Chuck's 150 Gallon Reef Project

[ChuckG]

OSB: Are you really just using a ball valve on the waste water or did you get the adjustable flow regulator from Buckeye?

IF you are regulating flow this way then you aren't running a standard flow restrictor? Such as a capillary flow restrictor.

How easy was it to adjust things? Since the booster pump has a bypass that has to be played with to adjust pressure and you have another flow restrictor as well (which changes pressure when you mess with it) it just seems to me that it could get challenging to get things adjusted properly.

[ChuckG]

OK - not really much to look at, but I've started to take apart the old RO/DI unit and am beginning to put together the new unit.



They don't quite make the brackets long enough. I have already had to drill holes and turn one housing at a 90 degree angle to allow room for plumbing.

Last night I had a revelation: I'm going to make a Flushing Station. I "think" I can salvage one or two of the old housings that I am replacing to make this. New media like carbon and even new RO membranes need flushed prior to being put into use. You don't want the flush water to enter other parts of the system. Rather than having to disconnect tubing and reroute things to accomplish this on the main unit, I will create a one or two housing unit that sits in the laundry room. Then all you have to do is pop the new filter into the flush housing and turn a valve. Water flushes through the filter and drains (either directly down the drain or into the washer). IF I can come up with two of the old housings that still work then I will keep a sediment filter in one of them at all times just to filter the flush water prior to going through the new media I am filtering.

[ricosuave]

I see wet times in your future...just a hunch.

[ChuckG]

It's getting there. Now I just have to find room on the wall to mount all this stuff.



Dummy me, after two online orders for various parts, I didn't bother checking how I was doing on media. I only have a little bit of DI resin left and it's all dried out so I'm not sure if it is even good anymore.

Looks like it's time for another order.

[ricosuave]

If you dont have room in the fish room just take a lesson from me...poke it through the sheetrock in another room...the Wifey wont mind.

Looks complicated. I do believe thats the first 9 chamber RO unit that I have evewr seen

[Tangboy]

Chuck... you have too much time on your hands :P

[ChuckG]

Part of this thing still is in another closet (the RO drinking water storage tank - HD 5 gal bucket) which I don't think I will have room for in my fish room. I think it's going to have to stay where it is.

Tangboy: You are probably correct.

I ended up with an extra housing on this beast so I tossed another sediment filter in it but I think I need to rethink that. I think 4 sediment filters would be just a tad overkill. So I think I will have to rework it but am unsure what filter would be the most beneficial to the system. I think I will turn the extra into a carbon housing but which one? Another catalytic GAC housing, another Chlorine guzzler carbon block OR a third kind that I don't even have on the unit now ??

Any thoughts on this? Buckeye does have one more kind of carbon block. It's the "sweetner block". I can only assume it makes the RO water that you are pulling for drinking taste better.

[ricosuave]

Brita makes a flavoring cartridge for their filtration systems. Maybe you could adapt one to use for your drinking water and put it in the extra chamber.

[ChuckG]

I actually talked to Russ today from Buckeye and I may very well end up with one and maybe two of the housings that will simply sit EMPTY. I overdid things just a tad. I figured I'd add another carbon filter but Russ told me there is no point. The carbon block I'm using is a high end block as it is. If I add more carbon it will not make the carbon last longer so I would end up simply changing an extra carbon filter every 6 months. Basically - throwing my money away. I also need to check with the water company and see if our city water even has chlorimines in it. If it doesn't, then I am simply wasting my time running Catalytic carbon as well. Now - IF I can find out from the city that they add phosphates or something like that then I could use a housing for a special filter to treat something like that and it would benefit the system.

BTW: Almost done with it. Only one more line to run. I have to get a drain line run the ceiling.

[Thomas]

Good luck with the city boys. When I called and asked they didn't even know if we have chloromines. Makes you want to install a filter system even more when your city water people don't have a clue what they are doing. Russ told me to put in the filter just in case.
As per usual the Internet is full of contradictory information. Some say catalytic carbon removes chloromines and others say no. One site said it removes or binds the chlorine and lets the ammonia pass by. Apparently the catalytic carbon breaks down the chloromine into chlorine and ammonia. I also read that when your pool or drinking water smells like chlorine it's not chlorine it's chloromine. Chlorine is odorless and tasteless. It is apparently more prevalent in the souther states than the northern ones because of water temperature. I think we need some expert info here. My normal unfiltered tap water has a definite taste to it. Is it chlorine or chloromine?