TDS reading?

[g.mcclean]

Please explain what a TDS reading is? Is there a test kit for this? We have well water and I'm fairly certain it has too many heavy metals for our tanks. Will this bother the fish as much as the inverts? Thanks in advance. :?:

 

[MLVA123]

Try this link.

 

[g.mcclean]

Thanks MLVA. Now, how does it adversely affect my fish and/or invertebrates? Thanks again,

 

[MLVA123]

First, my disclaimer: I am no water quality expert!
I think the best way to think of TDS is this: TDS is a general measure of dissolved "stuff" in your water. A reef keeper needs to carefully monitor and control the "stuff" you put into your tank, since most of the animals you'll be keeping are amazingly sensitive to some of this "stuff".

The idea of using TDS measurements is really to know that your base of freshwater that you use to mix up salt water (or to simply add straight to your tank for top-offs) is as pure as possible. That way, the only chemicals that are getting into your system via your water additions is what you intentionally add yourself. Simply stated, it allows you to have more control over what you put into your system.

 

[Anonymous]

Distilled Water (0)
Two-column Deionizer Water (8 )

For comparison, most mixed bed DI filter will drop the TDS to almost zero if the feed water is RO water. Distilled water is usually not as good as RO/DI unless the RO/DI is not functioning well.

For ultrapure water such as distilled and DI water, most people use conductivity, or even better, resistivity measurement.

 

[g.mcclean]

thanks for your quick responses