Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Has anyone ever had their RO smell like dead fish? I was smelling it in my fish room last night and I assumed it was just from water or food that spilled on the floor, but this morning I opened up the RO jug I filtered last night and it smelled AWFUL and the TDS was in the 300's WTH?! I didn't have time to investigate this morning since I was heading out the door, but just curious if anyone has ever experienced this. It has been filtering just fine lately, I think TDS was at 0 a week ago. The filters are getting to their change date of 6 months old, but I've never seen this happen, it's almost as if organic matter go through the RO and into the DI canister. I'll know more tonight when I get home. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Maybe the jug accidentally got contaminated with food or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Is the jug connected to anything possible back siphon? Maybe grabbed the wrong jug? Idk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Oh wait, that was your RO jug? I thought that was your composting trashcan so I threw my food in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted December 23, 2015 Author Share Posted December 23, 2015 Oh wait, that was your RO jug? I thought that was your composting trashcan so I threw my food in there. ha. ha. ha. It's a dedicated 5 gal RO jug. I doubt anything got in there, and it smelled funky the whole time it was filling up. When I get home I'm going to dump it and wash it well and start filtering into a clean glass container and check the TDS and smell then to eliminate the jug as the culprit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Reefer Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I would suspect some type of bacterial growth to produce the odor. Therefore a food source must be present. Even if your TDS was above acceptable params It should not cause a bacterial growth surge in such a short period of time. Think about storing salt water with high TDS once mixed. It will eventually turn if anaerobic (not stirred) but not in a short period of time. Even storing tap water will not produce a growth surge like that, so I figure a 300 TDS should not. It may be the container that was contaminated. Either way I would dump it, clean the container and refill. What does the TDS on the RO say going in and out of the DI. Also test the waste water for chlorine. If it reads it in the discharge then your carbon is gone. Remeber all water finished or waste goes thru the prefilters and needs to be calculated in the filters life. And chlorine will damage the RO membrane. RO membranes with high rejection rates at 99% will save on the DI almost one for one ratio. 98% rejection lowers to two DI canisters and 97% down to three DI canisters. If the membrane is damaged then the DI will fail very very fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 How long have you had the jug? I was using one of the white 5g jugs that I bought at Aquatek. I'd used it for like 2 1/2 yrs thinking with only RO going into it there was no need to clean it. I noticed it started to smell but don't remember it smelling that bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I had this happen. It was caused by the di resin going bad. Replaced my resin and smell went away. I still had 0 on Tds meter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted December 24, 2015 Author Share Posted December 24, 2015 I had this happen. It was caused by the di resin going bad. Replaced my resin and smell went away. I still had 0 on Tds meter. I believe bige is correct here. I came home and turned on the RO for about 15 minutes emptying into a bucket, which read 11 TSD and no smell. I then connected it to the DI canister and ran it for about 20 minutes before collecting a sample in a clean glass and the TDS was 14 with a strong dead fish odor. Gonna replace the DI resin and the RO filters to be safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltykid96 Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 When my rodi sat for 6 months without doing anything with it it did the same thing. Tds was coming out all kinds of numbers and it smelled funky so I replaced everything and all is good Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Well I learned something from this thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I did as well. Thanks gig em and others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Reefer Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Here are some interesting facts I pulled from the following article about the depletion of DI resins I thought were relevant to this conversation. I have highlighted the most important statements. Reverse Osmosis/Deionization Systems to PurifyTap Water for Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes Farley link: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/rhf/index.php#7 n the DI descriptions above, I did not address the fact that some ions will show a greater preference for attachment to the resin than will others. When the resins are not depleted, it does not matter what the ions’ affinity is, as all are bound. But in a depleted scenario, when there are more ions than ion binding sites, those with a higher affinity for the resin will be retained, and those with a lower affinity will be released. It turns out that silicate is found at the lower end of affinity for anion resins. Consequently, if the DI resin has been collecting silicate for a long period and is then depleted, a large burst of silicate may be released. Perhaps even more of a concern is ammonia. In a system with chloramine in the tap water, the DI resin will serve the important function of removing much of the ammonia produced by the chloramine breakdown. Ammonia has a poorer affinity for many cation-binding resins than do many other cations (e.g., calcium or magnesium). Consequently, when the DI resin first becomes depleted, a big release of ammonia from and through the DI resin is likely. I recently had a DI resin become depleted, and the effluent contained so much ammonia that I could easily smell it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted December 24, 2015 Author Share Posted December 24, 2015 Interesting. Thanks for doing the research and posting your findings Neon Reefer, good info there. I wish I had an ammonia test kit that wasn't expired and could detect high concentrations to see what's coming out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted December 24, 2015 Author Share Posted December 24, 2015 I just changed out all my filters and the DI resin, and that resin was STANKY. Definitely the culprit, hopefully the problem is solved now and we are all a little more knowledgeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted December 25, 2015 Share Posted December 25, 2015 This happened to my RO/DI filter over the summer. I didn't notice the sediment filter was clogged to hell, consequently the water pressure on every stage after that was super low, which is a breeding ground for bacteria. Had to toss all the filters and ro membrane out, and do a 2tbsp/gal flush on the system, then a fresh flush to flush that. new filters and membrane, back to normal. http://bit.ly/1OO63hp<-- the reef ones, not the drinking water ones. Our bodies can handle a little chlorine w/ the higher ratio flush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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