Refreshing Denitrifier.

[Russ J.]

I have a 4 stage Kent Maximma Ro unit. How do I tell if the last stage --
The Denitrifier is depleted? If so, can it be reactivated?

My reason for asking is that phoshates in my tank are O, but I have a brown
algae bloom - I'm thinking it is silicates which the denitrifier is supposed
to remove. I don't have a silicate test kit.

Russ

[Pszemol]

"Russ J." > wrote in message . ..
> I have a 4 stage Kent Maximma Ro unit. How do I tell if the last stage --
> The Denitrifier is depleted? If so, can it be reactivated?

You probably think of deionizer stage (DI).
I am not sure what kind of DI unit you have in KENT Maximma,
but usually this stage is in transparent container and
the ion-exchange resin inside changes color when depleted.

If this is not your case, the easiest way to verify if your
filter is working properly is to measure TDS in the product
water. TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids and you measure
it using conductivity meter. The idea is that real pure water
does not conduct electricity but dissolved ions in water do...
So the readings when the filter is working ok you should have
about 5-10 uS/cm after RO stage and close to 0 (I have 1)
after the last DI stage. When your DI resin is exchausted your
RO/DI water will have the same reading like the input RO water.

More information you will find on the Kent website.
I remember downloading whole datasheets for their filters from
there before. I have their 10g "barebone" system with color
changing add-on DI stage. My water measures 6uS before DI and
almost 0uS after DI stage on a Hanna meter with 0-999uS range.
When you perform measurement of RO/DI water try to measure
water dripping directly from the filter, not a sample taken
from the collection bucket, which had the chance to absorb CO2
from the ambient air - CO2 would rise conductivity of the water
and distort your proper filter efficiency measurements.

Good luck!