TDS

[Frop]

I just got a RO/DI unit. About to set it up tonight. I was curious what our home TDS (total dissolved solids) so I used this meter from Amazon. Most likely a cheap little meter. On distilled water it measures 0. On the RO/DI from the LFS it measures about 010-011. And from the tap it measures 665-672. Then I went outside and got a reading before the water softener kicks in at 793.

So... I saw online EPA's maximum contamination level is 500ppm. I guess my meter is jacked up? Anyone else have any similar experience? If the battery is low how bad can it realistically throw the results? Our town apparently uses well water and also buys water from another water district.

 

[Frop]

 

[jsker]

I use this one and it works very well link

 

[jsker]

That all you need

 

[Frop]

Is it normal to be that high? Our home has new copper pipes but the house is from the 40's. Maybe the incoming plumbing is old?

 

[Breadman03]

Mine is typically in the 700's after my prefilters, with public water.

 

[143MPCo]

Check this thread... https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/whats-your-tds.215047/#post-2465421

 

[rayn]

Ours is 650ish out of the tap. It's the city pipes and not much you can do about it. Unless your city is prepared to replace all the underground pipes, there isn't much they will do.

Old house had a water softener in it. It helped immensely in saving my filters. New house doesn't and my sediment filter turns within a month now.

After ro I'm down to 10-15 after di it's 0.

 

[Frop]

Check this thread... https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/whats-your-tds.215047/#post-2465421

I'll post to there after I setup my RO unit. So I can do the before / after.

Thanks for the link

Ours is 650ish out of the tap. It's the city pipes and not much you can do about it. Unless your city is prepared to replace all the underground pipes, there isn't much they will do.

Old house had a water softener in it. It helped immensely in saving my filters. New house doesn't and my sediment filter turns within a month now.

After ro I'm down to 10-15 after di it's 0.

Good to know. I just wanted to make sure it was normal. I saw a graph saying "average tap water" and the few people I saw had 1/3 the reading of mine so it made me wonder. But now seeing a couple others.

The softener dropped the TDS 120 in my test this morning. Looks like I'll find out what happens after I run everything.

 

[Mel 2038]

I would say "normal" is a relative term, depending on where you live. Mine out of the tap is 375

 

[Frop]

So.. what is acceptable for freshwater (aquariums)

Hehe

 

[Buckeye Hydro Verified Sponsor]

We have customers with tapwater from <30 to >2400 ppm TDS.

USEPA has a secondary (non-mandatory) standard of 500 ppm for drinking water.

Russ

 

[Mike N]

Just got my TDS meter, my tap water is 191 tds. Not too shabby.

 

[Bama-Reefer]

Dang my taps 4

 

[Mike N]

Dang my taps 4

Public or private water source?

 

[Slickwill613]

Public or private water source?

The water from my privates is packed with urea.

 

[Bama-Reefer]

Public

 

[Mike N]

4 tds from public tap water? I call BS

 

[Bama-Reefer]

I dnt have a reason to lie highest I have seen it was 8 but most commonly at 6 I didn't know that was that uncommon

 

[Mike N]

Not calling you a liar, just really shocked by that reading. To give you an idea why thats so hard to believe....

Water from my tap = 171 tds
Water after R/O = 30 tds
Ozarka drinking water = 22 tds

It appears you can make some good money by bottling and selling your virgin water lol