phosphate and c02 after RO/DI

dgolan7 · 12/05/2014, 08:21 PM

needing help or advise my water supply is well water.
i have been out of the hobby for about 5 years. i have now moved into a new home with a well. i have ordered all new test kits from BRS and a hanna low range phos test,inline tds for my ro. My tank is now done cycling what is left is brown algea. Nitrate levels are low but phosphate is .25 or a little higher on API test but i know they are Crap. i was wondering if anybody has had these problems with well water.

i am looking into a gasser maybe or will adding a extra cartridge to ro and filling it with gfo. i am also having to change my DI resin every 80 gallons or so

please if you are in or near Lakeland i will pay someone to help me whoop this problem
thanks in advance

slief · 12/05/2014, 09:53 PM

Could it be your rocks had phosphates embedded in them? What are you using to test your Po4? I've never heard anybody mention Po4 from well water. Why not test the RODI water?

Co2 in well water is very common and many people setup a separate tank that they pump the well water to so it can sit outgas. Then pump from there using a separate pump into the RODI. This will prolong your cartridge life substantially.

dgolan7 · 12/06/2014, 01:28 PM

thanks it is very possible the rocks have po4 in them. i figured the cycling stage is done so it would be gone. aslo i am test fresh ro water with a api test im waiting on my hanna tester to get here.
i have read about a gasser before the the ro.

tom obrecht · 12/06/2014, 04:51 PM

I had the same issue with my well water. High tds and co2. I don't understand it all but know I had similar issue with di resin being exhausted quickly. Spectrapure has a degassing diagram on their site, or at least they used to. It's a another step although not overly difficult. Years back I had some funky brown algae grow after the cycle that eventually went away but it took a lot of gfo and time to get rid of it. You might want to send a sample into a filter manufacture (many rc supporters) and take some guesswork what you are dealing with and perhaps get a custome system to handle your issues.

kc350twin · 12/06/2014, 05:28 PM

Man degassing the water is the way to go. I resisted it for a while due to it being another step but went through massive amounts of DI resin. I pump straight well water into a 55g tank with a air stone in it. Let that gas off for 24 or more hours. Then run it through the RO/DI system with a booster pump. It makes about 25-30gals of water. I have also gone a step further and plumbed fresh exterior air to the air pump as well since I had it already plumbed to my skimmer.

dgolan7 · 12/08/2014, 07:04 AM

thank you both. im gonna try building a degasser today. keep you updated

12/05/2014, 08:21 PM	#1
dgolan7 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: lakeland FL Posts: 57	phosphate and c02 after RO/DI needing help or advise my water supply is well water. i have been out of the hobby for about 5 years. i have now moved into a new home with a well. i have ordered all new test kits from BRS and a hanna low range phos test,inline tds for my ro. My tank is now done cycling what is left is brown algea. Nitrate levels are low but phosphate is .25 or a little higher on API test but i know they are Crap. i was wondering if anybody has had these problems with well water. i am looking into a gasser maybe or will adding a extra cartridge to ro and filling it with gfo. i am also having to change my DI resin every 80 gallons or so please if you are in or near Lakeland i will pay someone to help me whoop this problem thanks in advance

12/05/2014, 09:53 PM	#2
slief RC Sponsor Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 14,173	Could it be your rocks had phosphates embedded in them? What are you using to test your Po4? I've never heard anybody mention Po4 from well water. Why not test the RODI water? Co2 in well water is very common and many people setup a separate tank that they pump the well water to so it can sit outgas. Then pump from there using a separate pump into the RODI. This will prolong your cartridge life substantially. __________________ Director Customer Support Royal Exclusiv USA For All Royal Exclusiv & Bubble King questions please refer to our Sponsor forum: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/fo...play.php?f=745 Current Tank Info: 480G display mixed reef, 90G sump, 90G refugium, 60G display refugium. Check out my build thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1783476

12/06/2014, 04:51 PM	#4
tom obrecht Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: WI Posts: 3,014	I had the same issue with my well water. High tds and co2. I don't understand it all but know I had similar issue with di resin being exhausted quickly. Spectrapure has a degassing diagram on their site, or at least they used to. It's a another step although not overly difficult. Years back I had some funky brown algae grow after the cycle that eventually went away but it took a lot of gfo and time to get rid of it. You might want to send a sample into a filter manufacture (many rc supporters) and take some guesswork what you are dealing with and perhaps get a custome system to handle your issues. __________________ Reef keeping is where Murphy's Law and your bank account collide!! TOTM May 2006

12/06/2014, 05:28 PM	#5
kc350twin Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Severn, MD Posts: 1,579	phosphate and c02 after RO/DI Man degassing the water is the way to go. I resisted it for a while due to it being another step but went through massive amounts of DI resin. I pump straight well water into a 55g tank with a air stone in it. Let that gas off for 24 or more hours. Then run it through the RO/DI system with a booster pump. It makes about 25-30gals of water. I have also gone a step further and plumbed fresh exterior air to the air pump as well since I had it already plumbed to my skimmer. __________________ 112g Cube 36x36x20= Custom 12x39wPower Module (Par Monster)= Neptune Apex=ATB 840v2=BM Doser= 2 MP-40's

12/06/2014, 01:28 PM	#3
dgolan7 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: lakeland FL Posts: 57	thanks it is very possible the rocks have po4 in them. i figured the cycling stage is done so it would be gone. aslo i am test fresh ro water with a api test im waiting on my hanna tester to get here. i have read about a gasser before the the ro.

12/08/2014, 07:04 AM	#6
dgolan7 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: lakeland FL Posts: 57	thank you both. im gonna try building a degasser today. keep you updated