Pre Ro column

[slaven]

Hi everyone,
I have a problems with my Ro water. The water in my area is very, very hard. about 600-700 ppm, a lot of carbonates, sediments. That is why I use Ro unit (aqua medic) to make a water for my discus aquariums.
The sediment collumn is very often has to be replaced.
In order to keep my Ro membrane long lived I was thinking to decalcify the water with the precolumn with rasins, but I was reading that decalcifyng water is not good for discus because arise the Na ions in aquarium (NaCl, common salt is used to regenerate tis column).
Do you have any idea what kind of resins can be used to decalcify eliminate the hardiness before entering to Ro unit?
Something that can be regenerated?
Or can I use decalcify resins and than the Ro eliminates Na ions?
Any other solution?
Please help.
Thanks

[Willie]

Resins work by displacing one ion for another. The full name is "ion exchange resin". Your current set up, with a sediment filter in front, is the optimal configuration to produce RO water.

To reduce cost, you can buy and add on sediment filters and activated charcoal filters from the plumbing department of Home Depot/Menards/etc. These attach to the existing R/O system via standard garden hose couplings. They are fairly inexpensive and have disposal cartridges that can pop in and out without having to dismantle the entire system. Depending on the pressure coming out of your tap, you can string these together in series to polish your water and extend the life of your RO membranes.

I'd recommend that you take a tap water and RO water sample to your local fish store, where they'll do a free test on hardness and pH. Because they do this often, their reagents are typically fresher than what we have in our fishroom. Once you have baseline readings set, then you can better assess how well the different filter configurations work.

Willie