DIY DI Water Purification System

[May&Bruce]

Ok. I have now built the system and it works.

Parts list ended up being:

3 x filter housings - clear plastic @$26 = S$78

1 x 5 micron sedminet filter cartridge (came with the housings)

1 x Granular Activated Carbon cartridge S$21

1 x 3.5 litre bag of mixed bed Di resin S$45 (enough for 3 fills, so that means S$15 per fill)

Output speedfit elbow: S$3.80

Input hose connector: S$1.20

Total price is S$119, including first fill of DI resin.

[Gouldian]

Great job M&B! Looking forward to more photos.

[May&Bruce]

photos are too large so I will put them + instructions into a pdf file, for easier reference.

Note in the above pic, there is no DI resin in the left filter yet:

Stage 1 (right side) = 5 micron seidment filter

Stage 2 (middle) = Granular Activtaed Carbon filter

Stage 3 (left side) = Mixed bed DI resin

Preliminary test results:

Normal tap water:

TDS = 67 ppm

Cond (uS) = 134

Filter output:

TDS = 2.4 ppm

Cond = 4.9

After I have run some more water through the system, the TDS & Cond should come down a bit lower still.

[ervine]

EXCELLENT!!! You mind sharing where you got the parts from?

[May&Bruce]

Attached are the pics and simple instructions. Parts came from:

Filter housings and GAC filter cartridge: Homely Hardwaree in Paya Lebar.

DI resin - my company buys it from Scottscentre, in Tuas.

Speedfit elbow and 10 mm blue tube from Da Zhou Trading, 35 Jalan Mas Puteh (off West Coast Road)

PVC pipe and PVC femal bulkhead parts, from any hardware shop.

The teak wooden frame was my kids bunk bed ladder, but they are now teenagers and dont use the beds as bunks anymore (wife was not impressed though )

That's all the parts you need.

All the rest is in the attached document, including initial test results.

DIY_DI_Water_Purification_System.pdf

[KTLK]

nicely done

[atos]

Look great, TDS and cond. are realy low, congratulations . Tell me , maybe I do not understand well because of language bariere , DI resin is rechargable or not?

[May&Bruce]

Thanks guys

Atos...mixed bed DI resin is not rechargeable. But if you use separate anionic and cationic resins (in separate filter housings), you can recharge each resin. But, the process is a little complicated and requires the use of hydrochloric acid (if I remember rightly....). In my opinion, it is not worth trying to recharge the small quantities that we use. Somewhere on reefcentral is a thread on recharging anionic and cationic resins.

[atos]

May& Bryce, I have no problem with recharging, just have to used it too , and have a good TDS. But, for example here, I have smalest Kati&ANI, it makes 100 liters of good water for me with 1 recharging, even if I found mixed bad resin, how liters of wter it makes before disposale?

[May&Bruce]

atos..i am not sure about how many litres mixed bed will make - it depends upon the quality/purity of water going in and the specs of the resin, from the manufacturer. I have used a sedidment filter and a granular activated carbon (GAC) filter to purify the water first. Apparently chlorine in the water will significantly reduce the life of DI resin, hence the use of a GAC filter before the resin, to remove the chlorine (and other nasties too).

I will monitor my DI useage with a TDS and report back on the number of litres.

By the way, where do you buy your resin?

[sunny03]

bro why is does not shows zero on ur TDS meter ?

[atos]

MAy... I buy it from online Europian stores, I could try try from my lokal market as are much expensive . But maybe when will be my next import from Singapore you could help and bring some DI resin to my supplier of fishes and organizms

[May&Bruce]

Sunny...the TDS meter i used is highly accurate, not one of the cheaper ones, hence it will measure down to ppb or even ppt. Absolute zero is impossible to achieve, but i would like to get it lower than it currently is (although it is already 27 times lower than the normal tap water). When I have run a bit more water through the system, I epxect that it will come down lower.

[k0na_scab]

May , may i know where else can i get the DI resin ?

and abt how many liters of water will it treat before it needs replacement ?

the DI looks alot like the one M|_ is selling ... lol

thumbs up for yr diy

[Slim]

Well done & thx for sharing.

[cityofangels]

Wow, I'm impressed with your DIY capabilities! First, there was the Kalk reactor, and now, this..

Good work!

[May&Bruce]

Cityofangels...... Am thinking of what to do next - anything you like to have DIY'ed? hehehe ........ Probably next will be upgraded lighting but first, I need to build a wooden cover with doors to go around my tank stand.

[cityofangels]

Wow, you take personal DIY requests, as well? hehe

You don't have anything below your tank that will heat up, right? Because once you have the wooden cover doors, it will restrict ventilation. It would be best if you can create some vents in those doors. I will be waiting for those pics!

[May&Bruce]

cityofangels.... nope, skimmer and chiller, etc are in a ventialted cabonet next to the tank - only the ssump and submersible pumps under the tank. Thanks for the advice though

[cityofangels]

May&Bruce: Wow, really neat sump! I'm too embarrassed to post a pic of my sump! Wait till I clear up the mess.

[May&Bruce]

cityofangels....lol. Well, since that pic was taken I have installed an FR in the sump, so it does not look quite so 'clean' now

[atos]

MAy.. before you recive a requesets for next DIY please dont forget to measure to count the amount of water per one set of DI resin

[dumdum]

May&Bruce, nice DIY there..

available to DIY is few for bros ???

[peong]

Wow, i wish to hv 1 too if workable...

[gift05]

neat work bruce! wow... will i expect to see you in our sponsor forums anytime soon?

anyways, i think my backbreaking days of carrying mass amounts of distilled and NSW are finally coming to an end.