Lab Test RO/DI Water

gig 'em · Jun 23, 2017

Has anyone ever cared to send in a water sample of their RO/DI water to see what, if anything, is making its way through the filters? Especially when the filters are a bit older and there's great chance some things could be making their way through? I've noticed that when my RO filters get close to the 6 month mark, my corals start losing color and look a bit PO'd. The dual DI reactor resin hasn't changed colors and TDS is still 0, but I can tell something has got to be making it past the DI resin based on my SPS health. I've been looking into drinking water test kits like these.

Has anyone tried this in the past? I'm curious if the sensitivity of these tests is adequate enough for what ails my SPS. I have a friend with a large system and his coral is experiencing the same issues I've seen with old RO filters (extruded acro filaments, paled colors) with 0 TDS and everything else in the system looks normal. I'm convinced there's something in the water that's not registering with a TDS meter that penetrates through RO/DI when the RO filter blocks become old. Thoughts? Am I wasting my money if I buy one of these test kits?

clownsrcool · Jun 23, 2017

I sent an RO sample to get ICP tested because I have hard metals like lead and copper in my tank and wanted to rule out my RO water as possible source

gig 'em · Jun 23, 2017

Have you received the results back? Was anything within the detectable limits?

clownsrcool · Jun 23, 2017

Yeah I got them back. No lead of copper but there were other elements that showed up. It wasn't just 0's across the board like you might expect.

gig 'em · Jun 23, 2017

clownsrcool said:
Yeah I got them back. No lead of copper but there were other elements that showed up. It wasn't just 0's across the board like you might expect.

Would you mind posting the results here? I'd be interested to see what was detectable.

clownsrcool · Jun 23, 2017

I'm on my phone right now and don't know how to attach a PDF though Tapatalk on my phone.

gig 'em · Jun 23, 2017

clownsrcool said:
I'm on my phone right now and don't know how to attach a PDF though Tapatalk on my phone.

No problem, maybe you could post it from your computer when you have access? I'd love to see what makes it through your system.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 23, 2017

clownsrcool said:
Yeah I got them back. No lead of copper but there were other elements that showed up. It wasn't just 0's across the board like you might expect.

I wouldn't expect zeros, even in 0 ppm TDS water, since the method can detect very low levels.

2una · Jun 23, 2017

theres mine i did - 0 tds - didn't do anything special for the sample & the filters i never changed for it

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0iMU3E8TjvqMUNhY0hKdWQxTms/view?usp=sharing

gig 'em · Jun 23, 2017

The problem I see with sending in RO/DI water to Triton is they don't test for chlorine or fluorine.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 23, 2017

2una said:
theres mine i did - 0 tds - didn't do anything special for the sample & the filters i never changed for it

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0iMU3E8TjvqMUNhY0hKdWQxTms/view?usp=sharing

FWIW, the very low values of, calcium, say, may be so far out of their calibration range that it may not be accurate.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 23, 2017

gig 'em said:
The problem I see with sending in RO/DI water to Triton is they don't test for chlorine or fluorine.

Those would be important to see?

gig 'em · Jun 23, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Those would be important to see?

Well I think any chloramine would be i portent to see if it happened to be there in trace concentrations. From what I've read in the past, levels in the range of ppb can be toxic to corals. Fluorine probably doesn't make a difference, I just know they add fluorine to the water supply and haven't read too much definitive info on its impact on invertebrates and corals. If anyone knows whether it's harmful, beneficial, or doesn't have any impact at all I'd love to know. I just would like to pinpoint whatever is making its way through my system as the filters age that causes so much mayhem with my acros.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 23, 2017

gig 'em said:
Well I think any chloramine would be i portent to see if it happened to be there in trace concentrations. From what I've read in the past, levels in the range of ppb can be toxic to corals. Fluorine probably doesn't make a difference, I just know they add fluorine to the water supply and haven't read too much definitive info on its impact on invertebrates and corals. If anyone knows whether it's harmful, beneficial, or doesn't have any impact at all I'd love to know. I just would like to pinpoint whatever is making its way through my system as the filters age that causes so much mayhem with my acros.

Chloride is a far more common form of chlorine in tap water than chloramine, and ICP cannot distinguish them.

Here's an article on fluorine, and some reef supplements contain it (ESV Br/F for example) so I doubt it is an issue in 0-1 ppm TDS water. I've added sodium fluoride myself as an experiment and noticed nothing.

Fluoride Depletion In Four Reef Aquariums
http://web.archive.org/web/20030101...rk.com:80/fish2/aqfm/2000/jan/bio/default.asp

gig 'em · Jun 24, 2017

Thanks for the info Randy! Fluoride in water has been a question on my mind for some time now.

So the question I'm still left with is why my SPS tend to degrade in health when my RO membranes age and the TDS still reads 0. Surely something is contaminating the water at a low enough concentration that is still detrimental to the health of corals. And if it's getting through my RO, is it detectable with an available water test?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 24, 2017

gig 'em said:
Thanks for the info Randy! Fluoride in water has been a question on my mind for some time now.

So the question I'm still left with is why my SPS tend to degrade in health when my RO membranes age and the TDS still reads 0. Surely something is contaminating the water at a low enough concentration that is still detrimental to the health of corals. And if it's getting through my RO, is it detectable with an available water test?

How often has this happened? My RO membranes lasted more than 10 years.

gig 'em · Jun 24, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
How often has this happened? My RO membranes lasted more than 10 years.

I said membranes, sorry I meant to say filter blocks. Although that filter membrane was probably 5 years old. Every time my filter blocks would get to be 5-6 months old, that's when the corals would start to brown out and extruding filaments. My friend in town has a large (over 1000 g) system and his corals are now doing the same thing and his RO filters and membranes are reaching 3 years old. He assures me that it's an industrial RO membrane and filters that are rated to last over 3 years, but the symptoms are identical and his system is incredibly stable. Considering I see the same symptoms with my corals that correlates to old RO filters and goes away with a filter change, I feel like there's something in the Austin water that gets through older RO filter blocks and is harmful to acros.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 24, 2017

Browning out often means elevating zoox, due to increased nutrients.

gig 'em · Jun 24, 2017

Here's a picture I took of his corals from the last time I was over as a reference. Browned out and a little pale. What you can't really see in the picture is the filaments coming out of some of the corals. (The water is a little hazy because the protein skimmer cup got accidentally dumped in the sump right before taking a picture, but the corals were mad before that happened)

I tested his water and NO3 was ~6 ppm and PO4 was 0.00 so nutrients didn't see me excessively high and I always keep NO3 below 10 ppm and PO4 at 0.