Are you throwing away perfectly good DI Resin?

[ihavecrabs]

So your DI resin hits the dreaded 1ppm reading.. For most reefers, this is likely something they see every 6 to 12 months. They then dig through their supply closet or garage for the bag of spare DI resin to empty and refill their cartridge or order a replacement from their favorite site. You folks can likely ignore this thread!!! For others, this activity is every month or two... So why do we throw away DI resin that is capturing all but 1ppm TDS?

About a year and a half ago, I moved into a home on a well. When I went to fill my tank for the first time, I went through a cartridge of DI resin in about 60g of RODI... I went through all the tests imaginable, including a CO2 test, and it came back slightly elevated, but overall normal. My well had high iron, removed via an iron removal system utilizing GAC and injected fresh air that got flushed every night and a water softener. I replaced the RO membrane, thinking mine could be compromised.. no effect.

At the end of the day I settled for the fact that my TDS coming in was well over 700+ (sometimes over 800) but always settled at 15 TDS after the RO membrane.

I finally caught on to the fact that my RO membrane put out 15 TDS but I was throwing away DI resin that was still effective at removing 14 TDS.. So I asked myself why? Then shortly after, I ordered a second DI canister. WOW did my resin last a lot longer. Now I was using my existing DI resin more effectively by further reducing the "old DI resin" to remove a majority of the impurities.

Finally, when the old resin made it to 4ppm, I eventually hit 1ppm in the newer DI resin. Swapped the cartidges between the new and old, and the old one was dumped and replaced with fresh resin.

RO -> DI
15tds 0tds
15 tds 1 tds then replace DI resin that was only utilized to 1ppm

RO -> DI-1 -> DI-2
15 tds 1 tds 0 tds
15 tds 4 tds 0 tds
15 tds 4 tds 1 tds then swap DI-2 to D1-1 and replace DI-2 with new DI resin

I then found a pre-owned DI canister being sold locally and decided a third couldn't hurt.

RO -> DI-1 -> DI-2 -> DI-3
15 tds 4 tds 1 tds 0 tds

This is as far as I have gotten with the addition of the third canister. Time will tell how effective this will be.

For those of you throwing away a lot of DI resin, this may be your answer.

Details:

• Non-branded 5 stage RODI
• Two additional DI canisters run in series
• BRS Bulk non-color changing DI resin
• CDP-8800 Pressure Booster

Here are the latest results ICP results for my RODI

 

[JasonK84]

ihavecrabs submitted a new Article:

Are you throwing away perfectly good DI Resin?



Read more about this article here...

 

[JMetaxas]

CO2 is likely the culprit. I have well water and mixed bed resin cartridges were eaten up in 60 gallons. I was going to build a degasser but instead went to a dedicated Anion bed, which only sucks up the Co2 and last twice to 3 times longer. I follow up with two mixed bed, to scrub the very little remaining of Cation contaminates.

 

[KJAG]

CO2 is likely the culprit. I have well water and mixed bed resin cartridges were eaten up in 60 gallons. I was going to build a degasser but instead went to a dedicated Anion bed, which only sucks up the Co2 and last twice to 3 times longer. I follow up with two mixed bed, to scrub the very little remaining of Cation contaminates.

I was just about to build a degasser. I guess I could just google an anion bed, but if you care to link that’d be great.

 

[JMetaxas]

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/anion-single-bed-color-changing-bulk-deionization-resin-brs.html

 

[KJAG]

CO2 is likely the culprit. I have well water and mixed bed resin cartridges were eaten up in 60 gallons. I was going to build a degasser but instead went to a dedicated Anion bed, which only sucks up the Co2 and last twice to 3 times longer. I follow up with two mixed bed, to scrub the very little remaining of Cation contaminates.

Wouldn’t a degassing tower save you way more $ on anion resin for a dedicated bed? Further, wouldn’t bubbling in a barrel overnight eliminate more, if not all, C02, as opposed to a pvc tower, of which the dwell time of the bubbler is minimal before the water enters the DI?

 

[dugthefish]

Link not working for me

 

[Matt Carden]

Me neither

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Link has been fixed.

 

[P-Dub]

Good info. I don't throw away my DI resin. I recharge and reuse.

 

[KJoFan]

CO2 is likely the culprit. I have well water and mixed bed resin cartridges were eaten up in 60 gallons. I was going to build a degasser but instead went to a dedicated Anion bed, which only sucks up the Co2 and last twice to 3 times longer. I follow up with two mixed bed, to scrub the very little remaining of Cation contaminates.

I too have well water that's apparently high in CO2 and was eating through the mixed bed resin fast. I switched to the triple canister, single stage unit from BRS but I have not once changed my cation resin and it has never changed color. I now get 150-200 gallons (maybe more) out of my anion resin before it's depleted. I'm wondering if I'd be better of going with two anion stages and a mixed bed to finish. Or maybe single anion and 2 mixed beds?

 

[Adele]

I too have well water that's apparently high in CO2 and was eating through the mixed bed resin fast. I switched to the triple canister, single stage unit from BRS but I have not once changed my cation resin and it has never changed color. I now get 150-200 gallons (maybe more) out of my anion resin before it's depleted. I'm wondering if I'd be better of going with two anion stages and a mixed bed to finish. Or maybe single anion and 2 mixed beds?

I feel your pain. I Get maybe 100 gal before my mix bed depletes on my well. I keep waffling between doing a degassing brute can or trying the cation/anion/mix bed college try. Maybe some black Friday deals on what ever equipment is needed for both will finally prompt me to take action one way or the other.

 

[cracker]

I have saved enough old di resin to fill a cartridge. Took years of saving what wouldn't fit. Stored it air tight, in a dark closet .I dumped all the old bags & it last a good while before needing to to changed .

 

[JoshH]

Deleted

 

[saltyhog]

I have been running a system with dual DI canisters from my first day in the hobby and with my city water having only 37-44 TDS from the tap my DI resin lasts a long time. About once a year I unscrew the first canister, move the second one to it's slot and put the new canister in the second slot. I can't imagine having to deal with 700-800 TDS tap water!

 

[JoshH]

Deleted

 

[Dr. Reef]

180 ish at tap and after 2 x 75gpd membranes its 3 TDS. Then to 2 stages of DI. 1st stage changes color from purple blue to brown over 6 months and 2nd follows by another 4 months or so. I change both DI in 1 shot at almost end of a year. TDS never goes over 0 within that year.

 

[matthewdvm]

Great idea. I have a second DI resin holder. Although my resin is lasting about 4 months, I think i’ll rig up the second one when my tds gets to 1 ppm

 

[ca1ore]

I’ve been using dual mixed bed in series for a while; but am contemplating adding a pair of single bed ahead of them.

 

[Pete Witteried]

Since you already have 3 Di reactors seems the best option to maximize the use of your resins is to run three DI resins, Cation then Anion then mixed bed.