RO DI Water Stinks

[Troutmasters02]

I noticed last night that my ro di water stinks :sick:. I've had the coralife ro di system for about 4 months.

I think it smells like the seafood department at the grocery store. My wife thinks it smells like something rotten.

Any ideas on why my water would smell?? Will this affect my reef tank?

[apedroza]

is this out of the unit or water that has been sitting in a bucket??

[Bill S]

I have one of those units sitting on my garage floor. I don't know what to do with it, as I'd feel bad about asking even $1 for it.

[LoneStar]

Did you buy the unit new or get it used? I'd check and see if the carbon canister needs to be replaced. Also like Anthony mentioned, does it smell coming straight out of the unit or from sitting in a bucket for a period of time?

[hobogato]

i believe the DI media can get contaminated with bacteria, and that could cause it to foul the water as it moves thru.

[SaltyJim]

I find that when it is time to change my DI resin, sometimes it does smell like cat urine (to me at least). If it smells something like that, I'd change the DI resin.

[Bill S]

Your RO/DI water should smell - like nothing. It's pretty much distilled water.

If it stinks, you have a problem. Your incoming water should be bacteria free - that's what the chlorine is for. If you are getting a smell, you are getting contamination from somewhere.

[Troutmasters02]

Thanks for the feedback. I bought the unit brand new only 4 months ago with minimal use. Would the di filter be bad already?

The smelly water is straight from the unit into a small glass. I did test the glass and the tap water for any smells but no such luck. Which makes me think its the unit....but why?

The only thing that comes to mind is that the unit does not have continuos water flow. Maybe bacteria would form then? It does not sit long without water flow, only a few days at most.

Thank you for your input.

[Jonthefishguy]

Strong based Anion resins release very low levels of amines (trimethylamine). A very low threshold of 5 PPB or greater will cause a fishy odor to be noticeable. People notice the smell when the resins are new and when they are at or near the point of exhaustion. This is one of the reasons why you are you are asked to discard the first few gallons that is made up for the first time. Trimethylamine is also released by decomposing fish which also results in the same type of odor. The DI along with the other filters could become exhausted a lot faster than others based on your water quality in your area. I would switch to color changing DI resin as it will tell you when to change it; usually when roughly 70% of the resin has changed color.

[Bill S]

I believe the Coralife unit uses a sealed, whiite DI resin cartridge (can't see the DI resin). You should replace that with a refillable canister, that holds at least 2x as much resin, and put color changing resin in it.

Here's what I would do:

Run your RO unit into a bucket. Make a gallon or so. Run some into a very clean glass. Measure the TDS. It should be less than 10% of your original TDS. Then run a gallon or so thru the DI unit. Run some into the glass. Measure the TDS. It should be zero.

If you need to borrow a TDS meter, you are welcome to borrow one of mine. 210.663.8079.

[Troutmasters02]

That's very nice of you bstreep, thank you. Last I look at the in-line TDS output reading, it said 010. The unit started out at 002 so the small change didn't worry me so much as the smell does.

The link below is the di unit I own.

bstreep I may take you up on the offer if other solutions do not present themselves.


http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4395+12096&pcatid=12096

[CoryDude]

I just went through a bout of bad RO/DI water. The output water smelled horrible. I changed all pre-filters and cleaned out my RO membrane housing.

Also, your TDS coming out of the DI unit should be near 0ppm or 1-2ppm at the most. You may also want to send a message to Russ w/Buckeye Field Supply. He helped me w/a non-Buckeye RO/DI filter.