A favour to ask if you have a Hanna ULR PO4 reader and RO/DI
 

Can you please take a measurement of your RO/DI phosphate using a Hanna ULR reader and post the result?

I get 11ppb. Since that's 0.011 ppm, it's a very low reading but I'm sort of offended it's not an outright 0.0 and now I think maybe it's time to replace the RO cartridge...

But I've never been able to measure in parts-per-billion before. That's a pretty low range sensitivity.

Anyone care to burn through a test envelope for me and let me know the # you get? Please and thank you?

That's pretty high. I was told anything over .02 is too high for reef tank

It's hard to say. 0.02ppm is probably a good enough level for a reef tank although I wouldn't want it any higher - however I'm specifically wondering if someone could measure their RO/DI and tell me what it is (in ppb). 11ppb is 0.01ppm so it's a very low value but I would have guessed it should be 0 outright - it's not - but without a baseline of comparison it's hard to know for sure.

If its the phosphorous UL reader you have to convert it by multiplying the number you get by 3.066 then dividing by 1000. So if it is showing 11 ppb. It would actually be .0337 ppm.

Give me a couple mins and I will test mine.

Oh right, someone was telling me about this the other day. Geez, you'd think they'd put something like that in the instructions. :neutral:

That's actually not good news. It means my PO4 is way higher than I thought it was - both in the tank (which explains a lot) AND in my RO/DI (which probably explains why the tank is the way it is). Geeeeeez.

Thanks!

Funny yours is 11 that's what mine just read and the filters are all less then a month old. And that was straight from the unit

Heh, what a coincidence.

Darn it all that means we now need a third person to test to see if we're either normal, or both unlucky. :lol:

Thank you for doing that (and thanks for the tip re. the 3.066 factor which I had forgotten about :redface: )

No problem. I myself didn't know about it until about 2 weeks ago myself. Stumbled across it on RC.

delphinus - get in touch with the customer service at Spectrapure (ro/di filtration manufacturer) and tell them you have relatively high phosphates in your RO/DI water. They have a bunch of custom filters and DI resins for different types of water quality and they might be able to get you the correct selection of filters. I dont know if there is anything that will remove phosphates but you can give it a try.

EDIT~~~~ ok i found it.

this di resin should help kill some of your phosphates;

http://www.spectrapure.com/email/DEC...-DI_120111.jpg

and i will even save you some money :D - here is a link to their holiday special - think its $22 bucks.

http://www.spectrapure.com/email/cus...reciation.html

Funny this should come up, I was just talking to someone at a LFS the other day, they were telling me that they run their RODI water into a storage tank and then through two GFO reactors before running into their mixing bin, I thought it was just a tad OCD...Either way, I just changed the filters a couple weeks ago, tonight I'll pull out my Hanna and check.

I just ordered some of this last week... http://caco3reef.com/nuclear-di-oniz...esin-cartridge

Is it the same as listed in this quote?

no thats just regular DI Resin. The stuff sprectrapure sells is specially formulated for different applications. I think they have 3-4 different resins based on your water quality.

So now 0 tds does'nt mean no P04? sweet, no wonder I'm over it.

If makes any help my last canister of my RODI is is filled with HC-GFO never though tested for it, but I will tonight and post the results. HC-GFO is labeled to remove traces of metals that is not pulled out by your regular RODI system

i would think that work quite well. Is there any issues with your ro water coming out brownish though? How long do you rinse out the gfo for your ro system?

I haven't done any testing but I do change the HCGFO every 3rd time I change the filter media I would say roughly every 3000 glns of water.
never had any problems with phosphates and my tank water is always crystal clear as some canreefers could attest to.

Sorry Tony as I feel hijacking your thread:biggrin:

Frankly this is all great information so I doubt he minds. So this HC GFO you're talking about, what kind of flow rate goes through that last canister? I would imagine its not rifling through there but doesn't it go through a bit fast?

it is compacted in the canister so the water flows fine as my RODI rated for as I recall 150glns/day