Testing RO water

[Mark L]

Guys I have a question for those of you who make your own RO water. My house is on a well and have just installed a new neutralizer and water softner. When I bought the system I also bought a 5 stage 50gal. per day RO unit, and a TDS meter so that I could test my RO water to make sure it was working properly. Now for my question, when I test the RO water that I get from LFS the TDS meter reads 000 and when I test my RO water I got 015 the first time and now its reading 008. Are these ranges safe or what should I have? The directions say to discard the first 10 or so gals. to let the system clean out the presertive that is packed with to membrane, so I think the TDS meter will still come down some more but what are the safe ranges I need to try to stay in? The TDS meter came with no instructions. Thanks in advance.

[partobe]

Hi Mark
the lower the better 000 is what your looking for but 200 is not un heard of so 015 is really low. I bet if you let it run a little longer it will drop to 000. One thing I had to learn the hard way is never test water after you add the salt to it.

[cjtice]

I believe that your levels will be fine. Some people cannot get their levels anywhere near that with their RO/DI unit. It kinda all depends on what your water is to start out with.

I am not an expert, so I am sure that someone else will chime in soon.

I kinda wish that I would have bought my TDS before I bought my RO unit as my well water has run at 017 TDS all year. I would have been fine with that for tank water.

Chris

[Mark L]

Thanks for the quick response, I also think it will keep droping I just needed a piece of mind from someone that has been there before. Also I tested my tap water and got 250ppm. so the unit is deffinately working.

[DevilBoy]

is this a plain RO unit? or a RO/DI unit? With a 250ppm reading on tap water 008 is about right if it is just a RO unit. My unit comes out at about 004 before it goes thru the DI stage which then reads 000

[Loverotties]

You say you have a RO unit.If you add a DI filter with it,you should get a 0 reading.

[Mark L]

It just says RO what is a DI filter and is that something that I can add after the fact?

[DevilBoy]

Then my guess its just a RO unit. which you will not get 000 reading out. DI is the deionzation part of it. Sorta like grits of sand paper. you have the coarse for the heavy work, then the real fine grit for finishing and polishing. that is what the DI does. Yes you can add a DI kit on to an existing RO unit

[Loverotties]

Like DevilBoy said ,yes you can and it should give you a 0 reading of your TDS.

[Mark L]

Thanks guys where is a good source for the DI unit and is it ok for me to use the water that I have now for top off water. BTY its down to between 8 and 10 now.

[partobe]

I use www.airwaterice.com you can also try one of our sponsors www.saltysupply.com

[wyliecoyote]

check your equipment. if it's 5 stage it may have a di unit.

[DarthOcellaris]

if you have a canister with little tiny silicone beads ( mine are green/brown ), then that's your DI filter.

[DarthOcellaris]

Originally Posted by cjtice

I kinda wish that I would have bought my TDS before I bought my RO unit as my well water has run at 017 TDS all year. I would have been fine with that for tank water.

Chris

I wouldn't count on well water to be reef safe even with low tds readings...

[Mark L]

I thought low TDS meant that I could use it now I'm real confuesed. Thats the reason I bought the RO unit in the first place, along with all the other equipment I bought I was expecting to be fine.