RODI stage question... help!

I recently bought a 4 stage RODI system for my 150g. i had this thing on for like 4hours a day for like a week and it only gave me around less than 10gals with the last couple days nothing has come out of the "good water" everything coming out of the waste line (my water pressure is around70-80psi).. i inspected it to see what the problem was and found out that the second stage (in-line granular activated carbon filter -- to pure tasting water) wasn't allow good water flow, so i removed that stage, now i have very good flow coming out.. was that ok??

1st stage -- in-line 5 micron PP sediment filter == to remove dirt, sediment, rust and sand particles
2nd stage (removed) -- in-line granular activated carbon filter == to pure tasting water
3rd stage -- TFC 50 GPD RO Membrane == to removes 98% to 99.99% of all chemical and harmful dissolved elements and 99% of all bacteria
4th stage -- DI (De-Ionized) filter == to remove hard water minerals

 

Bad move. The carbon stage is needed to remove chlorine and chloramines from the water. Those can destroy your membrane if they get to it.

 

dangit! so do you think i just got a bad carbon filter for not allowing barely any water flow (drips to a slight drizzle) through or is that how these carbon filters work?

 

What's your water pressure at the unit? You usually need at least 40psi to get any kind of decent flow. And is that a new Carbon filter?

 

my water pressure is 70-80psi.. and since i've bought it i have roughly ran about 30-40 hours of water through it and still only a drizzle..

 

Is this a name brand, or eBay unit? AZDesertRat should be able to help you when he gets on...I think he invented RO. ;D

 

By any chance does the unit have a flush valve on the waste line and is it in the open position causing water to bypass the flow restrictor? This is a common problem.

Granular carbons are bad news in front of membranes, the carbon breaks down or grinds itself to dust fouling or plugging the membrane. No decent vendor uses granular activated carbon in a good reef quality RO/DI, they all use solid carbon blocks which do not have this problem.

DO NOT run the RO/DI without the carbon for more than a couple gallons if you have normally chlorinated or chloraminated tap water! Chlorine will melt a TFC RO membrane in a heartbeat and should never be allowed to get through the filters. GAC also has the problem of being very short lived, often its only useful for about 300-500 total gallons of water, thats only 60 to 100 RO/DI gallons and 240 to 400 waste gallons since it all passes through the carbon.

You need to stop using the system until you can replace the GAC with a good 1 micron or less carbobn block, the 0.5 or 0.6 micron Chlorine Guzzler is by far the most popular choice with a 1 micron or less prefilter in front of it. I use a 0.2 micron prefilter and a 0.5 micron carbon block, my tap TDS is over 800 and I still get an easy 6+ months filter life and no more than a 2 psi pressure drop after that 6 months heavy usage with a pressure of 68 psi.

 

thanks everyone!!!!it was a POS cheap ebay unit.. lol since i bought it less than 30days ago, i can still return it, i hope....i'm probably just going to get another rodi system, any suggestions??

 

The CSP-DI found here is hard to beat:
SpectraPure Customer Appreciation SALE! 20% - 50% off

 

sorry to thread jack please forgive me!

does this system come with filters? i am about to purchase it. can't beat the price for a four stage with dual tds meters! =)