TDS

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 27, 2017

Bama-Reefer said:
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

How are you measuring it and what are the units?

For comparison, in case you are from Alabama and might have similar water, Birmingham water supply shows TDS ranging from 75 to 230 ppm TDS,depending on which location they measure at.

Even normal disinfection might add a ppm or two.

Goubli · Apr 27, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
How are you measuring it and what are the units?

For comparison, in case you are from Alabama and might have similar water, Birmingham water supply shows TDS ranging from 75 to 230 ppm TDS,depending on which location they measure at.

Even normal disinfection might add a ppm or two.

We have some bad water in AZ, but I'm around 400 or so pre and post the lowest I can get it is around 9-11. How much of a problem is this for me? What would I see affected or how would I monitor/correct the issue?

Mike N · Apr 27, 2017

Goubli said:
We have some bad water in AZ, but I'm around 400 or so pre and post the lowest I can get it is around 9-11. How much of a problem is this for me? What would I see affected or how would I monitor/correct the issue?

You running it through RO/DI?

40B Knasty · Apr 28, 2017

MA is .037-.048. Buy a Zerowater pitcher of choice that comes with a TDS meter. That way you get .000 drinking water for yourself and a TDS meter to test your RO/DI water for free. I do not use an RO/DI unit. Just the guts of a 6 cup Zerowater pitcher with aquarium sealant with a hole cut out at the bottom of a 5g bucket and just change the Zerowater filter when it gets to .006

Goubli · Apr 28, 2017

Mike N said:
You running it through RO/DI?

Yes. Spectrapure 4 stage with two of them DI

Mike N · Apr 28, 2017

Goubli said:
Yes. Spectrapure 4 stage with two of them DI

9-11 tds COULD be a problem because there is no way of knowing exactly what dissolved solids it is detecting. I am by no means a pro at this, but you should be getting at or near 0 tds with a 4 stage unit.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 28, 2017

Are both DI functioning? You should easily get 0 ppm TDS out of two DI in series.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 28, 2017

40B Knasty said:
MA is .037-.048. Buy a Zerowater pitcher of choice that comes with a TDS meter. That way you get .000 drinking water for yourself and a TDS meter to test your RO/DI water for free. I do not use an RO/DI unit. Just the guts of a 6 cup Zerowater pitcher with aquarium sealant with a hole cut out at the bottom of a 5g bucket and just change the Zerowater filter when it gets to .006

Collecting water this way, be sure to let the water run for a while from the tap before collecting it so you get less copper from your own pipes.

40B Knasty · Apr 28, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Collecting water this way, be sure to let the water run for a while from the tap before collecting it so you get less copper from your own pipes.

I do that and also let the water sit for a day or two for chlorine to be removed through gas exchange with a MJ1200

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 28, 2017

40B Knasty said:
I do that and also let the water sit for a day or two for chlorine to be removed through gas exchange with a MJ1200

Are you on MWRA water? If so, chloramine is a concern that doesn't go away so readily.

40B Knasty · Apr 28, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Are you on MWRA water? If so, chloramine is a concern that doesn't go away so readily.

Honestly I am not sure. There is no color tinting to the water of green or blue. The zerowater filter has pretty much the same filtration as an RO system.

Mike N · Apr 29, 2017

I purchased a more expensive TDS meter and i'm getting different (higher) readings than I did with the $20 Amazon meter I used previously.
My LFS RO/DI is measuring 16ppm now, versus the 0ppm previously. Good to know.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 29, 2017

40B Knasty said:
Honestly I am not sure. There is no color tinting to the water of green or blue. The zerowater filter has pretty much the same filtration as an RO system.

Just be careful because RO on chloramine treated water leaves the ammonia from the breakdown of the chloramine in the water.

40B Knasty · Apr 29, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Just be careful because RO on chloramine treated water leaves the ammonia from the breakdown of the chloramine in the water.

Thanks for the heads up. My ammonia seems to be in check for my 3 year old brackish and 4 month saltwater. I have literally drank the water straight from the river while fly fishing that most of MA gets the water from. It was one of those 100F+ humidity days in neoprene waders. I also fish the reservoir on a boat. You could literally drink the water coming out the back of the motor it is so clean. You can see about 30 feet straight down.

Goubli · Apr 29, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Are both DI functioning? You should easily get 0 ppm TDS out of two DI in series.

It was a refurbished unit, but they said it should function as new. Maybe I hooked it up incorrectly? It seems that if that were the case it would be noticeable? I obviously need to get this corrected. What solution should I take for correcting whats already in the aquarium? System is still new (less than a month but rock is cured prior in garage).

Goubli · Apr 30, 2017

Ok, I knew something didn't seem right. This morning I went to check the setup. The way spectrapure's TDS is set up it measures the input TDS and the output TDS. Where the measurements are taken for the TDS output (which is what I said I could only get as low as 9-11) appears to me to be prior to the first stage DI unit. Even if my eyes are deceiving me, I can say for sure it is not measured after the second stage.

So, the only way to be 100% sure is to get a stand alone tds, but I feel pretty certain I'm at zero. Any thoughts?