was using tap water for years and decided to go with ro di..checked the water and dissolved solids changed my water which was 0 ppm to 765 ppm once it was in the aquarium. Looks like the disolved solids was leaching from my sand and live rock which was left dry for months. did a 90% water change got the tds down to 375 what is an acceptable range when starting over using ro di and doing angelfish
765 tds
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yeah its all screwed up in the tank check how many TDS if you have in freshly made salt water.... I'll bet its pretty high too
there were no salt mixed yet in the tank..the water is fresh water but by d oing the water changes the tds went down ...I dont know whats in the water but I was told tds meters read phospates I am not sure if its phosphates or not but when the water was changed it went down drastically whatever was in the water is there a certain ppm you want to be for reef
Anything and anything that is or was in the tank will put resolved solids into the water. Testing tank water that way is useless and will mislead you. If you think you have phosphates, test for phosphates.
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What everyone is saying is that you're not supposed to test tds once the water is in the tank because things like sand and rock will have dust which will show up as tds, salt will show up as tds, and anything that was on the glass will show up as tds. The whole point of the tds meter is to make sure that you're not putting any unwanted/unknown minerals and other disolved solids in the tank along with the water. That is why some rodi systems have them built in.
Just make sure you monitor the TDS of your RODI product water and don't worry about any other TDS readings. The TDS of any saltwater is going to be sky high, and as Picoreeef stated if you have RODI in with any rock or crushed coral, etc you will pick up dissolved solids from that, but they are not a problem. Also, you will get no useful informattion about phosphate levels from a TDS meter, none whatsoever. Get a phosphae test kit for that.
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So the OP said he doesn't have salt in the tank yet. HOWEVER, measuring TDS after pouring it into your tank without salt is equally useless. You are measuring the dust and dirt that was in the tank along with the dirt and minerals that were on anything else you have in the tank (powerheads, sand/gravel, rock, etc.).
As the others said, ONLY measure the fresh water you get, and are going to put in the tank to ensure it is pure. Once you put it in the tank or mix it with salt, TDS measurement is always going to be high and isn't a valuable measurement.
As the others said, ONLY measure the fresh water you get, and are going to put in the tank to ensure it is pure. Once you put it in the tank or mix it with salt, TDS measurement is always going to be high and isn't a valuable measurement.
