Ok, thanks...was hoping I could get it at hardware store, but not likely I guess.

Hi folks - thanks for the heads up Myka!.

The key with chloramines is to provide adequate contact time with the carbon prefilters. In some situations, one good carbon block is sufficient. Our practice to to always include two carbon prefilters in systems used with chloramines.

Don't bother with a standard GAC cartridge.

Catalytic GAC is another story. It is a super fast acting GAC and we include this as the first of two carbon stages in our Chloramine Special RODI's. The CGAC cartridges are axial flow - meaning the water must flow through the length of the cartridge to maximize contact time. The second carbon block we use is a top of the line, 20,000 gallon, 0.5 mic block - the best we can find.

As mentioned previously in the thread, you will see relatively fasted DI depletion with waters containing chloramines. A dual stage DI is not a bad idea with these waters.

Russ

I bouaght a ro/di system from aquasafe's eBay store for 200 incl shipping. Its a 7 stage w extra filters for 6 changes and other accessories. They state on their website that chloramine is filtered out. Pretty good deal considering what you get. Also, its a 3 stage di filter.

You'll want to remove the 3 DI filters from their clips and orient each of them vertically so that flow through them goes from the bottom to the top.

Horizontal DI filters are a fundamental configuration error...

Russ

So your first sentence should read to orient the DI filters "vertically", vice horizontally?

Ya, couldn't let that one slip by... I know, it's early in the morning still out west here.

Thanks for stopping on the thread Russ! Axial flow makes a lot of sense. I noticed that CGAC cartridges were axial, but didn't register the significance of this.

Got a kit today. It is called AquaChek Select which tests for free chlorine, total chlorine, total hardness, total bromine, pH, tota alkalinity, and cyanuric acid. It was $28 for 50 test strips. I got it at a Hottub store, but had to go to three before I found a kit that would test total chlorine.

My tap water tested chlorine 0, and total chlorine 0.5-1 ppm. RODI water tested 0 for both. So, good news is no chloramines are getting through my RODI system. Maybe my system is doing just fine...

Check to see if ammonia, a byproduct of chloramine treatment, is getting through your DI.

Russ

No ammonia in the RODI water.

Great. It's that ammonia that depletes the DI resin quickly on RODI systems fed water w/ chloramines.

Russ

what I am thinking as I keep checking this is why the big panic? there nothing new, all the tanks in Victoria have been running 10 years now on chloramine water and most never did anything special to remove it that others are not already doing.

my tank there ran 7 years, Brad has been running way longer, and countless others that had tanks before I did or around the same time. no problems that were atributed to chloramines.

if you want to make sure your good, buy a 30 buck ro housing and run two carbon block filters, better yet buy another one also and run two sedimate filters before the carbon blocks. run a 5 micron absolute then run a 1 micron absolute, into two carbon blocks then as normal. if you do this you might spend 60 to 100 bucks. there are more efficient sediment filters out there.. you can buy a bigger housing like I did (more expensive) and upgrade to a 10X4" filter that is a 25micron to 1 micron absolute. I changed this one ever 6 months in Victoria as we had a very high algae count in our water.

Steve

Oh I heard you the first time you said nothing new. No kidding...chloramines have been used for years. However, it IS new to me (having to deal with it that is), and there are many people out there that aren't even aware of it.

Adding ammonia to your tank could very well be a problem! If the carbon in your RODI system doesn't have sufficient contact time to break the bond between ammonia and chlorine the remaining chloramines (particularly monochloramine found primarily at high tap water pH) will go right through the RODI system. Your RODI system also needs enough contact time to not only break the bond, but also to remove the resulting chlorine because chlorine (unlike chloramines) will damage the RO membrane.

Another thing to think of is that our test kits aren't exactly lab quality, so taking a couple extra measures (like adding a cartridge of catalytic carbon to the RODI system) might not be such a bad idea. ;) I don't really trust these little dip strips to be overly accurate, but I do think they can help.

This discussion is just about awareness Steve, as more and more communities are switching from chlorine to chloramines. I don't see why you would frown on such discussion.

Sorry, I missed this. I don't think it's necessary as the carbon filter removes the chlorine and it will offgas naturally. An airstone may increase the dissolved oxygen content in the water but if you agitate your water with a powerhead when mixing salt it wouldn't be necessary.

Even if you don't use a powerhead and mix manually you shouldn't have any issues. I stirred my salt manually for 6 months or so and didn't see any ill effects from it.

I'm no expert though :)

not frowning at all, rather I think its (dont know the right word,) funny in a interesting way I guess. over the last 12 years seeing certian topics come up over and over is starting to look like trends.

I am waiting for DSB debates to start again now :mrgreen:

but seriously most RO systems come with a carbon block filter and that removes them. you want to be sure I posted about adding an aditional carbon block, you want to make your carbon block last longer add a better prefilter, no worries.

there were no special filters for this 10 years ago and any company claiming special filters must be used is just trying to sell stuff.

Steve

I use an analyzer to check total chlorides. I recommend you do the same if you live in a region with water quality problems.