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Portland Water Supply, just DI?


LavenderTi

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Hi all, last time I was reefing was back in the midwest. My incoming TDS was near 500 and my output was ~50 before the DI. The Portland water report shows TDS 22-38. I don't use much water for my Fijicube 22.4. Could I get away with just a triple canister DI setup? It seems much simpler to just filter through versus having to deal with the effluent water.

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33 minutes ago, Bicyclebill said:

Chlorine is the main thing to worry about isn't it? I'm in Tigard, and they were using chloramines up until a few years back when they switched to chlorine.

Catalytic carbon filters remove both chorine and chloramine. Supposedly 99.9% effective.

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Portland is using chloramines.

Anyone else testing Portland's water for phosphate? I am seeing it, and I think the buffer they use to maintain neutral Ph is phosphate based. My RO unit is not removing the phosphate, unfortunately, was using a pre filter then carbon followed by RO and DI on the resulting RO, and still getting phosphate. So I switched to a setup of prefilter-carbon-carbon-RO and no DI, same result. Now wondering if it is just my test kit. The waste water is so pure after two carbon filters that I use that on my freshwater tanks, and the RO is not killing crystal shrimp or dart frog tadpoles so I think it is pretty good. But my SPS is dying off and there is a lot of algae. I also use the waste water on quarantine tanks with LPS and soft coral and they are doing great, but again tons of algae.

When I was reading about the DI options I think I saw that chloramines would use them up rather quickly resulting in more expense.

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2 minutes ago, Electrokate said:

Portland is using chloramines.

Anyone else testing Portland's water for phosphate? I am seeing it, and I think the buffer they use to maintain neutral Ph is phosphate based. My RO unit is not removing the phosphate, unfortunately, was using a pre filter then carbon followed by RO and DI on the resulting RO, and still getting phosphate. So I switched to a setup of prefilter-carbon-carbon-RO and no DI, same result. Now wondering if it is just my test kit. The waste water is so pure after two carbon filters that I use that on my freshwater tanks, and the RO is not killing crystal shrimp or dart frog tadpoles so I think it is pretty good. But my SPS is dying off and there is a lot of algae. I also use the waste water on quarantine tanks with LPS and soft coral and they are doing great, but again tons of algae.

When I was reading about the DI options I think I saw that chloramines would use them up rather quickly resulting in more expense.

I'm on the west side (97229) and I get my RO water tested monthly, as part of my ICP testing.    No phosphates have been detected in the past 12 months I've been doing this.    I like your idea of triple checking your test kit.  Maybe a club member is close enough, or just take a sample to one or two LFS's - and have them check.   

For SPS die off and Algae problems - Argh, that's the classic.    

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Here's my plan based on the previous post and info I've received.

I'll use a gate valve to control flow through the system. 6 stages: sediment, catalytic carbon, sediment, cation DI, anion DI, mixed bed DI. All refillable containers except the sediment. I'm going with 2.5 x 10 due to my somewhat low water volume requirements.

The kit BRS sells comes with the TDS meter so that will have readings at: the inlet to DI, before the mixed bed DI, and output of the DI.

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23 hours ago, obrien.david.j said:

I'm on the west side (97229) and I get my RO water tested monthly, as part of my ICP testing.    No phosphates have been detected in the past 12 months I've been doing this.    I like your idea of triple checking your test kit.  Maybe a club member is close enough, or just take a sample to one or two LFS's - and have them check.   

For SPS die off and Algae problems - Argh, that's the classic.    

The SPS that didn't completely die is recovering after water changes but the algae is still booming, testing with API kits shows high phosphate and nitrate... I am in SE near the reservoir at Powell Butte.

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  • 10 months later...

So things have changed and I’m using way more water now that I have the 110 gallon tank. My incoming TDS have been consistently over 50 and closer to 60 the past few months. Is this because Portland Water Bureau is supplementing the water with another source? How long does it typically take to switch back? It’s burning through media much faster than I anticipated. I’d prefer to not have to purchase an RO unit.  

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On 12/27/2022 at 2:05 PM, LavenderTi said:

Hi all, last time I was reefing was back in the midwest. My incoming TDS was near 500 and my output was ~50 before the DI. The Portland water report shows TDS 22-38. I don't use much water for my Fijicube 22.4. Could I get away with just a triple canister DI setup? It seems much simpler to just filter through versus having to deal with the effluent water.

I have a great deal on a RODI system if you look at my recent thread  plus lots of di resin 

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30 minutes ago, The ReefBox said:

I have a great deal on a RODI system if you look at my recent thread  plus lots of di resin 

Haha, I was looking at your 150 GPD system yesterday. I was calculating in my head how many gallons it’d take to offset the cost versus using more DI resin. 

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