Question about MPRO-25 and LLC-S

[tomheo]

Hello,

I have a SpectraPure MPRO-25 R/O unit hooked up to a SpectraPure LLC-S. My setup is hooked up to a Nilsen Reactor (kalkwasser reactor). The R/O water feeds directly into the Nilsen Reactor, and then to my aquarium.

I currently have a needlewheel valve connected to the "output" (blue tube) of the system so that I can fine tune how much water is going into the aquarium. I have it set at about 1 drip per second (which means I'm restricting the output of the R/O filter). My question is, will this cause premature wear of the R/O membrane? I was looking for information about restricting the output (blue tube) of the R/O unit but could not find any information on this. Should I move the needlewheel to the waste water line (yellow line on the side of the flow restrictor)?

Hopefully this makes sense. Here is an attempt to show my setup:


tap water input --> sediment/carbon --> LLC-S --> R/O membrane --> needlewheel --> Nilsen Reactor --> aquarium


Thanks for looking and any feedback is appreciated.

Thomas

[SpectraPure]

Tomheo,

Anything you do to restrict the product water output line will result in lower quality water being produced due to increased backpressure on the membrane and a decrease in net driving pressure. The normal output of a 25 GPD membrane produces about 65-ml/min flow rates. Your restricting the output to a drop per second (about 4 ml/min) is equivalent to operating your RO system at 4 p.s.i of input pressure, so you might as well be using tap water. DO NOT restrict the output of the yellow concentrate line, either. You will turn your membrane into a solid block of salt. What we suggest is a separate reservoir of RO water with a dosing pump to feed your Kalk reactor. This will enable you to dose Kalkwasser very slowly into the aquarium, eliminating pH spikes and localized calcium carbonate precipitation that can occur if saturated calcium hydroxide solution is added too quickly to saltwater.

Charles Mitsis
SpectraPure, Inc.

[tomheo]

Cool, thanks Charles.

I originally did have a peristaltic pump with a water reservoir feeding my Nilsen Reactor but the tubing failed after about 2 months, which shorted out the pump and freaked me out (could've caused a fire). The peristaltic pump I bought was an alternative to the Liter Meter (this was during the "in-between" time of the older pump, which everyone ran out of and the newer one, which everyone was waiting for :) ).

I guess I'll go for the Liter Meter III though...thanks again!

Thomas

BTW, love your products!