RO/DI but RO only?!

So i recently purchased my first RO/DI unit from BRS. It was the black friday special 4 stage value plus that was supposed to be $200 but on sale for $140. Came in the mail yesterday and after opening it up I was really confused because it said 6 stage value plus. At first I was lexcited and thought maybe they ran out of the 4 stage units and just were kind enough to ship the 6 stage in its place, then I realized there is no DI attached with this unit!! The 4 stage has the DI on the main unit but the 6 stage has 2 carbon blocks with an upgrades sediment filter and a dual DI that is seperate.

So basically I have the 6 stage RO unit with no DI or in line TDS meter! I contacted them and am waiting for a reply will post on how it goes. Ive used BRS many times and have never had an issue with anythign they sent me before. Im not sure if theyll want to pay for the shipping of the 19lb unit back to them and then ship the right unit to me at their cost. Getting a single or dual DI as an add on is not that expensive but they dont come with any inline TDS meters and Im not looking to spend a ton mroe cash.

 

Photos? If I get what you are saying, you actually received 4 stages, not 6, but the filters inside are not a sediment, a carbon, RO membrane and DI but are a sediment, two carbons and a RO membrane correct? So you got the value RO and not the value RO/DI it seems.

 

Im at work right now but basically I got the 6 stage missing 2 stages. The Value 4 stage comes with the sediment fitler, 1 carbon block, the membrane, and the DI all on one basic unit. The 6 stage comes with the same membrane, 2 carbon blocks, and the sediment filter on the main unit and then a double DI on a seperate unit that connect to the main unit. Other than that the only real difference is the sediment filter itself is a GE ROSave.Z 1 micron on the 6 stage instead of the Purtrex 1 Micron Depth sediment filter.

Being the value system and not the basic it comes with a glycerin filled pressure guage on the main unit to measure the effectiveness of the sediment filter and when it needs changed and an inline dual TDS meter on the DI unit to measure for when the carbon blocks and DI need changed.

If you look online at BRS you can see the units. My unti even says 6 stage value plus on the side and not 4 stage, they jsut left on the DI!

 

Great news, contacted BRS chat today and they worked it out. Instead of dealing with return shipping and everything they are jsut going to send out the dual DI that comes with the 6 stage unit and it will have a 3 stage TDS meter that will measure tap water, water before in enters the di, and water it exits the di chambers.

 

Thats great.
Personally I would ask theme if they could substitute a handheld TDS meter for the inline since they are much more accurate and you will need to monitor more than just 3 places. With dual DI you need to know each stage separately so at least 4 places are needed. I have two dual inlines and I never even turn them on since they are never even close to my handhelds which are ATC compensated. Might be too much to ask of them since they are already stepping up to the plate big time for you.

 

Yea I could always buy one down the road. Is there much to gain from running a dual carbon block vs the single carbon block and a dual di vs single di? Same with the sediment filters any gain from a ROSave.Z 1 micron over the Purtrex 1 Micron Depth sediment filter.

Hopefully its a good unti Ive never used an RO/DI before and set up my other reefs with tap water and used store bought RO/DI from the lfs. Setting up a new 90gal reef an want to do everything right this time. I think copper pipes and inverts are a bad combo and am pretty sure longterm tap use caused a buildup of heavy metals in the current reef as I have a ahrd time keeping snails and a CUC alive where I enevr did originally.


Hopefully the BRS unti is a good one I know many people have used them and do use them and I am sure it will be a million tiems better then the tap Ive been using. I know there are all kidns of different carbon blocks, DI resins, RO membranes etc though and dont udnerstand what makes one supioror to another. If the TDS is 0 at the end of unit a b and c then the product they produce is all equal right? The difference would be how logn the fitlers last and the anount of waste water produced and how fast they produce the 0 TDS water.

 

Dual carbons are a waste of money. As long as you are using a high quality, low micron, absolute or near absolute rated sediment filter to protect the pores in the carbon block and it is a 0.5, 0.6 or 1.0 micron extruded carbon it is not necessary. The reason(s) some vendors use dual carbons is 1. They use a relatively coarse sediment filter which allows larger particles through which plugs or fouls the billions of tiny microscopic pores in the carbon and renders it useless for chlorine adsorption so the first carbon is a sacrificial filter and the second does the work, or 2. They use higher micron carbon blocks with a much lower chlorine adsorption capacity so use two to make up for it. By that I mean a good 0.5 or 0.6 micron carbon block is good for 20,000 total gallons, a 1 micron 12,000 gallons, 5 micron 5,000-6,000 gallons, 10 micron only 1,500-3,000 total gallons and GAC is only good for around 300 total gallons. Total gallons is figured at the industry standard 4:1 waste ratio so 20,000 gallons is 16,000 waste and 4,000 treated gallons, 12,000 is 9,600 waste gallons and 2,400 treated gallons etc. One good 0.2 micron absolute rated sediment filter and one 0.5 micron 20,000 gallon carbon block is what I have used for the last 7 years and is my preference. Also everything you place in front of the RO membran has an associated headloss or pressure drop to pass through it so the fewer canisters and filters the better as long as they do their job.

I do recommend dual DI. If you use the same resin in both then you would monitor the TDS between the two DI's and when you start to see TDS from the first one you remove that cartridge and move the second DI cartridge into first place and install a new one in the second position so you get longer life out of it. This is why you need more than a single 3 point TDS meter, it only measures the tap, RO only and final and you need that intermediate DI TDS too.

The difference in filters and membranes is how long they lastmeaning a cost savings over its lifespan. A better membrane such as the Spectrapure 99% guaranteed version will make DI last 2 times or more longer so ends up costing much less to own. BRS is OK, maybe a little better than average but there are better systems and lower prices for reef use. Three I recommend are Spectrapure, Buckeye Hydro and PurelyH2o. All have been around for years with Spectrapure over 25 years and all have a very good proven track record. Spectrapure also custom blends all their DI resins as well as tests their RO membranes so has a lge up on most others.

The industry standard waste ratio is 4:1. If and only if you are using softened water and your TDS is lower than normal you can redeuce that waste to 3:1 and in very rare cases 2:1 but don't let anyone sell yo ua one size fits all "Low Waste" system, there is no such thing. Membranes must be flushed, there is no way around it and when you reduce the waste the solids start building up on the membranes surface and it fails prematurely. Replacements lead to a higher cost of ownership. Flush kits have no proven documented value and most who have them use them improperly anyway. If you do wt value or bang for your buck, a DI bypass valve is a cheap option and allows you to flush the TDS creep out on start up to extend your DI life. They flush the treated side of the membrane where the flush kits flush the waste side so do nothing for your DI life.

I love BRS chemicals and have a closet full of them including calcium, alkalinity, GFO, carbon and two part magnesium but I buy most of my RO supplies elsewhere.

 

Thanks for your reply. As I already have this unit I obviosuly am not going to look to buy antother one, setting up a new 90gal system is enough cash and I am already feeling broke lol.

When it comes time to replace resins, carbon, etc is it possible to use spectrapure in the brs unit? Are the cartridegs universal? If thats possible then I would just switch to spectrue resin and what not as my brs one gets exhuasted.

Im assumign it will take awhile since I will be using it to fill the tnak initially at about 90-100gallons total water volume and then just 10gal weekly or biweekly waterchanges there after. Hopefully I do not need to worry about any replacement membranes, resins, etc for a year or 2. My tap is not soft pittsburgh in general is known for having very hard water and great for cichlids but when I test the tap the kH is always pretty low so I assume they are referring to the gH of the water

 

Absolutely. They both us standard sized 10" filter replacements. The DI resin you have should last anywhere from a month to several months depending on your water quality, the efficiency of your RO membrane and how much water you make. Things like using a DI bypass valve each time you start the system will also extend the DI life even further.
The sediment and carbon block should be changed every 6 months or in some cases you may be able to go to once a year, again depending on water quality. The RO membrane will probably last 18 months to 3 years and longer with soft water and better sediment and carbon block filters. I am at 7 years on my current membane and expect to see 10 years but with my previous brand name RO/DI it lasted 16-18 months at best since the filters were not the same quality and I did not have softened water at first.

Hardness refers to the calcium carbonate hardness, you can pick up a hardness test kit anywhere that sells water softeners like Lowes, HD or Sears.