kien's 150g Room Divider Mixed Reef & Stuff

[kien]

Holy crap your DI lasted 6 years?!?! My last one died in under a month LOL. The longest I've ever had DI going was 8 months maybe..

And ya, it was taco night.. I will try cutting back but that's going to be hard.

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by kien

Holy crap your DI lasted 6 years?!?! My last one died in under a month LOL. The longest I've ever had DI going was 8 months maybe..

And ya, it was taco night.. I will try cutting back but that's going to be hard.

Just under 3 & 1/2 years actually. RODI system was new in 15 April 2009 & I changed the DI media & carbon block 07 August 2012 after the TDS was reading 1 at the output of the DI stage.

I've been keeping track of water production on an Excel spreadsheet since day 1 and when I changed the DI & carbon I reckon I'd run about 15,200.5 US gallons through it. This number is based on gallons RO produced + gallons DI produced + waste water produced. The waste water production is calculated by multiplying RO+DI production by 4. By adding the RO+DI production to the waste, you get a good approximation of total gallons throughput based on a 1 to 4 product to waste ratio, which is what most RO membranes are designed to. It also allows me to approximate when my 20,000 gallon rated carbon block is nearing it's rated life.



The link I provided about 5 posts earlier provides some theories on why I may be getting such longevity from my DI based on personal experience with a source water TDS of between 160 to 190. It's a long read, but may help you get more out of your system. To condense what I consider the more important points from that link:

-Manual flush for a few minutes before & after each production run.

-First 1/2 gallon or so after start up in my experience is pretty crappy with regard to TDS & gets dumped. Takes mine that long to get down to 1 TDS after RO. Now continue to produce at least 5 gallons of RO before beginning DI production. This ensures RO TDS is about as low as it will get before you start sending water to the DI stage. Also allows the sediment filter(s) to get properly flushed. I've found TDS after sediment filters is significantly higher than source water TDS for about 5 minutes of running time. I think this is due to crap trapped by the sediment filters partially dissolving back into the standing water in the canister while the unit sits idle. I'm thinking the longer the system sits without running, the worse this issue can be. Once you start the system back up, all this nicely redissolved crap is sent to your carbon block & RO membrane, making both work harder. Furthermore, if you have the DI plumbed in during this start up phase, guess what?

-There's no way I would consider having my RODI controlled automatically to fill my sump or ATO for top off. This causes the system to run for short bursts (see info above), which is fine if your source water TDS is extremely low &/or you have lots of money & time to replace RO membranes & DI media.

[kien]

Originally Posted by mike31154

Just under 3 & 1/2 years actually. ...

Thanks for all that info! It was an interesting read!

[kien]

In case anyone was curious, this is what an overflow box looks like after almost 5 years of neglect.



And this is what it looks like after 4" of feather dusters, 3 inches of detritus and about 5 hours of my life that I will never get back..



I kicked up a poop storm (literally), so decided to do a 50% water change. Snapped some coral out of water shots.





That is all. Good night.

[lastlight]

that is totally nasty man. couldn't even find your drain pipe at first LOL.

[FishingGoalie]

Originally Posted by kien

In case anyone was curious, this is what an overflow box looks like after almost 5 years of neglect.



And this is what it looks like after 4" of feather dusters, 3 inches of detritus and about 5 hours of my life that I will never get back..

What is that brown spaghetti looking stuff

[kien]

Originally Posted by FishinGoalie

What is that brown spaghetti looking stuff

feather dusters.

[ronau]

Originally Posted by kien

In case anyone was curious, this is what an overflow box looks like after almost 5 years of neglect.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.....soba.

[FishyFishy!]

Man, when i'm setting up my duplex fuge.... I'm coming over to snag some feather dusters to seed my benthic zone. Thats NUTZ. I'm sure they'll re-populate quick.

[gqlmao]

Those feather dusters must of polished that water real good before entering the sump. Is that the secret to those amazing corals? Now the new trend, everyone on Canreef is going to start dumping worms in their overflow box.