kien's 150g Room Divider Mixed Reef & Stuff

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by kien

I've always gotten my DI resin from local fish stores and from different stores.

What I wonder now is if bad DI is the source of a lot of problems for tanks but some people can't/don't smell it. Over four years I can think of 4 times my DI has smelled and two of those times it was very very subtle and could easily be masked by the fishy smell of a fish tank, sump or skimmer. Once I remember it smelling bad while still outputting zero TDS which baffles me. It's possible the smell is attributed to something that isn't detected by the TDS meter?

Just guessing, but odours are generally gaseous. TDS meters designed to detect solids, no? Ergo TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meter not able to detect gas? Have you been consuming a lot of Mexican food with plenty of beans the night before messing with your DI media? Sauerkraut or excessive garlic consumption?

As mentioned, I've not detected a foul odour from my DI media, nor experienced coral die off that I could possibly attribute to funky DI product water. Of course I've only opened the canister once in 4 years to replace it. Original media was colour changing & was already loaded in the cartridge out of the box on delivery. I saved it in a plastic container in the basement, opened & smelled it a minute ago. Still moist & absolutely no odour. Batch I replaced it with is non colour changing nuclear grade DI media ordered from Buckeye Field Supply (now Buckeye Hydro). If I were you I'd consider investigating alternate sources rather than those local fish stores, or at least question where they're getting it.

I understand there is a way to recharge exhausted DI media, but after looking into it & the caustic chemicals required to do so, I'm kind of ok with buying a fresh batch, particularly since the stuff is lasting me 3-4 years.