RO system producing bad water???

[Rupture Reefer]

Hi, so I got an RO system, and all the water parameters are good except the alkalinity which is 15. Is there some problem with my RO system, if so, what should I look for?

 

[scriptmonkey]

What salt are you using? Also what test kit are you using and how old is it?

 

[Rupture Reefer]

What salt are you using? Also what test kit are you using and how old is it?

I am using IQuatics Reef Salt, and my test kits are Sera and Salifert (the alkalinity one is Salifert).

 

[scriptmonkey]

Hmm never heard of that salt.

• So how old is the tank?
• How often are you doing water changing?
• What kind of rock scape and floor media?
• Are you dosing anything or using a cal reactor?
• Have you tested just the RODI water prior to mixing salt to make sure it is the water?

15 DKH is high. If it was me I would pull water and head to my LFS and ask then to test for my own sanity.

 

[Rupture Reefer]

The salt has an alkalinity of about 10 dKh.
My tank is about 5 months old.
I do water changes biweekly.
I have live rock with live sand.
I am only dosing sugar water and prime to keep nitrates in check, and about two weeks ago I was using something to adjust the pH.
I do not have a cal reactor.
I did just test the RODI water, and it had an alkalinity of 15

 

[Rupture Reefer]

The salt has an alkalinity of about 10 dKh.
My tank is about 5 months old.
I do water changes biweekly.
I have live rock with live sand.
I am only dosing sugar water and prime to keep nitrates in check, and about two weeks ago I was using something to adjust the pH.
I do not have a cal reactor.
I did just test the RODI water, and it had an alkalinity of 15

 

[crusso1993]

The salt has an alkalinity of about 10 dKh.
My tank is about 5 months old.
I do water changes biweekly.
I have live rock with live sand.
I am only dosing sugar water and prime to keep nitrates in check, and about two weeks ago I was using something to adjust the pH.
I do not have a cal reactor.
I did just test the RODI water, and it had an alkalinity of 15

If your TDS is 0 ppm on your RO/DI then it will have 0 dKH.

 

[Mjrenz]

The salt has an alkalinity of about 10 dKh.
My tank is about 5 months old.
I do water changes biweekly.
I have live rock with live sand.
I am only dosing sugar water and prime to keep nitrates in check, and about two weeks ago I was using something to adjust the pH.
I do not have a cal reactor.
I did just test the RODI water, and it had an alkalinity of 15

Take a water sample of your tank water and your rodi water to your lfs and have them test it, something isn't right because that it really high. Since it sounds like you just got your rodi system I would suspect something is not connected right or there's a problem with your test kit

 

[Mjrenz]

Also, do you have a tds meter to check your rodi water?

 

[Rupture Reefer]

I fixed the problem, I was actually collecting the bad water, not the good.
Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[Rakie]

I fixed the problem, I was actually collecting the bad water, not the good.
Thanks for everyone's help!

That's both funny and great news. So often we have some unknown issue and while it may sound silly, we often *dream* the solution is us making a mistake, or needing a new component. Often it's months of scratching our heads, or butting it against the wall once you start loosing $500 pieces left and right..

So enjoy solving an easy problem, it's a better feeling than I'm sure you believe it to be at the moment

 

[Rupture Reefer]

Yeah! I mean not knowing the solution can be so frustrating, and can lead you to wanting to leave the hobby all together! When I started playing around with it, I saw what a dum mistake it was, now things should start going smoother for my tank. My ricordea is clearly recovering