Phosphates out of RO/DI

[sroot17]

I am having the hardest time getting my phosphates down.

I have brand new filters on my RO/DI and sill have .11 coming out. Phosphates in my tank are .17.

I run GFO, do large weekly water changes, have a sump with cheato, change out filter socks and sponges frequently.

Apart from making sure my parameters are perfect what else can I do to combat this problem? I feel like I just keep feeding the problem with my tainted ro/di water!

Thanks for any help.

 

[sroot17]

Oh and I feed 3 times a week and have a fully stacked CUC!

 

[Turbovr3six]

I have brand new filters on my RO/DI and sill have .11 coming out.

Did you change the membrain as well? What is your water pressure?

 

[sroot17]

Did not change the membrane, BRS is telling me it will not help.

I do not know what the exact pressure reading is but I use a booster pump so its pretty strong.

 

[Turbovr3six]

Did not change the membrane, BRS is telling me it will not help.

I do not know what the exact pressure reading is but I use a booster pump so its pretty strong.

A clogged membrain will drop the pressure in your unit. Have you measured your TDS in/out?

PO4 is .11 where? What do you store the water in?

 

[sroot17]

TDS in is around 50, out is zero.

.11 is in a clean glass container, not even what i use to store my water in.

I have GHA and am pretty confident that the .11 is accurate.

 

[Turbovr3six]

Well, you got me stumped.:smash:

Only other thing I can think of is that the unit is hooked up wrong. I'm sure if this was the case you would have had that addressed by BRS. Hopefully some one else can chime in with the solution, as I am now interested to what the problem is.:scratch:

 

[ecvernon]

Pretty weird. .11 is really high for out of a functioning ro/di..do yo have di unit attached? Is it exausted? What are you using to test po4?

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk

 

[sroot17]

Pretty weird. .11 is really high for out of a functioning ro/di..do yo have di unit attached? Is it exausted? What are you using to test po4?

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk

I know! Crazy! Yes the DI unit is a canister within my 4 stage unit. I just replaced it last weekend thinking that could have been the problem. Using a hanna meter to test po4. I live in NYC, my water is probably pumped full of phos to counter the lead in the pipes...

From BRS support. "Some people rig up an extra canister to there RO unit and put GFO in it, but when it really comes down to it, you add a lot more phosphate via feeding so it makes more sense to just put the GFO reactor on your tank and solve both problems at the same time."

Once he learned that I already ran GFO I asked about changing the filters.

His response "Unfortunately changing other filters isn?t likely to change much. Phosphates aren?t filtered 100% by RO membranes and they don?t have a large affinity for DI resin either so it?s likely under your water conditions your never really going to get 0 phosphate out of your RO/DI unit."

Green Hair Algae for life!!

 

[MatthewScars]

Feeding isnt too much of an issue if you strain the food before you put it in the tank and feed slowly. Example, pour in a little at a time so it is all eaten, then pour more.

You still didnt post your PSI in your RODI.

Green hair, well, do all the normal crap. Pull it out, scrub rocks before WC and suck it out. I would do the 3 days of darkness, but light up the chaeto. That gives the Macro Algae/gfo/carbon/cuc I huge jump on the issue.

For kicks you can add another RODI stage. I have 3 pre-filters (Sed and 2 carbon blocks). I live in BK so im sure my water is just as bad as yours. I had a algae issue until i did the chaeto thing, new gfp/carbon, and 3 days of darkness. It died off after that. got white sand now.

 

[FishBrain]

Are you running bio pellets or have you thought about it? I must say, Bio pellets do an amazing job on HA. Both times I implemented bio pellets after a HA outbreak I saw results in as soon as two weeks.

I also have traces of phosphates in my RO/DI water even after all new filters (Hanna meter reads .02).

I had an outbreak in my 40 breeder after I added a juvenile puffer (he eats like a pig!). I added bio pellets and the HA subsided. I recently redid the tank with a glass-holes overflow and was reactorless for about a month. I added some dead rock that was not fully cured and my phosphates went up to .12. I had 3" long HA growing over all the rock and even on the sand! I put the Bio pellet reactor back on line and two weeks later HA is brown and I can siphon it right off the rocks. I need to recheck my phosphates and see what they are currently at.

 

[sroot17]

Are you running bio pellets or have you thought about it? I must say, Bio pellets do an amazing job on HA. Both times I implemented bio pellets after a HA outbreak I saw results in as soon as two weeks.

I also have traces of phosphates in my RO/DI water even after all new filters (Hanna meter reads .02).

I had an outbreak in my 40 breeder after I added a juvenile puffer (he eats like a pig!). I added bio pellets and the HA subsided. I recently redid the tank with a glass-holes overflow and was reactorless for about a month. I added some dead rock that was not fully cured and my phosphates went up to .12. I had 3" long HA growing over all the rock and even on the sand! I put the Bio pellet reactor back on line and two weeks later HA is brown and I can siphon it right off the rocks. I need to recheck my phosphates and see what they are currently at.

Thanks! What bio pellet reactor are you using?

 

[Paolissimo]

I have the same issue, and I also think it might be the ro/di water. I bouth a zetazorb prefilter, hopefully that will help. Out of curiosity, does anybody know if low salinity is directly related to phospate? Reason I ask is because I discovered my salinity was really low, right around the time, my tank phosphate started rising.

 

[FishBrain]

I'm using a Two Little Fish 150 phosban reactor with one package of TLF NPX bio pellets (one package treats up to 50 gals) and TLF NPX screens. My system is about 55 gallons with the sump.

I was looking at the tank in amazement last night. What little spots of HA I missed with the siphon are now a deep brown and I see no new growth. I still have some green turf type algae, I'm interested to see how long this takes to die off. I meant to check phosphates last night but got side tracked talking reef and build plans with a local reefer who stopped by to pick up some plumbing.

 

[mic_1011]

my ro unit does the same. i went and spent $80 on all new filters including the membrane. and still the same! now i just run a tlf phos reactor 150 with phosgaurd and my p04 is down to .01

 

[sroot17]

my ro unit does the same. i went and spent $80 on all new filters including the membrane. and still the same! now i just run a tlf phos reactor 150 with phosgaurd and my p04 is down to .01

so frustrating! I run a BRS reactor with GFO but it doesn't seem to be helping much.

 

[mic_1011]

i heard gfo was like the best out there for cleaning up what the ro doesn't. try some phosban or phosguard, since they're specific for p04. also how long have you been running it for. it does take some time. i have been running it for about a month now. i also took some of my wifes pantyhose and chopped it up, put some phosguard in that and made multiple pouches out of it. like 4 fist size pouches. i put 1 in each overflow and 2 in the sump and have the reactor running. a lot of media in different places to clean out 200 gallons of water. i must say, it's done its job. my levels were around .10 now they're .01-.02

 

[sroot17]

i heard gfo was like the best out there for cleaning up what the ro doesn't. try some phosban or phosguard, since they're specific for p04. also how long have you been running it for. it does take some time. i have been running it for about a month now. i also took some of my wifes pantyhose and chopped it up, put some phosguard in that and made multiple pouches out of it. like 4 fist size pouches. i put 1 in each overflow and 2 in the sump and have the reactor running. a lot of media in different places to clean out 200 gallons of water. i must say, it's done its job. my levels were around .10 now they're .01-.02

Been running the phosban now for about six months. Have tried TLF and d rowa as well. I asked BRS about adding more media and they said it would not improve the effectiveness of the GFO and would only make it last longer. Im stumped!

Thinking of adding another carbon block and DI canister to my ro/di and then if that doesn't work trying out bio pellets or vodka dosing. I hate pouring .11ppm water into my tank every time I do a water change! how frustrating!

 

[mic_1011]

I have no choice as to pouring it in. It comes from the ro unit at .10. But my tank is so big that changing 20 or 30 gallons doesn't affect the p04

 

[MatthewScars]

=

Thinking of adding another carbon block and DI canister to my ro/di

Hey, that's what i said!

Never had the guts to dose vodka. Also, did you try a Salifert Phos test? Any chance your hanna is off?

Ive never tested my pre-rodi water for phos, but we live in the same area. I never had an issue and i only take basic anti-algae measures.