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DI water, was Re: This is the West
[snip] De-ionizing is a better option, and as soon as I manage to go from a
lease to a mortgage, I will be looking into it. [snip]
Hi Bob,
Just in case you did not know, there is a very affordable DI system that
you can us for your aquariums. American Pharma. makes the mixed bed DI
resin systems (called 'The Tap Water Purifier', TWP) that are suppose to
be a one use cartridge system. Someone has come up with a procedure to
recharge these resins. Here are the directions:
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/twp_recharge.html
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/g_deutschmann.html
The recharging procedure requires the handling of some pretty strong
chemicals so if you don't feel comfortable then this may not be for you.
Basically, there are two resins anion (brown) & cation (blue). To recharge
the anion resins you must flush them with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) also
called 'pure lye'. This is the chemical that will be harder to find. It
is used in making soap and one of the name brands in the states is 'Red
Devil Pure Lye'. Make sure you are using pure lye though (Draino Crystals
have NaOH but it also has other chemicals in it so 'DO NOT USE IT'). To
recharge the cation resins you must flush them with muriatic acid (also
known as HCL). You can find this at any hardware store in the paint
striper section.
The procedure takes 2 hours the first time because you are separating the
resins but recharges after that are much faster. You can recharge the
resins many times, the creator of the procedure has done it over 300 times
on the same resins with no change in water quality (he used a conductivity
meter to check the water). The manufacturer rates the cartridge form
between 50-150 gallons but it depends on your water hardness (ie. the hard
the water, the less production). Here in Vancouver, we have very soft
water (KH 1 and GH 1) so we can get between 350-400 gallons of water before
recharging.
This procedure also works on any other DI resins (like Kati & Ani). I like
this system because the resins are cheap ($25US +/- for the setup & $13US
+/- for replacement cartridges, through mail order). I hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Victor Eng Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
engfam at axion_net