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hydro phoenix 
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 Topic: Ro Di water smells like fish
Posted: November 01 2016 at 8:08am |
It's been a while since I've posted. And this may seem like a simple thing to fix for some of you, so I'm hoping those of you who find this a simple fix will chime in. I'm the lucky owner of a Mighty Mite from Airwaterice.com. Great company to work with and very kind. I won this bad boy during the members BBQ in 2010.  . I've been struggling with the smell of fish odor coming from it. I've changed ALL the filters and membranes. This last attempt started on January 1st, and by August the fish smell has returned. Do you, out there; you knowledgable people you, have any solutions?
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: November 01 2016 at 8:37am |
Smell is unfortunate, it may indicate the need for a new Carbon filter. The Activated Carbon removes bad taste and odor. Both the Sediment and Carbon filters should be changed every six months, but the really important thing to know is the TDS. It should be below 20 ppm. Do you know the TDS?
Aloha, Mark  |
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backwards32
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Posted: November 01 2016 at 8:54am |
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Mine did that as well and i found out the smell was coming from the DI resin. So i took those stages off and it was better. Haha so I don't have a solution but i would also like to know why that is the case.
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evan127
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Posted: November 01 2016 at 8:58am |
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You could add another carbon canister after the DI resin to cut down on the odor. I've found that with some use, maybe 20 gallons or so, the smell is a lot less pronounced
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hydro phoenix
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Posted: November 01 2016 at 9:18am |
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Mark, it's at 23. I've ordered all new filters and membranes. but I was told by the company that the filters should last a year and the membrane should last between 3-5, depending on how much I use it. I make 12 gallons every week.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: November 01 2016 at 2:15pm |
Life of the pre-filters and membrane depends on the quality of the source water from the city. The condition of the pipes in the street and the house add impurities which decrease useful life.
Did you say the membrane was last changed the first of this year or is it the same membrane as when the unit was purchased? A new membrane should purify water to about 5ppm TDS.
Activated Carbon Cartridge replacement schedule? Purity standards for drinking water are less stringent than what we typically want for our tanks. A dirty Carbon filter can allow stuff to pass that will damage the RO Membrane and shorten its life.
Did this Mighty Mite unit come with DI? If so, DI usually needs to be changed as often as the Carbon Cartridge. Monitoring the change in TDS is the way to know when filters need changing.
The unit does have a Sealed Carbon Cartridge Pre-filter and Sealed Carbon Cartridge post-filter. FYI, these cartridges are standard size, even available at Lowes/HD. Also, to save money, when changing filters, because the post-filter is basically filtering purified water, it can be moved to the pre-filter location and the brand new cartridge can be placed as the pre-filter.
I've said it before, DI is unnecessary for a reef. The 5 TDS that comes out of an RO unit is nothing. The organisms in the reef tank eat it up in a microsecond. 
Aloha, Mark
Edited by Mark Peterson - November 01 2016 at 2:28pm
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hydro phoenix
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Posted: November 02 2016 at 8:37am |
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Membrane was changed at the first of January. Would it help if I put a pump in the bucket? or is the smell coming directly from the Mighty Mite?
Edited by hydro phoenix - November 02 2016 at 8:38am
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: November 03 2016 at 9:49am |
That could be a defective membrane, or, like I said above, if Carbon is not changed when it's dirty or every 6 months, it may allow the membrane to deteriorate. If you have never unrolled a used membrane, try it. You'll see it's a polyester fabric that does deteriorate over time.
What kind of membrane are you getting from airwaterice? I buy this membrane for $27 via Amazon and it always seems to work like it's supposed to. Filmtec BW60-1812-75 75 GPD Filmtec Residential RO Membrane
If pure product water is being stored in a container, it typically does not need to be circulated. Also, a pump left in the container adds impurities because pure water tries to dissolve everything. If the container is open and exposed to the air, ordinary dust can introduce bacteria. A slight bacterial slime starts to grow and you can feel it when running your finger on the inside. Empty and clean it by giving it a rub down with a clean cloth and then a bleach-water soak then RO water soak to clear out the bleach.
Hope this info helps. Aloha, Mark |
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phys
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Posted: November 05 2016 at 2:20am |
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Change your DI resin. When it gets exhausted, it smells like that. I done had it, did it, now don't got it. If there is no DI resin in the kit (the site specs claim it does) then it's coming from other portions of the chemicals or the RO. Buuuut, 100% sure that if you have DI resin, it's the resin.
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phys
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Posted: November 05 2016 at 2:21am |
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If you changed it, then be sure to clean out your reservoir and flush your lines.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: November 05 2016 at 2:43pm |
That solves it. The tank may have been running on this 23 ppm TDS water for some time now.   It gives me a thought. If the smell is indeed coming from the DI resin, it is because the DI resin, rather than polishing the water, is releasing the ions and cations that it had previously captured. Bacterial action/decomposition within the DI cartridge is creating fishy smelling gases.
This changes my mind. It tells me that the RO membrane is probably not defective. Being the  I am, I would want to determine this for certain. I'd trash the DI cartridge immediately and bypass it. I would discard the water in the bucket plus a few gals of subsequently produced RO water, then test TDS right out of the line in a drinking glass. Be sure to rinse the glass with RO water to eliminate soap contamination. If I'm right, the TDS will be <10 ppm. The pure water will probably improve even further after replacing the Sediment and 2 Carbon cartridges.
Because of the impurities that have been going into the tank via top-off water and water changes, plain old RO water will actually be an improvement and I'm certain that in the long term the tank will do just fine on RO water alone.
Aloha, Mark
Edited by Mark Peterson - November 05 2016 at 2:46pm
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