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RE: KATI/ANI
Does anyone on the list have direct experience with recharging the Kati/Ani
Deionization units?
I would like to put a 100 gallon plant tank in my office. I would rather not
use untreated tap water as the San Diego tap water is considered moderately
hard; i.e. Carbonate hardness of 160 ppm, Total hardness of 325 ppm, and Total
dissolved solids of 567 ppm. Because of the commercial office setting
installing an RO unit is not feasible. This is because the low water pressure
and the 65 degree F tap water temperature reduce the efficiency of RO units to
about 40% of rated capacity per a phone call to the people at SpectraPure.
Thus, even a 160 gpd RO unit would take almost two days to fill the tank.
Hoses running in and out of the office for almost two days, even on the
weekends, is not acceptable.
I had, therefore, thought about using the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Tap Water
Purifier. However, contact with them indicated that with my tap water, I
would get, maybe, 15-20 gallons per cartridge. The cartridges, if bought in
bulk via mail order can be purchased for $11.79. That is very expensive
water.
I then checked with Kent Marine about their Deion 200 unit which consists of a
carbon prefilter and separate cation and anion resin canisters. The carbon
filter does adsorb some of the dissolved solids and is cheaper to replace than
either of the resins. Thus, it is considered a necessity as a sacrificial
unit. If you use the replaceable resin cartridges, the cost per gallon is
about $.10 cheaper than the TWP if you average the $200+ purchase cost over
1,000+ gallons. If you use the resin beads that can be regenerated, the cost
drops another $.20 per gallon. This is affordable. However, my stumbling
block was Kent Marine's directions for regeneration. The directions are as
follows:
"CATION REGENERATION: Mix 2 quarts of muriatic acid (available at pool supply)
with three quarts of water. This solution must be slowly drizzled through the
resin over a 24 hour period to gain complete regeneration. This can be
accomplished by utilizing our Aqua-Dose Delivery System or making some kind of
drip system. Place the cartridge inverted into a bucket that can hold the
entire quantity of regeneration fluid. Then start the slow drizzle. Rinse
cation with at least 12 gallons of tap water slowly drizzled through."
"ANION REGENERATION: Mix 120 grams (about ½ cup volume) of sodium hydroxide
(caustic soda or Red Devil Lye from the grocery store) with 5 quarts of water.
Stir until dissolved. Set up the cartridge and drizzle this regeneration
fluid through the same way as the cation setup. Rinse the anion resin with 12
gallons of softened water (just assemble the cartridge back the way it was and
return it to the canister. Run the unit as normal. Discard the first 12
gallons.) Measure the pH to make sure the any chemicals have been removed
prior to use in the aquarium. The pH should be around 6.0 to 8.5."
"IMPORTANT: We strongly advise using separate dedicated drip systems for each
regenerative fluid due to the reactive nature if these chemicals contact each
other."
According to E-mails from Kent Marine I can expect 100 - 200 gallons of DI
water between regenerations. If you follow their procedures you need to use
12 gallons of softened water (that you have stored ahead of time) plus run 12
gallons of tap water through each unit (which counts as 12 of the 100 - 200
gallons before you have to regenerate). This did not seem to be a practical
or cost effective solution. Is there another way to regenerate the cation and
anion resins?
When I investigated at the Kent Marine Deion 200 I was also looking at the
Kati/Ani units. However, after learning what it took to regenerate the Kent
Marine units, I thought the Kati/Ani units would require the same treatment.
Is that true? Does anyone have experience with regenerating the Kati and Ani
units? If so, how do you do it? What is involved?
Any other thoughts as to how I can cost-effectively remove the dissolved
solids from my tap water?
Sorry for the long e-mail, but I thought I should error on giving too much
info rather than too little.
Thank you for your assistance.
Roger Gordon
San Diego