Having just acquiring a tds meter, I have two questions about the readings :
1. Knowing that lower is better, is it possible to get a zero reading ?
2. having tested my ro water (34 reading) and water straight from the tap (237 reading) is this a good level of tds to have?1 very possible for a zero.
2 after my 274 tap, then 164 in our drinking water filter, then 17 coming from ro, but 1-3 after the di. my di is about 3/4 done.
if you want to raise particular critters fine, others, nope.
I believe you must use a DI unit to achieve a zero reading. You can always add on a DI chamber to your existing R/O unit.
yeppers
Tiny HJack
Was always curious but not worth starting a new thread. Does anyone use the non-refillable DI cartridges? If you use refillable how long does your media last? Ive always used the AWI non-refillable cartridges with no issues. I change them once a year with my filters and never had an issue with my TDS. I was just curious if anyone else used these or if there are inherit advantages to refillable ones besides buying media in bulk to save money?
As houndsbayman said, you usually won’t get 0ppm TDS out of just an RO unit. DI is usually required to get 0. Below 20ppm TDS is ok, but may people prefer to use below 2ppm.
How long since you have changed the membranes? Prefilters?
If you decide to purchase a DI unit I would recommend a dual DI unit. I am sure any manufacturer will preach to you the benefits of them.
[quote=“Gordonious, post:6, topic:2638”]
As houndsbayman said, you usually won’t get 0ppm TDS out of just an RO unit. DI is usually required to get 0. Below 20ppm TDS is ok, but may people prefer to use below 2ppm.
How long since you have changed the membranes? Prefilters?
If you decide to purchase a DI unit I would recommend a dual DI unit. I am sure any manufacturer will preach to you the benefits of them.
[/quote]
melev’s reef says 2 di’s are unnecessary
[quote=“moliken, post:7, topic:2638”]
[quote=“Gordonious, post:6, topic:2638”]
As houndsbayman said, you usually won’t get 0ppm TDS out of just an RO unit. DI is usually required to get 0. Below 20ppm TDS is ok, but may people prefer to use below 2ppm.
How long since you have changed the membranes? Prefilters?
If you decide to purchase a DI unit I would recommend a dual DI unit. I am sure any manufacturer will preach to you the benefits of them.
[/quote]
melev’s reef says 2 di’s are unnecessary[/quote]
They say that, but you end up saving a lot of DI resin when you use 2. I use 2 refillable canisters and I think I get the most bang for my buck this way. I buy the resin in bulk and in MO this saves a lot of $$$.
[quote=“logans_daddy, post:5, topic:2638”]
Tiny HJack
Was always curious but not worth starting a new thread. Does anyone use the non-refillable DI cartridges? If you use refillable how long does your media last? Ive always used the AWI non-refillable cartridges with no issues. I change them once a year with my filters and never had an issue with my TDS. I was just curious if anyone else used these or if there are inherit advantages to refillable ones besides buying media in bulk to save money?[/quote]
I use the same AWI DI’s you are using, Shawn. Change them the same way - with the filters.
And I’ve also gotten more than a year on a set of filters, although not much more …
Wow Paul, I should have looked before I spoke. I checked three other sites and two of them also didn’t preach any of the benefits of a dual unit. Must not really want to sell them that bad.
When using two at a time you can be assured that you are getting clean water without prematurely throwing away a cartridge. With a single cartridge when a DI is just about spent you can either throw it away while it still has a little use left in it or except that you’re going to make a little water which isn’t really getting filtered by the DI. In a dual cartridge system you can wait until the first cartridge is fully spent before replacing it as you know the second cartridge will still be clean enough to work. Not sure if that was worded the best way, but I wasn’t always the best at converting thoughts to text.
I use the same AWI DI's you are using, Shawn. Change them the same way - with the filters. And I've also gotten more than a year on a set of filters, although not much more ...
its always been something i havent given much thought. about once a year i order a new filter array with DI cartridge and enjoy 0 TDS for the rest of the year. its that time again right now and im considering going with the refillable unit but im still on the fence.
[quote=“Gordonious, post:10, topic:2638”]
Wow Paul, I should have looked before I spoke. I checked three other sites and two of them also didn’t preach any of the benefits of a dual unit. Must not really want to sell them that bad.
When using two at a time you can be assured that you are getting clean water without prematurely throwing away a cartridge. With a single cartridge when a DI is just about spent you can either throw it away while it still has a little use left in it or except that you’re going to make a little water which isn’t really getting filtered by the DI. In a dual cartridge system you can wait until the first cartridge is fully spent before replacing it as you know the second cartridge will still be clean enough to work. Not sure if that was worded the best way, but I wasn’t always the best at converting thoughts to text. [/quote]
You said that about as good as I could have. That is the exact reason that I use 2. I have noticed a nice savings $$ doing it this way. I don’t like to see any TDS other than 0 because once a DI startes letting things through it is almost always things you don’t want. There was a very good article about this recently, but I can’t seem to remember where I read it.
You are so right Ellen about things getting into your water. About a few weeks ago, my tank started having a cyno breakout. I had just changed out all my filters and even replaced the membrane. I use a refillable cartridge for the DI, and changed that also. Well, the cyno wasn’t going away. So I started checking everything, making sure the skimmer is tweaked just right, cutting back on the food, thought about leaving the lights off for a few days. I checked the TDS meter and saw a reading of 001 on the out side. Then I looked at the DI cartridge and the Resin in the cartridge was divided in half with a light tan color on the top half, and a dark purple color on the bottom. I thought the 001 reading was a little strange seeing how I had just changed all the filters. And thinking that a 001 reading was fine. I decided to change the DI material and instantly, I got a 000 reading. Just waiting now to see if all the cyno starts to disappear.