Using softened water with RO/DI?

[GirDance]

Hi   Guess this will be half introduction/half question....

Wanted a reef tank for as long as I can remember, but I've always put it off until I could invest in doing it right...  Well I guess that time is finally here

I have the tank (thanks again pulpfiction1) and the base rock and a QT tank...  My RO/DI, refractometer and test kits are all on their way from BRS (I missed out on noticing there was a group order by 2 days :\)...

BUT, I'm having trouble finding any real information on using RO/DI units in conjunction with a whole home softener and carbon filtration unit (we have an extra tank to remove chloramines etc) - namely if I should hook it up to our whole home softened/carbon filtered water, or if I should bypass the softener and run straight municipal water through it.

It would be my guess that using the softened water may prolong filter/membrane life, is there any reasons we would want to avoid using the softened water with the RO/DI for a reef?  I find only reefers really seem to know anything about RO/DI units so this is probably my best chance at an honest answer

 

[reefin]

first of all welcome and yes you will want to run yur RODI after the water softener it helps pull out the magnesium and calcium plus other hard metals out of the water prior to the RODI unit ;D prolongs the life of yur filters and membrane!

 

[nitro069]

first of all welcome and yes you will want to run yur RODI after the water softener it helps pull out the magnesium and calcium plus other hard metals out of the water prior to the RODI unit ;D prolongs the life of yur filters and membrane!

+1. I use a whole house softener and get great life out of my filters. Going on year and a half now and I am still getting 0 tds. Changing filters soon just because I have an extra set sitting around and may as well.

 

[GirDance]

Thanks! 

I figured that would be my best bet, but better to ask and be safe than assume anything

Waiting for my BRS order to arrive is going to be painful!

 

[Poseidon]

Thanks! 

I figured that would be my best bet, but better to ask and be safe than assume anything

Waiting for my BRS order to arrive is going to be painful!

doesnt take very long,
they ship friday so i always order thursday, and i have it by the next tuesday

 

[reefin]

Thanks! 

I figured that would be my best bet, but better to ask and be safe than assume anything

Waiting for my BRS order to arrive is going to be painful!

you are very welcome

 

[GirDance]

[quote author=GirDance link=topic=5018.msg47332#msg47332 date=1365086853]
Thanks! 

I figured that would be my best bet, but better to ask and be safe than assume anything

Waiting for my BRS order to arrive is going to be painful!

doesnt take very long,
they ship friday so i always order thursday, and i have it by the next tuesday
[/quote]

Waiting patiently for things to come in the mail is not my strong suit!  Tuesday and Wednesday my hubby will be getting a million text messages, "Is it there yet?"...  He does it to me with Comic book shipments, so I guess its only fair to do it to him with fish stuff.

I guess having to wait a few extra days to mix up and add water is just a good test of patience since I'm going to need so much of it

 

[GirDance]

I seriously have the WORST luck with brand new stuff breaking...  :'(

My RO/DI unit arrived today minus the piece of plastic that connects the mechanical filter to the carbon...  Basically when you plug it in as soon as the first chamber fills with water it sprays all over the room.

I have contacted BRS by email, but will call them tomorrow as well.  Anyone have experience with their return/replacement process to Canadian addresses?

 

[TORX]

I just had a replacement part sent from BRS. they sent it UPS, still took a few days to get here, but I did not have to return anything

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

[GirDance]

I just had a replacement part sent from BRS. they sent it UPS, still took a few days to get here, but I did not have to return anything

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for the info... I actually have your old Cube but can't put water in until I get a working RO/DI  ;DLOL.

The inside of the box has a huge indent and small hole in where the metal part of the RO/DI sat, so it looks like UPS was no where near gentle with the box...  Hopefully its covered as a UPS damaged shipment, and they send my replacement off, but who knows with the more pricey items.

Did you have to wait until the next Friday for it to be shipped out?

At least this time it wasn't 55 gallons of water on the floor...

 

[TORX]

On April 2nd they said they would seems me a replacement part. It was speed on the 4th and received today. Customer service was quick to respond via email once they acknowledged my original email.

I hope you enjoy the cube, it was hard to let go of. Grew some nice LPS, SPS and softies under those leds. I miss that tank already, but then I see my 120 and remember why I sold it.

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

[GirDance]

On April 2nd they said they would seems me a replacement part. It was speed on the 4th and received today. Customer service was quick to respond via email once they acknowledged my original email.

I hope you enjoy the cube, it was hard to let go of. Grew some nice LPS, SPS and softies under those leds. I miss that tank already, but then I see my 120 and remember why I sold it.

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

Thanks!  I am enjoying looking at it empty for now  

Hopefully this is just a matter of having a replacement sent out, and not needing to wait for it to ship to them then have a new one sent back out.  I took a couple quick photos of where its broken so I can send those in if asked.

 

[reefin]

Sorry to hear yur troubles with the RODI unit. I had an issue with BRS as they sent out the wrong testing selection. I talked to them on line and the situation was taken care of right away but they sent it to me by priority post US! That took longer to get to me than UPS did and I had to pay the customs when it did get to the post office! I also had to send the wrong one back and had to find a UPS store to do it no cost to send back just gas to get to the store. Now they did reimburse the $28.00 for the customs but the whole experience was still a PITA! LOL Make sure you ask themall the questions of how it is coming to you and if you will see any fees! Hope it all works out!

 

 

[GirDance]

Quick call to BRS and they are going to send me a replacement nipple to do the repair myself. 

He explained how to do it and that it was a pretty simple fix.  (Remove the membrane from the top, unscrew the two canisters, screw the new nipple on and then replace everything you just took off).  I just hope that I'm able to get the old nipple unscrewed since it snapped off flush with the edge of the canister...

Order will be shipped UPS tomorrow so I should have it Wednesday (no duty, yay!). 

Guess its a good thing I didn't arrange to pick up any live rock to seed the tank with this week!