water supply problem

maxwell · Sep 30, 2018

Hi
For the last couple of months my corals have looked un happy and I have lost several and have been searching for answers and replaced all the usual suspects heaters . pumps looking for any contamination within the tank and lastly decided to replace my RO unit for a pumped unit. I ran it until the reading on my inline tds unit was zero and ran several containers of RO which seem fine. Today I started to run another batch and noticed the output was pink see the picture . Also for the last month we have been suffering from stomach problems and have had doctors who have sent samples to the hospital for the usual bacteria problems but came back clear am I clutching at straws thinking they are both linked to the water supply so have asked the water supplier to test the water and also sent a ICP test away. The water company carried out a pipe flushing maintenance in July any experience with such issues. Note the RO is back clear now so a bit stumped

Bill

maxwell · Sep 30, 2018

Hi
Further research online says its potassium permanganate after flushing of the water pipes by the supplier. next question what affect would this have on sps corals.
thanks Bill

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 30, 2018

Well, potassium permanganate ranges from doses that some reefers have intentionally added in the past (Albert Thiel recommended it to boost ORP, but IMO, that is not desirable), to higher doses that would sterilize the tank. So it's hard to say if it is an issue for you or not, but it also should not be getting through the RO/DI in amounts that would be problematic.

maxwell · Sep 30, 2018

Randy
This is a new ro unit ,filters and resin just run approx. 250L and the resin is a mess see pics

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 30, 2018

Wow, that's dramatic.

Have you checked the TDS change through the RO membrane? Maybe the permanganate damaged it:

http://www.awwa.org/portals/0/files...brane papers/wed12 papers/01-witwer paper.pdf

"Also sodium hypochlorite and permanganate can quickly damage NF and RO membranes and additional control steps must be taken to prevent the exposure of the NF and RO membranes to these oxidants."

maxwell · Sep 30, 2018

Its only 2 days old I removed all filters and gave them a wash in RO from the lfs ,I have messaged the water company and sent them pics we have had stomach cramps for over a month and all that goes with it losing 3 kilo in weight . I had been searching for a problem with the tank losing corals and replaced heaters controller ,pumps etc with no joy as with the old unit it must have gone straight through and the tds was 001 so I thought no real concern and as a last ditch attempt thought it must be the water so bought a better RO unit that ran tds at 000 for a couple times and when I went to run another batch the return was in a small tub and I noticed it was pink as it blocked the resin.
Bill

cracker · Sep 30, 2018

crazy ! Hope you feel better

maxwell · Oct 1, 2018

Utilities have been today and took samples for testing ,also the RO supplies say that there have been no problems with their filters or resins and referred it to the manufacturers to be sure.