Refilling DI resin?

[Long Sun Aquascaping]

Hi all! Excited to post my first thread. Hopefully this hasn't been answered elsewhere....

I have an Aquatic Life RO Buddie (50 GPD) that has served me well for my ADA 60P. I generally generate 5 gallons a week for a 40%-ish water change, and the TDS stays pretty steady at 0 for about 1-2 months. However, I do seem to be burning through my DI resin pretty quickly. I don't think it's much of a mystery why: the water feeding into the membrane comes from a water softener that uses sodium pellets. I was ready to suck it up and buy another cartridge when I came across someone who was buying bulk resin and refilling their DI resin cartridge for a fraction of the cost.

Here is my cartridge: https://www.amazon.com/Aquatic-Life-Color-Changing-Cartridge/dp/B00DSP57BQ?ie=UTF8
And here is the proposed resin: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X92KOC?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Is there something I'm missing here? I'm a newbie when it comes to RO/DI systems, and the only thing that came to mind is that refilling might cause issues maintaining pressure through the column. Would appreciate hearing from anyone who has done this, tried this, or knows this already to be a bad idea. Thanks in advance!

 

[gnatster]

Refilling is easy. You want to note the location of the O-rings when you disassemble. At the top and bottom will be a round plastic ring with a fiber layer. Remove the ring, dump out the old resin. I like to shake out the bottom plastic barrier piece to make sure I've cleaned out all the old resin. Be sure to put the barrier ring back in place with the fiber side down. Using a funnel, refill the cartridge. I gently bang it on the counter to help settle the resin. You want to fill it tightly to prevent channeling. Add the top plastic barrier, fiber side up. Reassemble.

The barrier piece looks like...



A 1.5lb container of resin will refill that size cartridge twice, with some left over. A 5lb bag may go "stale" before you can use it all; the resin can pull schmutz out of the air.

Edit: Be sure to work in a contained area to catch any spills. Those little balls are as bad as Legos when you step on a few in bare feet.

 

[Long Sun Aquascaping]

Beautiful! Man, the expertise on this forum is amazing.

Two quick questions if you don't mind:

1. Do you have a preferred source of cheap resin?
2. Do you do anything other than shake it to ensure that the resin is compacted? Channeling could definitely defeat the purpose of this exercise entirely.

 

[Aquajack]

I purchased a RO/DI system a couple months ago and part of the deal was filling the DI resin cartridge. Came manufactured with an empty DI cartridge and bag of resin. Not sure why it didn't come filled. In any case very simple and as @gnatster mentioned, bang it on the counter or whatever. I continually banged it as I went to make it as compact as possible and filled it so there was just enough room to screw the cap back on.

 

[JacksonL]

Also, it can be worth working out, what is the tds without the DI and what it consists of.
Without DI, my RO outputs 9ppm and it tests as 9ppm alkalinity on my Hanna colorimeter. I assume that it is pretty much pure except for the carbonates that make it 0.5dkh. Because of this I haven’t worried about refilling my DI cartridge and happily run my tank with it remineralised to 5.5 dgh.
Just one less thing to keep on top of to maintain consistency.