HELP phosphates in RO DI water, need water. (1 Viewer)

[NarnyTheGreat]

I have .04ppm phosphates coming from my RO water. The distilled water at the store is .107 ppm . So I have lots of phosphates and need to remove them very fast. I have used other things, like kents marine phosphates sponge which helps for all about 10 min when my top off starts going or I do the next water change.... help please.

Does anyone have 20 gallons or so of RO water made that I can buy? Phosphates FREE? I need to do a large water change so that I can lower the phosphates. I have some SPS coming in tomorrow and need to get this under control.

If you can help I would really appreciate it!

 

[flexrac]

phosphates will not harm the SPS, at most, you will just experience browning of the coral, which might happen anyway depending on your lighting.
I have phosphates and dose vodka to get it under control.
I have two SPS frags that are doing just fine.
Might be a good time to invest in a good RO unit, Dennis has some in stock.

 

[Reefahholic]

I have some fresh 0 TDS RO water on hand Narny if you need some. Free of charge.

You can pm me and get it whenever you like.

Hey, you may want to watch this video:



http://youtu.be/ZT871Au2GCA




Sent from my iPhone

 

[gm357]

.04 is actually pretty decent. Mine always ran .02 with new filters and membrane. I wouldn't chase anything lower if it were me. You can also replace one of your Di chambers with gfo. I have 4 Di chambers and still get around .03 ish range. IMO TDS has very little to do with your po4 levels.

 

[NarnyTheGreat]

My tank is much higher... around .1 something something something. So everything I do to fix it just keeps ADDING Po4 to the tank. Must get this down, a lot.

 

[CCrescini]

Just to be clear, if you're RO/DI water is at .04 and your tank is at .1, the water you are using for your water change has 2.5 times less PO4 than your tank. So in a relative sense, although not as quickly as you like, using your water for water changes will reduce the amount of phosphate in your tank. I guess I don't understand what you mean when you say, "everything I do to fix it just keeps Adding PO4 to the tank", unless your only referring to an absolute sense.

 

[reeftopia]

Water changes should lower your phosphates evaporation will add to the number.

 

[Aesl1982]

I'm off Dixie farm and blackhawk I have about 50 gallons made up


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[steveb]

.04 is actually pretty decent. Mine always ran .02 with new filters and membrane. I wouldn't chase anything lower if it were me. You can also replace one of your Di chambers with gfo. I have 4 Di chambers and still get around .03 ish range. IMO TDS has very little to do with your po4 levels.

Hey thats a pretty good idea. I just purchased a dual-di setup to replace my single and was wondering what to do with the old canister. I suppose I need to check it. I assumed 0 TDS water meant 0 PO4.

 

[steveb]

quotes taken from: Phosphate in RO/DI water - Reef Central Online Community

You can have a +/- 0.03 ppm error in the meter's readings. So, your rodi water could actually be at zero.

FWIW, I would not worry about it. With a properly running rodi unit putting out a zero TDS reading, it is unlikely that there is phosphate in it.


Unfortunately, hobby grade meters and test kits all have this error of margin. Hobbyists have bought phosphate standards and run tests only to find that indeed their is this margin of error in the meters.

FWIW, where chemistry labs are determining phosphate levels down below 0.03 ppm, there are strict procedures that need to be followed to help eliminate error such as how to clean equipment properly between tests. For tank samples, chem labs use a 0.45 micron screen to help pull suspended organic matter that can contain P which will interfere with the results. Taking tank water samples and at least running them through a coffee filter can help here, if you don't want to buy the screens.

If your final TDS reading is zero, then there should not be phosphate in the effluent. A properly running RODI system including the DI filter will remove all of the phosphate. Once your DI filter reaches capacity and your TDS reading rises to 0001, then you need to change the DI filter immediately. The only other thing I can think of is if your TDS meter is faulty and your actual influent is reading higher than your think. This should not be the case with a new DI filter.

In response to a post in the thread about separate ion bed resins vs. mixed bed resins for DI...

I don't agree with the extreme characterization you are making about mixed bed resins. The one article you linked only says it is not as good as a separate bed, but mixed bed resins are still quite good at removing phosphate. Some are very good, and claim ppb levels of phosphate. Remember, some folks using DI resins have to be concerned with even tiny traces of phosphate, unlike reefers where ppb traces are of no concern.


While I agree that some phosphate might get through a DI, especially cheaper and shorter cartridges run with higher flow rates, the fact remains that the RO membrane alone will reject nearly all of the phosphate in any form from tap water.


Add to that the fact that even a mixed bed will remove a lot of phosphate, and I agree with Jonathan, something is wrong.


Perhaps the Ro is mis-seated and the DI is totally depleted, and if it is loaded with a lot of phosphate, then phosphate coming out of the DI might be higher than going in. That is because phosphate is often less strongly held than is chloride, so chloride coming in will bump phosphate off of a depleted DI resin. Same happens for silicate and ammonia. I discuss that in my article on how each step of RO/DI devices work:


Reverse Osmosis/Deionization Systems to Purify Tap Water for Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com


So in the case above where there is more phosphate in the effluent than in the tap water what is the TDS of the effluent?

Reverse Osmosis/Deionization Systems to Purify Tap Water for Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

[gm357]

1st don't panic. .1 will not brown or kill your corals. Water changes will help but if you don't find the source, you're prolonging the inevitable.

I would 1st skip feeding 24hrs. If you're levels don't fall, it's your mechanical filtration. If it does, change your feeding habits.

Example... undersized skimmer, undersized return pump, not enough flow to suspend detritus, etc..

Phosguard will drop .1 pretty quickly but should be used as a last result. Imo .2 or higher.

Are you running gfo or macro algae?

 

[Reefahholic]

Randy Farley knows his crap. I've talked to him a number of times about different chemistry issues.

 

[steveb]

Randy Farley knows his crap. I've talked to him a number of times about different chemistry issues.

Yep and now that he is active again on RC I hope to see if we could get him to come speak some time. Not sure if he does it or not but I think it would be very interesting.

 

[gm357]

Randy Farley knows his crap. I've talked to him a number of times about different chemistry issues.

Yes he does. Is he still around?

 

[NarnyTheGreat]

Asel you are really really close to me I'm in the Hazel dale subdivision. It's close to melody

 

[NarnyTheGreat]

Maybe I should just buy a couple of clams lol

 

[Diesel]

............

 

[BigRick]

Since I stopped using gfo and quit worrying about phosphates my sps are growing faster. I'm sitting around .08 right now. I'm also not feeing much at all. I clean my glass every 2 weeks.

 

[NarnyTheGreat]

Thank you everyone for your input. I under normal circumstances wouldn't be to worried about my phosphates however I had what I believe to have been a phosphate cloud. I believe this because my tank was cycled and everything tested (multiple times) in check EXCEPT my phosphates were at .5! It was REALLY high. I apparently didnt change the filters in my RODI filter correctly and caused them to not filter properly. I will have to wait till next check and order new ones. If my phosphates were staying put that would be one thing however if I keep knowingly use water with higher than recommended TDS then I can expect nothing but more phosphates IMO. Right now coming out of my RODI is testing at about 5 tds and phosphates are at .1

 

[Reefahholic]

Yes he does. Is he still around?

Yeah, he's been lurking around RC lately. Only has about 100,000 posts. Lol

I was like dang Randy, you trying to get into the RC hall of fame?! Lol