Acceptable TDS range

[Rscott]

At one point they looked to be about 50

And I was getting nervous about my new buddies in the tank so did a big change last week.
The tank seems really improved this week.
Water looks great and tests looking good
Also got my pH up a bit around 7.9 now

I did test po4 last week and it was .015 after I did the conversion for the ULR hannah checker

 

[Deano the reefer]

Check your water pressure and temperature. You might have to adjust your flow restrictor

 

[Opus]

Check your water pressure and temperature. You might have to adjust your flow restrictor

That will not affect the DI filter. His tds is only 3 going into the DI filter.

 

[Silver14SS]

@Rscott I don't think that there was ever an answer to the question, "What is the TDS reading of the water entering your RO system?"

Though you have a city water report, unless that water was taken from your tap, you don't know what the water picked up along the way from the tower to your faucet.

I would replace your resin, and see if that fixes the problem.

Sorry if I'm missing it, but I too was looking for the beginning TDS. With that # OP will be able to do the math and actually know the rejection rate of the membrane.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

At one point they looked to be about 50

And I was getting nervous about my new buddies in the tank so did a big change last week.
The tank seems really improved this week.
Water looks great and tests looking good
Also got my pH up a bit around 7.9 now

I did test po4 last week and it was .015 after I did the conversion for the ULR hannah checker

Ok, I know I am a broken record on this, but the best thing you can do is take things slow. Get to know your tank and how it adjusts to what you are doing, such as feeding.

It has only been 4 weeks since you posted that you were going to start cycling your tank and had questions about the RedSea reef mature program. Your tank is still a newborn.

You will only cause yourself grief and cost yourself money by chasing numbers, especially if you haven't had a chance to see how your tank really works.

If water changes are causing a 0.5 ppt change in your water SG, then your new water is way off. Even with a 30% change, at 35 ppt, the new water would have to be around 33 ppt to cause that much change. Your new water should match your tank water. Also, a 30% water change wouldn't bring the nitrates from 50 to 5 ppm. For that 30% change to bring the nitrates to 5 ppm, your starting nitrates would have to be less than 10 ppm. A nitrate reading of less than 10 ppm is perfectly fine and wouldn't be a cause for any change at all.

The best advice I can give you right now is to take a reading of nitrate, PO4, and SG today or tomorrow. Then, don't do anything to your tank except feed the inhabitants and add to the ATO for a week. After that week, take the same readings again. Do a 10% water change and repeat the process another week. After the second week, compare the 3 sets of readings and look for any large trend change, i.e. nitrates went from 5 to 20 or Phosphates went from 0.02 to 0.1. If something like that happens, only then should you make a change. Also, your nutrients should not read 0 ppm.

With your light bio load, you don't need to do any more readings than that in a week. This will help you get to know your tank.

 

[rcpalmer1]

@Rscott I am in amazement at your self-control and dedication. I am your opposite. Over twenty years ago I took my daughter to the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans. We loved it so much we stopped by a LFS in New Orleans and bought fish. We had a three hour ride home. Once home had to go find a tank to put the fish in. I had a successful tank that I loved. It may have been part of the reason I moved to Florida and learned to Scuba. I loved SCUBA diving so much I became an instructor. I have had many tank crashes to the point I tried giving up but could never go long with out getting another tank. I learned from all my failures. You on the other hand went SCUBA diving, fell in love with the sea and spent years studying and researching. Only after you had more information than the average reefer did you get your tank. You have bought the best equipment and designed a dream tank from the beginning. You seem to be the type of person that plans and the meticulously implements that plan with success. That does not work with marine aquariums. I seen pictures from June where you did not have water in your tank yet. BRS and WWC have both said it takes 3-4 ,month to cycle a tank. Old school you would fill a tank with tap water. Then put a couple drops of dechlorinator in along with a couple damsels. In a month or two the tank would brown out. After it cleared back up it was cycled and many people ran without regular water changes. Now we don't do it that way, not because it doesn't work but don't want to stress the fish. In my opinion you can't keep perfect numbers before the tank cycles. Your tank has to build beneficial bacteria. By constantly replacing all the water you are never going to get a complete cycle. If you make it a year I am sure you will have a top tier multi year aquarium. The question is will you be able to make it through the ugly phases. Right now you should try and let the tank cycle. I would not do a water change for a month and then do no more than 10% a week for the next month.

Back to the reason for this tread. TDS. Do you have you storage tanks full? Your aquarium and sump are over 120 gallons. From your statements you have done over 100% in water changes. Your storage tanks are 150 gallons. Is it possible that you have ran more than 100 gallons of water through your system. I know it can be frustrating in the beginning but it will be worth it. There is truth to the saying nothing good happens fast with marine aquarium.

 

[Rscott]

@Rscott I am in amazement at your self-control and dedication. I am your opposite. Over twenty years ago I took my daughter to the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans. We loved it so much we stopped by a LFS in New Orleans and bought fish. We had a three hour ride home. Once home had to go find a tank to put the fish in. I had a successful tank that I loved. It may have been part of the reason I moved to Florida and learned to Scuba. I loved SCUBA diving so much I became an instructor. I have had many tank crashes to the point I tried giving up but could never go long with out getting another tank. I learned from all my failures. You on the other hand went SCUBA diving, fell in love with the sea and spent years studying and researching. Only after you had more information than the average reefer did you get your tank. You have bought the best equipment and designed a dream tank from the beginning. You seem to be the type of person that plans and the meticulously implements that plan with success. That does not work with marine aquariums. I seen pictures from June where you did not have water in your tank yet. BRS and WWC have both said it takes 3-4 ,month to cycle a tank. Old school you would fill a tank with tap water. Then put a couple drops of dechlorinator in along with a couple damsels. In a month or two the tank would brown out. After it cleared back up it was cycled and many people ran without regular water changes. Now we don't do it that way, not because it doesn't work but don't want to stress the fish. In my opinion you can't keep perfect numbers before the tank cycles. Your tank has to build beneficial bacteria. By constantly replacing all the water you are never going to get a complete cycle. If you make it a year I am sure you will have a top tier multi year aquarium. The question is will you be able to make it through the ugly phases. Right now you should try and let the tank cycle. I would not do a water change for a month and then do no more than 10% a week for the next month.

Back to the reason for this tread. TDS. Do you have you storage tanks full? Your aquarium and sump are over 120 gallons. From your statements you have done over 100% in water changes. Your storage tanks are 150 gallons. Is it possible that you have ran more than 100 gallons of water through your system. I know it can be frustrating in the beginning but it will be worth it. There is truth to the saying nothing good happens fast with marine aquarium.

I dont really understand why people continue to criticize what I’m doing. The tank is up right , all the tests are perfect and the inhabitants are super happy. The fish play with each other all day long.

There are other threads on this board from people buying bio cubes and 3 tangs in the same day and without cycling at all and with with tap water throw them right in! Yet somehow I ask a question about TDS water and have to read the same replies as always about how I’m an idiot and my tank isn’t cycled and I’m moving to fast because I have a whopping 4 fish in 120 gallon tank after week 4 when the instructions of the cycle kit tell me to add fish at day 14 (assuming parameters are good)




I am not sure why you are talking about cycling. The tank is cycled. I have zero ammonia and zero nitrite. Skimmer is doing a great job removing crap, po4 looks good ph is perfect and salinity is stable.


This thread was about TDS and everyone hounded me for pictures of the resin telling me there was nothing wrong except I depleted the resin. So I post pictures and not a single person comments on it but yet I get comments on cycling still.

When clearly there was a problem and even BRS told me it was not packed properly from the factory and sent me a replacement .
It should not turn brown with the middle still blue as others have indicated


Out of all the posts I have made thus far in this forum, the only thing I have not heard is “nice job, keep up the good work” despite things being perfectly fine over here

We can close up this thread. The endless criticism is getting old. Perhaps I should go buy a bio cube and 3 tangs. Seems like those people get
More respect

 

[Silver14SS]

Did you happen to measure the TDS of the water before it goes into your RODI yet? Sorry if I missed it That may help pinpoint the issue in the RODI if you know the TDS before and after each stage.

 

[rcpalmer1]

Out of all the posts I have made thus far in this forum, the only thing I have not heard is “nice job, keep up the good work” despite things being perfectly fine over here

We can close up this thread. The endless criticism is getting old. Perhaps I should go buy a bio cube and 3 tangs. Seems like those people get
More respect

Sorry if you want to twist things into criticism.

I said I was amazed by your self control and dedication for planning for two years. I also said you had designed a dream tank.

I also am old school and have no problem with using fish to cycle a tank. I have done it many times.

I don't care what cycle product you used I do not believe any of them can make a 1 month tank cycled fully. I will not ever give any help, advice or what you take as criticism again. I stand by my earlier statement if you can make it a year you will end up creating an amazing tank. You are going to have the same issues as everyone have the first year. We will see if you can deal with them without giving up.

I turely wish you good luck as skill doesn't always work.

Robert

 

[Rscott]

Sorry if you want to twist things into criticism.

I said I was amazed by your self control and dedication for planning for two years. I also said you had designed a dream tank.

I also am old school and have no problem with using fish to cycle a tank. I have done it many times.

I don't care what cycle product you used I do not believe any of them can make a 1 month tank cycled fully. I will not ever give any help, advice or what you take as criticism again. I stand by my earlier statement if you can make it a year you will end up creating an amazing tank. You are going to have the same issues as everyone have the first year. We will see if you can deal with them without giving up.

I turely wish you good luck as skill doesn't always work.

Robert

Several of my comments were not in reference to you. However, I think the evidence speaks for itself. There are many ways to cycle a tank faster then your suggestion of months.

The method I choose was advertised as 21 days. I thought I was doing myself a solid by not selecting a 24 hour turbo cycle like many people do

Again, all I wanted to do was talk about TDS, this whole post has been so far derailed it now serves little to no purpose

Thanks to all who had some good points here
Water pressure
Flush valve
Inbound TDS etc etc

 

[Silver14SS]

So is that a no on the source water TDS or am I overlooking it? Answering questions will help keep the thread on topic

 

[Rscott]

So is that a no on the source water TDS or am I overlooking it? Answering questions will help keep the thread on topic

Have not been able to test the TDS inbound directly. I think BRS has indicated the believe the resin was not packed properly

TDS into the resin cartridge is normally around 3-5

But that is after all the other filters

 

[Silver14SS]

My source TDS is around 75 and 1 coming out of the RO membrane. I have a 98% rejection membrane I think, so it’s right in line with the rating.

If your water is 5 tds coming out of the RO membrane maybe it has an issue.

What’s your zip? I’m interested in the water report.

 

[Rscott]

My source TDS is around 75 and 1 coming out of the RO membrane. I have a 98% rejection membrane I think, so it’s right in line with the rating.

If your water is 5 tds coming out of the RO membrane maybe it has an issue.

What’s your zip? I’m interested in the water report.

I have a pdf if the report , can post it when I get home
Thanks for the interest

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I dont really understand why people continue to criticize what I’m doing. The tank is up right , all the tests are perfect and the inhabitants are super happy. The fish play with each other all day long.

There are other threads on this board from people buying bio cubes and 3 tangs in the same day and without cycling at all and with with tap water throw them right in! Yet somehow I ask a question about TDS water and have to read the same replies as always about how I’m an idiot and my tank isn’t cycled and I’m moving to fast because I have a whopping 4 fish in 120 gallon tank after week 4 when the instructions of the cycle kit tell me to add fish at day 14 (assuming parameters are good)




I am not sure why you are talking about cycling. The tank is cycled. I have zero ammonia and zero nitrite. Skimmer is doing a great job removing crap, po4 looks good ph is perfect and salinity is stable.


This thread was about TDS and everyone hounded me for pictures of the resin telling me there was nothing wrong except I depleted the resin. So I post pictures and not a single person comments on it but yet I get comments on cycling still.

When clearly there was a problem and even BRS told me it was not packed properly from the factory and sent me a replacement .
It should not turn brown with the middle still blue as others have indicated


Out of all the posts I have made thus far in this forum, the only thing I have not heard is “nice job, keep up the good work” despite things being perfectly fine over here

We can close up this thread. The endless criticism is getting old. Perhaps I should go buy a bio cube and 3 tangs. Seems like those people get
More respect

@Rscott, I don't think people are criticizing you, they are trying to help you. Yes, this thread did take a slightly divergent path off of the topic of TDS, but you were the one who mentioned that you needed to do large water changes to keep your nitrates under control. You were also the one who said that this hobby was costing over $200 a month just to maintain the tank. I believe you also mentioned in this thread that your SG swung up to .5 ppt after water changes. No one would know anything about your troubles if you didn't post them. It hasn't even been a month since you started your cycle, so how stable your tank is is still debatable. Yes, 4 fish in a 450 liter DT isn't much, but that doesn't mean that you don't come across as being in a hurry.

Again, people are trying to help. Maybe people don't chime in on the 3 tangs in a bio cube that hasn't cycled because they are beyond help. The people here trying to help you obviously see that spending time trying to help you is worth it because you do seem to be interested in doing things right. I hope you don't take this as additional criticism, I am only trying to help.

 

[Silver14SS]

Any luck with measuring the beginning TDS? Post your zip so we can look up the water report or post the report.

Also, what exact BRS model did you purchase? Apologies if it was posted and I'm overlooking it.

 

[Opus]

My source TDS is around 75 and 1 coming out of the RO membrane. I have a 98% rejection membrane I think, so it’s right in line with the rating.

If your water is 5 tds coming out of the RO membrane maybe it has an issue.

What’s your zip? I’m interested in the water report.

While that could be a potential issue with the RO membrane that still wouldn't explain why his DI didn't last. A tds of 5 going into the DI filter should still get you around 850 gallons of 0 tds water. As I stated earlier in the thread, he either got a bad batch of DI media, it is packed bad, the cartridge was installed wrong or there is a CO2 issue. If there is an issue beyond that then he will probably have to switch to separate DI media in 2 DI chambers.

 

[Silver14SS]

Maybe they have chloramines? I’ve read that will rapidly deplete di resin.

 

[Rscott]

I appreciate everyone’s help. I have just not had time to get back to the RO unit

If I have some time this weekend I may try and test the incoming water.

Right now, the tank is doing well. Tested again today and looked great.
Fishy friends seem happy. Again thanks to all
Those who took the time to reply!