Got my TDS meter today and....

[navyreefer]

Okay so I got my TDS meter in today and tested my "R/O" water that I have been getting from Publix results: 217!!!

Tap water from PUR filter on sink: 56!

Could this be right????

I have no issues with Algae or maintaining any parameters in my tank.

 

[blind1993]

i do not know but my ro filter gets 52 in dasani water and 40 from the freezer.

 

[navyreefer]

Spring water from bottle : 11

I have been waisting my money at publix.....

 

[blind1993]

just buy a ro filter. i have a friend who has one for sale.

 

[navyreefer]

The Publix water machine claims that it goes through carbon, 2 uv lights, R/O and a couple other stages....upsetting.

 

[blind1993]

if you read in small print it says that it add minerals for taste.

 

[tito]

i got it today

 

[cdub]

got mine today and my tap water and ro water are the same!

 

[dakota9]

But wait? RO water is essential to a reef! If you all have been using water that is basically the same as (and some cases much worse than) tap water, then surely your systems have crashed and everything has died because as we all know, RO water is written in stone as the only way to achieve a healthy reef.

Maybe 0 TDS isn't as essential as we thought it was.

 

[victor626nj]

i got mine as well and its only 1 point from the one i one in the raffle at lasts meeting but the one on my ro unit reeds 10 points higher but i also checked from different sinks in the house ..hell it works lol.......and the best part was its free

 

[jetchris]

publix is a liar. You can get a **** good ro unit from ebay for about $100 - thats what i have and its 0 tds

 

[stanfill reef]

The problem with the TDS meter is that it doesn't tell you what the TDS is. A 0 TDS is great, but a 50 TDS is just fine as long as it is calcium, sodium, or chloride. A 50 TDS is horrible if the TDS is phosphate, nitrate, or organics.

Dakota9;103593 wrote: But wait? RO water is essential to a reef! If you all have been using water that is basically the same as (and some cases much worse than) tap water, then surely your systems have crashed and everything has died because as we all know, RO water is written in stone as the only way to achieve a healthy reef.

Maybe 0 TDS isn't as essential as we thought it was.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Stanfill Reef;103691 wrote: The problem with the TDS meter is that it doesn't tell you what the TDS is. A 0 TDS is great, but a 50 TDS is just fine as long as it is calcium, sodium, or chloride. A 50 TDS is horrible if the TDS is phosphate, nitrate, or organics.

exactly. TDS alone is not the measure of water cleanliness. There are many things that can be in water that wont cahnge the TDS, and many things in water that will change the TDS, but wont have a true consequence in our tanks.

 

[roland jacques]

Dakota9;103593 wrote: But wait? RO water is essential to a reef! If you all have been using water that is basically the same as (and some cases much worse than) tap water, then surely your systems have crashed and everything has died because as we all know, RO water is written in stone as the only way to achieve a healthy reef.

Maybe 0 TDS isn't as essential as we thought it was.

I guess that depends on what you call healthy,

Lots of people use tap water for their tanks and are perfectly happy with Reef tanks that have phosphates... in the water. Some people have other means of exporting these pollutants after they put it in their tank. You see tanks all the time with no Coraline algae, and or slow going calcifying corals... Yeah their reef tanks live, but they certainly are not growing like they could be.

 

[roland jacques]

cdub;103590 wrote: got mine today and my tap water and ro water are the same!

As long as both numbers are 0 your good to go.

 

[cameron]

$100 50gpd on clearance.

 

[jcusmarine]

I got my TDS meter last week. I use the RO water machine at Publix and it had a rating of 003, alsmost perfect. I take a a few 5 gallon gas tanks and fill them up after the machine has recently been serviced and I get good water quality.

 

[jcusmarine]

Just tested my tap water and it had a reading of 039. Either your TDS meter is faulty or the machine at Publix is broke or has not been serviced.

 

[drnecropolis]

The TDS at my house is 28...But I am sure it is 28ppm of Phosphate...When I was using tap I was getting tons of Algae..Ask Sal...He saw the battle I was fighting..and he saw it when it looked better..Still was terrible...

 

[james s_]

Where can you get a RO filter that has 0 waste water? When I fill up my new system theres no way Im using my Typhoon 3 Ro/Di for 800 gallons of water.