Blog Comments

Originally Posted by marks69

my di is t'd off then there's a check valve to prevent the water from the tank getting mixed with the di water. no backflow. didn't mean after the di, sorry

I think I understand... sort of. Can you spell it out, including flow direction? Others might be interested.

To update my own situation, the icemaker isn't working right. Perhaps the water pressure supplied by the house's plumbing operates the mechanics? I'll have to ask Bobby since at this point I have no ice at all.

Originally Posted by SaltCritters

Why can't you have pressurized water going into the DI?

The water moves too quickly through the resin. DI resin needs contact time. If the system has a 100gpd membrane, contact time is at best 4.16g PER HOUR.

With a bladder tank, it rushes through much too fast. I've not figured out the math yet to be more specific.

Looking Great!

Love the variety. The tank is truly starting to look like a small piece of the ocean. Lyretail anthias are one of my favorite fish, especially in a harem. I had 6 in my 180 back in the day, bought them all as female since the LFS didn't have a male, and got to watch one to through the transformation.

my di is t'd off then there's a check valve to prevent the water from the tank getting mixed with the di water. no backflow. didn't mean after the di, sorry

That is a very nice assortment of fish, Marc. Even in the photos, your reef is starting to look quite busy!

That's what I'm most jealous of about ya'lls big systems. Your fish! In nanos I can do just about anything except for the amazing tangs and fish numbers. Great pics.... and great fish! :-)

Why can't you have pressurized water going into the DI?

Check valve wouldn't help the situation at hand, ie pushing pressurized water into the DI. If there were some sort of pressure reducing valve, like a fixed orifice tube, that would work, so long as the pressure out of the tank was constant.

That doesn't make sense to me.

put a check valve after the di take off and you can always leave it on, works on my set up

No, the water drains through a section of black egg crate that is 12 to 16" long, and the flow pours through very slowly and quietly. No bubbles form, so there's no need for a trap.

Thanks Marc... a bunch for adding the detail. Just so I understand the geometry... is there a bubble trap from the fuge section to the return section then?

Yes, you would need it for the icemaker because water output is slow out of an RO system - much too slow to fill up an ice cube tray with the built in timer relay (assuming that is how it knows when a tray is full).

I'm only using the one system, the one you saw pictured above.

Marc do you have more than 1 RO system in your house? behind the fridge and in the laundry room

Will I need that tank for my Icemaker to hookup to my RO/DI filter or will it work without it?

Yes that makes sense how it works.

dahenley - I have the skimmer box in the garage still, so I'll check the label for the model number. 12-2 it is, sorry for that. It still does the job, so there is no need at this time to change it out. Two ER-style Eheim pumps and the Swabbie upgrade adds up to $600 that I've sunk into it in the past couple of years. Might as well use it.

I'll get a new picture of this sump (or a replica) to give some flow patterns.

Jim - The Nextreef SMR XL's flow through the Biospheres is around 500gph. The other reactor is probably running at 250gph. They are not daisy-chained. The Calcium Reactor is probably receiving 50gph or so, since the effluent is a quiet trickle. Some flow is pushed into the frag tank, maybe 300gph.

The tank has 5 drains. Four go to the skimmer section, and one to the refugium zone. The refugium has a 4" DSB and is 58" long. The water level is 12" tall, and is lit with a UniqueLED daylight-LED fixture. The skimmer section and the refugium zone drain into the return section where the reactors are. Black foam sheets act as a shade barrier to limit algae growth in the cylindrical gear and sump.

dahenley - When dialed in correct, the skimmer doesn't overflow.
Yes, I'm loving the simplicity and realiability of the biopellets.
The Skimmer Swabbie is still working as it should.

Chuck - sounds like you figured out a solution. The bladder tank has a rubber bladder inside of it. It is filled up with air to a specific PSI. As water is added to the holding tank, the bladder compresses. Each time a valve (or icemaker) is opened, the bladder expands to force water quickly out of the blue tubing to the spigot (or icemaker). Does that make sense?

Jato - You can add a DI stage after the RO section using a Tee and a ball valve. You will need an inline ball valve as pictured above to shut the pressurized line from the bladder tank.

my RO filter came from home depot as a drinking water system with a pressure tank and I don't use a DI stage but I do want a DI add on stage.

Marc
does your skimmer still overflow, and do you attest it to the bio pellets?
also, is the swabbie still holding up to your expectations?