Do you guys measure EC

[Taxus812]

I bought a Handheld TDS meter to spot check TDS. It also measures EC. I know with freshwater its good if you measure EC daily because it if changes, you know something in the tank has changed. It a good to test your water. Is it the same with Marine ?

I have a hanna Salinity tester and PH tester.

 

[nereefpat]

TDS meters don't actually measure TDS. They measure conductivity and convert it to TDS. Without looking it up, I think it's roughly a factor of 3 difference.

Have you tried measuring your saltwater with it yet? It will be off the charts. Salinity of 35ppt would be TDS of about 35,000 ppm, so I bet it won't tell you much.

 

[Chuk]

TDS meters all are measuring conductivity, well technically resistivity 18meghom is pure water but with Siemens on their bid to take over the world they have created their own conductivity unit microSiemens/cm which is equal to micro mho/cm with is the inverse of resistivity. The meters then convert this measurement to TDS for display. I've found the handheld aquarium ones also don't like to read actual seawater. They max out ~10,000 ppm if you don't go for a lab grade or high rage one. This being said Neptune sells a salinity probe for the apex, I know several people who use them for tracing salinity which works using the same principal as the handheld meters.
If you are interested in converting conductivity to TDS typically the conversion is something like 650 ppm TDS = 1,000 micro S/cm with some variations for temperature.

 

[reefsaver]

TDS meters don't actually measure TDS. They measure conductivity and convert it to TDS. Without looking it up, I think it's roughly a factor of 3 difference.

Have you tried measuring your saltwater with it yet? It will be off the charts. Salinity of 35ppt would be TDS of about 35,000 ppm, so I bet it won't tell you much.

In a sterile bucket of mixed salt yeah this is true but in an aquarium you would have so much more dissolved solids.