RO unit

[bishop]

Never had a RO unit before. Purchased a used tank the other day that came with one. However it didn't come with the owner's instructions.

The unit is a coralife with two cannisters on the bottom, and a white tube across the top. It has three hoses; a yellow one which I assume is the water intake, a blue, and red one.

If someone could give me a nudge in the right direction on feeding and care for this guy I'd appreciate it. Also any advice, such as, how often you need to change the cannisters... make sure all your connections are tight to avoid leaks... don't stick your fingers in electrical outlets.. ECT.

Haven't hooked it up or turned it on so definatley consider me a newbie on this one. I haven't even seen one work so I don't know what to expect. Always purchased my water at the local wally-world in the past...

Thanks,
Justin

[Hardhead Cat]

Justin, I'm not an expert but you need to replace the cannisters before using them. You don't know how long they've been in there and they will affect your water quality immensely. If you go to Coralife's web site or do a Search or Google on your RO unit, you should be able to find a user's manual. There is also good information here by searching the Forums.

The blue line is the RO water coming out of the unit, it is the water you 'use' in your tank. The yellow one should be connected to your faucet (intake). The red one is the waste water produced when the RO unit is making RO - it needs to go down the drain, it's no good.

The two cannisters are Carbon and Microsediment, probably. Please change them out before using.

The white one across the top contains the membrane, the "core" of the RO system. You might have to replace it too, they can be expensive - like $50. If the water pressure was allowed to get too high in your unit, it would've blown the membrane. The only way to find out is to change out the 2 cannisters and then run some water through the unit. If the water coming out of the blue line is acid, then your membrane is okay.

Hope this helps, sorry! Just a little info for you - -

HHC

[bishop]

This is what I was looking for. I've learned that even if it feels like common sense, always need to double check here before doing it.

[mg]

I wouldnn't toss the filters yet especially the ro membrane. You will need to get a TDS meter to test the water. They sell duel inline meters that can measure the water into the ro and out of the ro to monitor when to replace the cartridge. If you are no longer getting 98-99% rejection start thinking about replacement. Most people will replce the ro when they are reading in the high single digits to low double digits on the TDS. If you have a DI as well wich is sounds like you don't, you can measure after RO and after DI to know the final output and gauge when to replace the DI as well.

My advice would be first get a TDS meter to check the filters, the sediment and carbon are real cheap so you can change those out now.
A picture of the unit would help but it is going to go in from the tap to the sediment canister, from sediment to carbon canister, then from carbon to RO membrane on the top. There should be two tubes coming out of the RO housing (the one on the top) one is waste the other is purified water.

[wharyat]

Yes, pics are necessary fo figure out exactly what your input, waste water, and ro water lines are.