea for nitrates I did also state the nitrate range was 0-15. 2 of the 3 LFS you are talking about did test 0 nitrates. My main goal here was phosphates which only 1 tested 0. As far as clorhine goes I also didn't think Austin used it till I tested my work water I also tested my home water I'm round Rock which was through the roof. I just used my pool test kit for that. If that test was wrong I apologize for that. Thanks for the response. Yeah, as I've found out myself, the pool strips are insufficient for our purposes. They're hard to read and inconsistent, not to mention our sensitivity in reef keeping is much lower than pools. I'm shocked that PO4 is making it through any RODI system. Phosphate is kind of a classic constituent that is supposed to be removed by the RO membrane first and then definitely the DI resin. If anyone wants to drop me a sample, I'd be happy to test it. I honestly can't believe that any of them have phosphate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haze152 Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 I would also think that they would all be 0. Now keep in mind maybe it's just time to change filter. The pool test was drops not strips. Next time I head to south Austin I will let you know and we can compare test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 If I'm not mistaken, I remember one store telling me they didn't use DI resin nor do they ever test their TDS. I have owned my own unit for a long time, and when I wasn't getting 0 TDS, I was have alot of problems. Who knows what was being let through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClarkiiCircus Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 A good rule of thumb, if you ever feel uncomfortable is to ask when resins, membranes, and other barriers were last replaced. Depending on how much water they use/sell, the membranes and resins can last as little as a month. But, Juiceman had a very good point- "The city of Austin" really doesnt cover all of the water sources. Even things like the piping laid in your own neighborhood, and your local wastewater treatment plant can affect the quality of the water you're receiving. For a good time, check the EPA safe drinking water act website and interactive module to see if your neighborhood (or that of a local fish store) has any levels out of standard range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10gReef Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 just for ones knowledge, when should you replace the filters on a ro/di unit? I think I have been using the same ones for about a year now. and I typically do a weekly water change of 15g + 5g ato/week + 5g personal drinking water, so an estimated 25g made a week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haze152 Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 My guess would be to test your water that should Let you know when it's time to change filters. Juiceman you are correct there is a store that does not do DI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 As victoly has mentioned, he did test some LFS samples for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 just for ones knowledge, when should you replace the filters on a ro/di unit? I think I have been using the same ones for about a year now. and I typically do a weekly water change of 15g + 5g ato/week + 5g personal drinking water, so an estimated 25g made a week I do prefilters quarterly, carbon semiannually, DI annually and RO membrane when my pressure dictates. If you have an inline TDS meter, use that as your guide. A good rule of thumb, if you ever feel uncomfortable is to ask when resins, membranes, and other barriers were last replaced. Depending on how much water they use/sell, the membranes and resins can last as little as a month. But, Juiceman had a very good point- "The city of Austin" really doesnt cover all of the water sources. Even things like the piping laid in your own neighborhood, and your local wastewater treatment plant can affect the quality of the water you're receiving. For a good time, check the EPA safe drinking water act website and interactive module to see if your neighborhood (or that of a local fish store) has any levels out of standard range. While the piping may add some constituents (particularly dissolved metals), additional treatment additives (chloramine in particular) only come from one of two drinking water treatment plants operated by the city of austin. I guess additional phosphate could come in if the drinking water pipes were compromised and ran through agricultural operations, but offhand I can't think of additional sources of "contaminants" (i use quotes because phosphate at the levels we're concerned with are hardly contaminants for the public at large). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 This is kind of on topic. I got my spectrapure second hand from a guy that used it on his reef 5 years ago. I don't know how long he used that membrane for, but I'm gonna assume a long time. The unit sat unused for 5 years. I bought it, been using it for a year and still producing 0 tds water. The membrane is actually taking my tap from 550 tds down to 1 ppm. Something seems off. Too good to be true Never changed my di resin. Change my sediment and carbon blocks together every 6 months. I'm about due. I make about 25 gallons a month Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClarkiiCircus Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 No other contaminants, eh? Drinking water (and the "potable" water that comes from your tap) has a huge variety of contaminants in it, which are largely affiliated with the kind of water (surface, ground well, purch surface, etc) you receive. And, trace amounts are usually ok. But, some water systems (often broken down by neighborhood or MUD) are consistent offenders. Usually these range from bacteria (coliforms, e.coli) to heavy metals (arsenic, copper, cyanide, to name a few), pesticides/herbicides (dioxin), and VOC's (TTHM, toluene, etc). The full list of contaminants measured by the EPA in nearly every drinking water system is found here: http://www.epa.gov/enviro/facts/sdwis/water_contaminants.html#tthmstotaltrihalomethanes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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