Contaminated R/O?

[ripvanstinkle]

My R/0 has been sitting for a couple months. It was just topping off a res that I was not using. The other day I go down there to scoop some water for my seedlings, and there is all this cloudy shit like strands of mucous in my res. There are 3 visible filters on my R/O. The first is BLACK. the others are clear. I replace these around 6 months ago.

Also, the 1/4" tubing going into the R/O is swelled to twice that size, and the pressure coming out since I hooked it back up to the factory 3g tank is crazy high.

Oh, yea the water stinks like shit.

What happened?
Do I need a new unit or just that one filter?

 

[SupraSPL]

If the activated carbon filter fails and allows chlorine through I believe it can damage the R/O membrane.

Can you test the PH of the water coming from the R/O machine? Should be around 6. Tap water tends to be higher.

 

[ripvanstinkle]

ph is about 7.5 from RO. My tap water is about 420 ppm and 8.5 ph. Forgot to mention that I use a water softener before the RO.

 

[bluenorth]

Was your res in a dark place? If any light got to it while it sat for so long, it's probably growing shit in it.

 

[coconaut]

So your bucket of water was sitting for a few months and your curious why it's growing snot?
Water supports life, where you have water you're gonna get life. Even though RO water shouldn't contain much of anything for bacteria to feed on, leave it sitting long enough and life will prosper. Now, having a totally sealed res would help somewhat, keeping dust and other airborne particles out of the water. Even dust could be a source of food for bacteria.

Having a water softener, the R/O filters in your unit may need to be replaced more often, but do not take my word, I have very little experience with RO units.

As for testing the pH of RO water. You're wasting your time. RO water is pH 7, but you'll get false readings if testing with an electronic pH pen, the pen sends a current between the glass bulb and metal probe, pure water doesn't conduct electricity, the ions in a water-solution do.
Computer nerds know that if you're running a water cooled setup on your computer you should use pure water, if you spring a leak you may not fry your computer.
(may not because if your board is dusty the water and dust can make an electrically conductive solution.)

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Was your res in a dark place? If any light got to it while it sat for so long, it's probably growing shit in it.

That's what I'd look at first.... though it wouldn't explain the hose pressures.

 

[SupraSPL]

While pure water should have a PH of 7, in practice it does not remain pure water for long. R/O and distilled water absorb carbon dioxide from the air which forms carbonic acid. This weak acid lowers the PH. You can measure it with a $6 fresh water aquarium kit from Walmart if you do not trust the electronic meter.

If you still get a reading of 7.5, I would suspect the filtration system needs service.