# holy crap! my fish tank tds is off the charts! literally!



## newguy (Mar 18, 2006)

So i picked up a zerowater water purify pitcher to replace my broken brita. One interesting thing about this product is it comes with a electronic tds (total dissolved solid) measure tool. The tool is made by HMD and said it's laboratory quality. The idea is you measure your water and the purified water, to see how much "bad" tds it removed. Naturally the first thing i want to measure is my fish tank water 

Anyway according to its chart:
0-1: meets fda definition of purified bottled water
2-50: moderate in clean natural streams etc..
51-200: typical range: most usa tap water is in this range
201-300: high
301-500: exceptional high
501+: extreme!

So i measured the purified water, and lo behold it's 002. Then i measured my tap water, it's 167. So far so good. Then i scoped up a cup of water from my biocube, and the meter turned to ---. Ok wtf? Checked the manual, it turns out the limit is 0-999ppm. So I pour out half a cup of aquarium water and replaces it with tap water, now the reading says 984. Which means my TDS in the tank is close to 2000ppm.

So what the hell is going on, why is my biocube has 2000ppm tds? I am really curious what everyone else's tank tds level looks like.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi newguy,

What is your substrate? Where did it come from? Do you use any stone or rocks in your hardscape? Do you do water changes, or just replace water that evaporates? What water treatments do you use?


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Tap water: upper 200s (289, 292, 275...)

Soft water tanks: Low to mid 300s (the one next to my computer is 315, the other one in this room is 365)
Hard water tanks: 700-900 (Guppies, Liberty Mollies, Shell Dwellers...)
Brackish water tank (SG 1.004) has a TDS of around 2000. 

"Off the chart" at 500 is a bit extreme, IMO.


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## James0816 (Oct 9, 2008)

Water changes and gravel vacs are the biggest questions.


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## geeks_15 (Dec 9, 2006)

I was feeding baby brine shrimp with their salty hatching water twice a day and my TDS was off the chart. I started rinsing my bbs before adding to the tank and it seems to have solved my problem.


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## newguy (Mar 18, 2006)

I have eco complete, and do monthly 20% water change + top off as needed. I dump tap water along with prime into my tank directly. And use Tropica Plant Nutrition+ as the all-in-one macro/micro. Dont do gravel vac.



Diana K said:


> Tap water: upper 200s (289, 292, 275...)
> 
> Soft water tanks: Low to mid 300s (the one next to my computer is 315, the other one in this room is 365)
> Hard water tanks: 700-900 (Guppies, Liberty Mollies, Shell Dwellers...)
> ...


Ok according to diana k's numbers, maybe it's not completely off the charts, high but not extreme? I guess the real question is 2000ppm ok for the tank, or do i have to bring it down further. Tank seem to be doing fine, you can see my fish list in the link.

thanks


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

The TDS of my tanks range from 136 ppm to 190 ppm. 

Note that I use the Pinpoint Conductivity monitor. It measures in microsiemens. I have to convert the number to get ppm.


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## goldier (Feb 13, 2010)

newguy said:


> So i picked up a zerowater water purify pitcher to replace my broken brita. One interesting thing about this product is it comes with a electronic tds (total dissolved solid) measure tool. The tool is made by HMD and said it's laboratory quality. The idea is you measure your water and the purified water, to see how much "bad" tds it removed. Naturally the first thing i want to measure is my fish tank water
> 
> Anyway according to its chart:
> 0-1: meets fda definition of purified bottled water
> ...


Good thing that you also measured purified/distilled water to make sure the meter works properly. I also have a TDS meter made by HMD and found it very useful. My tap water is around 85, and after adding all the condiments, the level rises to apprx 150 - 180. I do 50% wc monthly. Perhaps you may have to increase the percentage of wc monthly to offset the TDS from the tap water and fish waste accumulating over time.


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