When is TDS to high to use?

[jordan10]

I been trying to fatten my fish up and put auto feeder on and programed it wrong. And its been dumping to much food. Few corals not looking good. So test no3 and it's high round 50 Anyway need do water change to try bring down but don't have any rodi water made up. My LFS to water is around 17tds. So do I just wait till I can make my own water or should I try and lower no3 with the high tds?

 

[Hemmdog]

Feed normally, your nitrate will drop naturally. Water changes are the most ineffective way of removing nutrients anyway.

 

[jordan10]

Feed normally, your nitrate will drop naturally. Water changes are the most ineffective way of removing nutrients anyway.

Yea I got that and that's what I doing but. Is 17ish TDS consider high I know people say zero only but it take me day or 2 to be 0 TDS water?

 

[Hemmdog]

Yea I got that and that's what I doing but. Is 17ish TDS consider high I know people say zero only but it take me day or 2 to be 0 TDS water?

100% wait then. Only use zero tds water.

 

[windemerejack]

17 is far too high imo and your lfs should be ashamed of themselves and you should point this out to them.
I only use 0 tds , as soon as it goes to 1 I change di resin.

 

[jordan10]

17 is far too high imo and your lfs should be ashamed of themselves and you should point this out to them.
I only use 0 tds , as soon as it goes to 1 I change di resin.

I have couple times. They say that 17 not that high lol. I think it was 21 at one point that's when I got my own rodi system. Just a cheap one that takes me all day to make 20 25 gallons. But thanks I'll start making water.

 

[windemerejack]

If they say that a tds of 17 is not that high then what else are they telling people? I would definitely stay away from that shop.

 

[mrlavalamp]

TDS is great because it tells you there is either SOMETHING (>0tds) or NOTHING (0tds).

Every instrument has its range, accuracy, and limitations too so keep that in mind.

The problem with using TDS in water quality is when get a reading that is greater than 0, the question now becomes WHAT is that coming from.

Is it some minor amount of dissolved calcium? probably completely harmless then. Is it heavy metals? definitely not good at ALL in that case.

So that is why you get the 0 or dont use it mentality. because with that measurement, a reading of 0 is the only way you can be reasonably sure nothing bad is actually in there.

Keep in mind, there are still folks that use tap water and prime for their saltwater (there is a lfs in town that does, but you can totally tell, they dont sell much coral). All depends on what is actually in your water.

 

[jordan10]

If they say that a tds of 17 is not that high then what else are they telling people? I would definitely stay away from that shop.

I mostly just get my food and 2 part and stuff of that nature not many saltwater fish shope round my way. That's why I ask my people here thanks

 

[jordan10]

And I think it's high at my LFS because it's just RO and not RODI. Probably to save money

 

[good.reef]

17 is far too high imo and your lfs should be ashamed of themselves and you should point this out to them.
I only use 0 tds , as soon as it goes to 1 I change di resin.

What EC tester do you use to have such certainty that your water is at 0? I'm looking for some really good testing equipment to buy but every piece of testing equipment has a standard deviation for accuracy. Commonly between 2%-5%. So your 0 could easily be a 1 or your 1 could be a 0, or a 2. I know the very accurate scientific testers are all upwards of $500+. I've been deciding on what to get. What do you use and how to you verify the accuracy?

 

[windemerejack]

What EC tester do you use to have such certainty that your water is at 0? I'm looking for some really good testing equipment to buy but every piece of testing equipment has a standard deviation for accuracy. Commonly between 2%-5%. So your 0 could easily be a 1 or your 1 could be a 0, or a 2. I know the very accurate scientific testers are all upwards of $500+. I've been deciding on what to get. What do you use and how to you verify the accuracy?

Who said I have certainty? Its what I change my di resin at. Every single test is not accurate, my cal is 440, who knows if its 440 or 400, my alk is 8, who knows if its 8, 9, 10, 7, 6, the list goes on and on with test kits, they are hobby grade and are good enough me and 1000's of reefers worldwide, However If you wish to spend £100's and £1000's on lab grade testing equipment to find out if your cal is 440 0r 440.00001 then its your money to spend.
You do not need lab grade testing equipment to run a reef tank and its wrong of you to imply so

 

[Scott.h]

Whenever my tds is above 0 I change my di resin. The truth is it all depends on what makes up the tds you are testing. If tds is 10, but it’s 10 of something like calcium you would be fine. If it’s copper you are screwed. And without doing an icp test you don’t know. 17 is too high imo. And I’d do a few good weekly water changes so algae doesn’t get going if your tank isn’t happy with nitrates being at 50

 

[William Mumford]

Yea I got that and that's what I doing but. Is 17ish TDS consider high I know people say zero only but it take me day or 2 to be 0 TDS water?

Anything over 2 is probably too much its not that 2 or 3 tds is bad it's just that when you are refining water and it has 3 tds it is usally the hardest worst contributer that makes it through like a virus only the strong survive. You can substitute distilled water for a 0 tds fix.

 

[AZMSGT]

Anything more than ZERO is unacceptable. A good RODI system can achieve 0 easily. Your LFS is ran by people trying to rob their customers. Avoid them like the plague.

Also, fish don’t need to be fat, they just need to be healthy.

 

[Vernon Ebron]

Salutation; I agree that water change is the thing to do. Purchasing live ocean aquarium saltwater just might do the trick, until you can get your RO/DI system up & running. This way you don't hurt your fish (&) or corals. Please keep R2R family up date on your progress.

 

[good.reef]

Who said I have certainty? Its what I change my di resin at. Every single test is not accurate, my cal is 440, who knows if its 440 or 400, my alk is 8, who knows if its 8, 9, 10, 7, 6, the list goes on and on with test kits, they are hobby grade and are good enough me and 1000's of reefers worldwide, However If you wish to spend £100's and £1000's on lab grade testing equipment to find out if your cal is 440 0r 440.00001 then its your money to spend.
You do not need lab grade testing equipment to run a reef tank and its wrong of you to imply so

I'm sorry if it seemed that I was being rude. I just was really looking for recommendation for a tester because I'm trying to buy one that has a good track record.

 

[Slawman]

Its what is in the TDS that can cause the problem. Generally for most town water supplies, as long as your RO/DI system is removing 95% of the source water TDS your kit is working pretty well. For my system I aim for zero, my town water supply runs between 120 and 180 TDS most of the time....

 

[mrlavalamp]

Las Vegas NV tap water is ~700 tds lol

 

[William Mumford]

Its what is in the TDS that can cause the problem. Generally for most town water supplies, as long as your RO/DI system is removing 95% of the source water TDS your kit is working pretty well. For my system I aim for zero, my town water supply runs between 120 and 180 TDS most of the time....

So lucky. I'm at 550 600 most of the time. I hope the brs 7 stage holds up to it.