Slime in RO unit?

King-Kong · 12-11-2006, 08:22 PM

Has anyone ever experienced slime / bacteria infultrating their RO/DI machines?

When I last changed my prefilters (DI resin getting exhausted too quickly), I discovered slime on them. It was whitish/clear, and was mostly on the rubber gaskets.

I am experiencing some very very odd issues with my RO machine and wondering if this could be the reason.

Geoff · 12-11-2006, 11:03 PM

not sure, i have noticed something like this on my old filter, but thought nothing of it at the time. i just thought it was what happened when they got old.

G~

Casey · 12-12-2006, 06:19 AM

no never seen that on mine.

reefBoyDc · 02-07-2007, 04:08 PM

My first cartridge (50 micron) gets a red slime like substance on it. I assume that's stuff that is in the water and being trapped. I have to change that filter once a month at least. I'm glad that stuff is not in my tank (and in my body... i use the RO unit to filter my drinking water too).

tyson · 02-07-2007, 04:11 PM

would this be the TDS creep people speak of?

tims · 02-07-2007, 05:08 PM

not sure what a TDS creep is, but the slime is a bacteria in the water. it is feeding off of the microbes in the feed water. if you ever get a chance look at some of it under a microscope, it is pretty cool looking!

King-Kong · 02-07-2007, 05:20 PM

TDS creep is what happens when RO machines are turned off/on repeatidly, very quickly. Such as, when they are hooked up directly to an auto-top off.

Because the RO membrane doesnt have constant acceptable levels of pressure, certain impurities get through the membrane. Subsequently, when they reach the DI resin cartridge, they get removed, but at the cost of the DI's life.

I was the victim of TDS creep and it was reducing my DI cartridge to 1 month runs. Since I "fixed" the creep issue, my DI cartridge has now lasted 1.5 months, and doesnt even look 1/2 used.

reefBoyDc · 02-07-2007, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by King-Kong

I was the victim of TDS creep and it was reducing my DI cartridge to 1 month runs. Since I "fixed" the creep issue, my DI cartridge has now lasted 1.5 months, and doesnt even look 1/2 used.

How did u fix it, kong?

King-Kong · 02-08-2007, 08:27 AM

You need to find a way of stopping the machine from constantly turning off/on. For me, I have had to lose an aspect of "automation" in my system. Now i manually turn on the water to fill my 20g reservoir. Before, it would automatically fill itself, but due to the flow rate of parastaltic pumps, it caused the RO machine to turn itself off/on repeatidly.

The only "real" fix I've seen is something similiar to this: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...ight=tds+creep

But that's too much work for me

Here's a second link: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...5&pagenumber=1